Pacific Northwest Gardening: What MONEY WASTERS would you recommend others avoid?, 1 by Rarejem

Rarejem wrote:
One of the reasons that I love this forum is that it reinforces the fact that I am not alone in my obsession with plants and playing in the dirt. I KNOW that I am not the only one leafing through garden and seed catalogs and making lists of all of the things that I MUST try this year. I figured that it would be nice if we shared the bad experiences we have had with garden purchases in an attempt to help our friends here from discovering the same pitfalls. Are there plants out there that may look good on paper but after growing (or killing) them, are there things that you would definitely avoid? Are there garden "gadgets" that sound like the best thing next to sliced bread, only to turn out to be junk in reality? What have you been disapointed with? What would you tell fellow gardeners to think twice before spending money on?

(Please note that no plants have been harmed in the posting of this thread...this one was already deceased when I got to it!)