Plants You Regret?

[Jim Becker]

Of course, Craig...the clover could very well be helping to sustain the pollinators in your area in a big way which is at least a "happy mistake".

[Jeff Bartley]

Leyland Cypress. They lived long enough to get forty feet tall, and then almost all got the "wind burn" that they end up with. I wish I had just planted native Red Cedars.

Previous owners of our house planted these along the border of the property, maybe 10-12' from the road. In our three years here they've probably doubled in size and are blocking the view of the road from the stop sign.

Any advise about pruning? Cut them down before they're hard to cut down?

[Tom M King]

I'd go ahead, and get rid of them. Ours grew to 40' tall in maybe 15 years, and then started to decline, and look terrible. Yesterday morning, one fell across the neutral power line, and the power company hasn't come yet. The powerline is keeping it from falling in the road. They are having to co-ordinate with the tree trimming contractors.

Ours were planted for a view block of the only houses visible from our place, but I wish I had just planted the native Red Cedars, which I'm gradually filling in the holes left by the dying Leland Cypress trees.

Here is what it looked like a couple of years after I planted them. I just took a picture of what they look like now, and will post that as soon as my phone sends it to the computer.

[Terry Wawro]

We planted a couple of bottlebrush plants to attract butterflies. They grew quickly and worked like a charm. Lots of butterflies all summer long. The problem showed up the following Spring. It had set seed and thanks to the birds (I guess) we had bottlebrush plants popping up all over the place. I spray them every month or so but I still battling the new seedlings.

[Tom M King]

Here's what is left of those Leyland Cypress trees now. The one to the right you can see the "wind burn", as they call it, and that's the one on the power line. You can see that many of the others seen in the first photo are now dead, and gone. I don't remember exactly what year I planted them, but that pony is still here, and he's 17 years old now.

Sorry about the rotation. They really are growing on this side of the world. Those fence posts are 8 feet apart.

[Stan Calow]

Hey planting clover in your lawn must be a common idea. Friend of my dad's did that only to have his kids get multiple bee stings that summer.