What plants did you unintentionally kill this year?

I'll start with about a hundred shagbark hickories that I planted bareroot before I got my order for tree tubes in. The deer ate them down to nubs within about a week. That was about the time I lost 50 Shellbark Hickories and another 50 Red Mulberries to the same culprits. I don't think I will ever plant a bareroot again at that time of year without have a tree tube order in hand. Dumb dumber and dumbest consdiering there are so many deer around here.

Then there were all of the spring ephemerals that literally rotted in the ground this past spring when the skies opened up and it rained for about a month straight setting records. We had massive flooding in my area.

Most of my failures this year were perennials that apparently DO NOT do well under walnuts and hickories... so much for what's advertised as no-no's for them.

I had some irises rot. Since my daugher and I are trying to build up her iris farm (she's now selling a few to landscapers), we really hated losing any of the up-and-comers for next year or the year after that......
I also lost a lot of stonecrop and I don't see very many baby rose campions for next year....

We built our house between April and June this year, and I bought all of my plants on the internet at the end of spring sales. I carefully nurtured them in pots until we finally moved into the house at the beginning of July (didn't lose a single one of well over 200 pots). Then I planted them into their new homes in July and August, with much moving around of unhappy plants between wet and dry/ clay and "conditioned"/ double-dug and undug beds... With everything finally in place I seem to have misplaced (?killed?) 4 out of 6 coronation yarrow, 3 out of 6 pink yarrow (and yarrow is supposed to be invasive???), 1 oenethera (luckily the other 5 are living up to their "invasive" nature), 5 out of 6 purple coneflowers, 4 out of 6 rudbeckia goldsturm, 4 out of 6 purple asters, and 2 out of 6 golden groundsel. Several of the shasta daisies are looking very sad, but I have had more than enough of moving plants around and around. Thankfully all the roses, daylilies and irises made it through. Add to those 10 flats of 72 each prospering seedlings which drowned because I forgot to put the lids on when it rained, and I had a compost pile this year!

PS - I got most of my plants from places with guarantees on their plants. On the other hand, I know most of it died because I am a beginner. Plus I bought very cheaply on sales - most of it at around $2-$3 per plant. I haven't claimed any replacements - what would others do under these circumstances? Claim a replacement or just let it be?
Natasha

Well, I would leave it be. I'm not going to say you would be wrong in attempting to seek a replacement and I am not going to say you are right but me personally... I'd feel uncomfortable knowing I was ultimately responsible. I lost hundreds of trees/plants this year because their roots literally rotted in the ground from all the rains and flooding. There was nothing that could be done. Then I lost more to the drought because many trees/plants were over a thousand feet back on my property and I blatantly couldn't get to them to water them. I tried buckets but with one of me and hundreds of them, I lost the battle before it was even begun. I lost more to deer because I did not properly protect them in a timely fashion. There was nothing that could be done. I did not seek a refund. I did receive 12 dormant trees that never leafed out and those I did return. When I contacted that supplier and sent him a digital image with a time and date stamp on it, he came right out and told me that he had about 50 by him that never leafed out too so he was deeming them all crop failure. These people who sell plants barely eek out a living sometimes. I want to do business with the vast majority of places I order from next year and the year after and the year after that and if something is legitimately a crop failure, I want to be given the benefit of the doubt even if all I am sending them is a digital image.

What I can tell you is that I called one of the places where I had placed an order that was staggering. I told them what happened and asked them to please offer any advice. They did their best and I still couldn't save the plants. I received an e-mail back from them telling me that next year they were going to sell plants to me at cost. I am eternally greatful as quite frankly I blew my wad and would not have been able to replace even a fraction of a fraction of what I lost had I not been given that generous offer. Next year I will be able to replace about 10% of what I lost and each year thereafter, I will try to recover ground.

Hope this helps.

Such a tale of woe!! And such good moral advice. (I'm with you on honesty and integrity). And you haven't even considered taking a break from gardening to recuperate from this experience! Your name is perfect, Equilibrium! You deserve all good things in your future! Is there any way you can get your gardens nearer to a hose?? I have a very long hose attached to a spindleful of more hose for my garden that's 60-70 feet away from the water spigot. And I can go further when I fill the watering can or use a sprinkler. I don't think anyone can have success gardening without a guaranteed source of water. It must have been awful to watch and feel helpless. My heart goes out to you!

Hi boojum, not a tale of woe but more of a tale of "don't bite off more than you can chew " AND be stupid enough to expect the weather to cooperate. God throws curve balls.

My major contribution to this situation was holding off on placing a tree tube order. 95% of my orders were placed in fall of 2003 and generally a 50% deposit is required if not payment in full. I wanted to spend as much money on the actual tree/shrub bareroots and saplings as was possible which meant that I held off ordering tree protection until late spring of 2004. Not a real swift move- not bright at all. By the time I went to place my order, suppliers were out of stock and back ordering. It was spring and there are many who have problems with deer/rabbits/porcupines/beavers/nutria other than just me who had obviously placed their orders. I had to wait over a month on some lengths and 2 months on others. Needless to say the entire property turned into one big soggy smorgasboard.

Moral of the story, order plants and protection at the same time even if it means reducing the size of your order.

Lesson learned- don't count on the weather to do anything but work against you.

This year I have had a few injuries so I am really going to push hard in the winter sowing. The plants are sturdier anyway. This will mean I still can garden. I am only ordering 150 trees and shrubs and will focus on native perennials. Yes, my last year order was for almost 1500 trees and saplings. Can we say somebody should have been examining my head. All but a few hundred made it in the ground. I often got up at dawn and worked until well after sunset under flood lights. Several hundred that I physically couldn't get in the ground due to flooding in the area were donated to the Village and the Forest Preserve District and to a Cub Scout Group and they were very thankful as virtually my entire order comprised native species. Soooo... my trees are everywhere!

Here were two of my Mom's favorite sayings-
"When one is dumb, one pays."
"When one is cheap, one pays."

Ahhh, the truth hurts!

A wise mom, indeed. Stupert or not, my heart still goes out to you!

Hi boojum, I have to remember that "stupert". Pretty funny new word and I am really liking it. I'm ok, really. I can honestly say I am in better physical condition than what I was in when I was only 20 or even only 30 years old. What a workout getting those plants in the ground. Thanks so much for your kind words. Lauren

Lauren & Boojum, I'm glad you agree to "let it be". I didn't know if I was being silly, if the "normal" thing to do was replace, replace, replace until it finally grows.
Wow, I thought I was being ambitious planting 200 perennials. I can't begin to grasp trying to plant 1500 trees - you MUST be fit and strong to even think of it. Please tell me you have lovely soft earth which is a pleasure to dig in :>)
Natasha

Er uh, solid clay about 3" down for the most part requiring labor intensive soil amendments. I do have a portion of the property over here to the south that has very rich well drained soil. Does that count for anything? Here is a picture of my average soil quality to give you an idea of what I am dealing with.

I'm thinking this property has great potential for a potter. You know those people who create earthen ware vessels from the soil by using clay and then firing it? Whatdaya think?

Yuck - you and me both.
Natasha

Misery loves company.

To answer the thread question: Name one!!

I think I've actually killed of a hydrangea this year, and in our climate, that is approx., 125% impossible, but I've managed it somehow.


Murdermoor

I don't even know yet. I'm almost afraid to go looking at all the plants I haven't put in the ground yet.It's been a weird summer. and I'm afraid something will happen and I won't get the bulbs in. I went to Menards one evening this week and saw some one put a sign up on a rack of bulbs. I double checked that the sign was correct and started loading up the cart. When I checked out I told the clerk the bulbs were on sale but the machine was coming up with the regular price. She said she knew about the sale but she needed the supervisor to use her key. The supervisor said well the sale price was not supposed to start yet but give her the price now. The bill before final totaling rang up as $407. When the sale price was figured it was $25.00. I'm afraid to go back! They may want me to return them. Now I am starting to feel guilty about my bargain. Do you suppose the three employees were wrong ? I am not going to take them back. But maybe I should. Jessamine

Ha ha ha... Took me a while for the "murdermoor" to sink in. I looked at where you were from and thought murdermoor, murdermoor... hmmm. Takes me a while but I got it by gosh by golly! I have a strange premonition that you are a nobody in the world of plants if you haven't killed something at some point in time. I think it's the nature of the beast. I have to admit I have never heard of anyone killing a hydrangea though.

Good job on the hydrangea Wintermoor! Welcome to the Club!

Equilibrium, now my heart REALLY goes out to you. That is the worst soil I have ever seen! Let's see, I killed a rose, a butterfly bush, lilies, a durandii clematis (J&P replaced this week) and a couple of balloon flowers this past winter, but I think it was the bad winter and moles or voles. Does that count? I killed a poppy last summer, replaced it, thought I killed it again, but this fall little tiny leaves are popping out. I killed a rugosa I transplanted (maybe not, it had 5 leaves for a month but they fell off). I thought you couldn't kill a rugosa. Do I get a prize if it doesn't grow next year? I tried to kill roses by not spraying them for black spot, but they are still alive. I "killed" all the blooms on most of the once blooming roses by snipping them in the fall. But hey, they're alive-live and learn. This week, a rabbit ate the tops of 1) my brand new daylily 'Black Moon' and 2) my very expensive (but from a gift certificate), new, hot-off-the-press, white, fragrant echinacea with petals that stick out instead of hanging down from White Flower Farm (but maybe the roots are ok???) I DID get everything in the ground, so far.
Wintermoor uses inneresting labels on all notes I've read-they are thematic and clever. Nice to have someone who thinks, join us.

Oh my gosh...
I missed reading Jessamine's post about the bulbs! How did I miss that post? I'm outa here to go take a run to Menards as soon as I finish posting here. Sorry, Jessamine, I wouldn't take the bulbs back. I'm honest as the day is long but their computer rang them up at the price they sold them to you for so as far as I am concerned, you got the deal of the year and I'm going to see if I can do the same. I will go back if a retailer missed charging me for an item but this is different. Feel guilty if you want but there was a clerk AND a supervisor there when you were checked out.

And boojum... did you have to rub it in? We refer to my soil composition as challenging. I have grown fond of the word challenging. It is so fitting wouldn't you agree in viewing my soil? In looking at your list of kills, I'd have to say you qualify for membership in the "Club". As far as a prize for the rugosa, too early to tell if you are deserving or not. We can all play the dead or dormant game next spring. That game is always fun and a few of the people over at Wild Ones play it all the time.nbhhhhhhhbnnnnhhhhh

Oh shoot, ignore that whatever it is at the end of my last post... cat foot on keyboard. Could be worse- could have been a nice juicy fresh and warm hairball.

Oh sorry. Your soil is the most CHALLENGING soil I've ever seen. What I didn't say, is that you are miraculous to be growing anything at all. So I marvel at you ability!!! If you had great soil, you could be president. Although who would want to be president (beside the contenders) these days??!! Maybe you would be David Austin, or something.

(Notice how cleverly I ignored the comment about the hairball.)

First of all, I am totally depressed! My Menards doesn't have bulbs! I just got off the phone. I did call Home Depot and they have some but no deep discounting yet and they probably don't have anything I'd be interested in anyway. Franks Nursery and Crafts is going out of business so they were offering their bulbs at 20% off but that's no bargain based on what Jessamine got. Waaaaaaa!

President of the new kill "Club" huh? I suppose I could get that title by default as I think I have the highest number of kills and besides which... who would want that title anyway. Great, I can go to my Wild Ones meeting tomorrow night and boast of an honorary title. Won't they be impressed!

Now about hairballs... we have 8 indoor only cats. Several of which do nothing but barf their brains out by moving like cockroaches from one heat source to the next. They are particularly fond of barfing on rugs but a keyboard will do in a pinch. Hardwood floors throughout the entire house but when they gotta barf, they sure can find that one little throw rug or the bath towel carelessly left to lay on the floor. I am told that older cats have very sensitive digestive tracts just like older people. I have one that is 20 years old, two in their late teens, one in his mid teens, two just over 10, and two under 10. We're talking a major barf fest over here and the three oldest are in competition. Now there is something you can feel sorry for me about as I swear I do a load of throw rugs every other day.

Boojum, I would be SOOO upset about the black daylily - but it doesn't count as dead, yet, does it?
Here's some company on the soil (see me out in the rain trying to prove I'VE got the worst soil in the world... (lol))
Natasha

Natasha, you win! You don't even have a few inches of decent topsoil from what I can see.
I do have to admit that we added what little is on top of that clay or else we would be neck and neck in this competition. Poor you! There are plants out there that are clay busters. Have you ever tried any? I saw a list somewhere but for the life of me, I can't recall which web site it was at. Let me poke around later.

Natasha is the vice preseedent of the worst garden soil, for sure. Congratulations, Natasha. And I just found two new nibbled dayliles. Anyone know a "cure" for rabbits besides death.

From this web site-
http://www.pan-am.uniserve.com/pg000515.htm

"A hearty rabbit stew to get you through a cold winter's night! Preparation time, 30 minutes; Cooking time, 3 hours. Serves 4 to 8.

1 stewer rabbit, cut up 1
475 mL water 2 cups
1 beef bouillon cube 1
5 mL salt 1 tsp
1 mL pepper 1/4 tsp
2 mL rosemary 1/2 tsp
1 medium onion, chopped 1
5 medium carrots 5
5 medium potatoes 5
1 medium turnip 1
60 mL flour 1/4 cup
60 mL water 1/4 cup
1 clove garlic, crushed 1

In a large dutch oven, lightly brown the rabbit pieces in cooking oil. Add water with dissolved bouillon cube, salt, pepper and rosemary. Cover tightly and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, or until rabbit is getting tender.

While rabbit is cooking, peel and chop vegetables. Remove rabbit from heat and pick out fine bones: ribs and back bones. Add vegetables to rabbit pot, simmer 40 minutes longer. Mix flour, remaining water and garlic, add to stew, cook with stirring until slightly thickened."

In all seriousness, DeerOff can work and chili pepper can help as long as you reapply it as soon as it blows off or rains. There are mesh shelters that can go around special plantings. An owl prop will provide relief for a few days if you move it around but other than that, you better hope some nice big birds of prey come and hang out or the next thread you start is going to be how to deal with 101 widdle wabbits.

We didn't have to kill any plants this year, Mother Nature did a fine job by providing us with rain 28 days in May, and then very cool temps throughout June and July,and a drought in August. Surprisingly, the perennials mostly seemed to survive nicely, although the roses didn't put out their usual show, and annuals that I put in when it finally dried up didn't really get off to a good start. Last year we managed to execute a few perennials that apparently took exception to being moved, and a japanese maple which isn't supposed to be hardy in our zone. So, I am feeling relatively guilt free at not having commited any major herbiicide in '04, unless you count the five hanging baskets that I cursed at last week and quit watering.

Confession: I DID heartlessly assasinate about a gross of yellow jackets. And I LIKED it!

I'm on the verge (and hope this doesn't jinx it) of solving the hairball upchucking olympics here. We had two problems, one hair ball spewer and one that simply eats too fast and then gorges on water and redeposits the entire mess...and not on the hardwood floor either. (Evidently you get a better grip for upchucking if you have your four paws on carpeting, clothing, bedding, ,etc.) With the hairball guy, (Hobbes) shown in the picture (and yes, there IS a basket under him, he's overlap challenged) I'm giving him semiweekly doses of Catlax which seems to keep the fur moving through his system and prevents it from forming those ooky yucks. There are similar products and they really help. Even with Science Diet Hairball food, he still had the problem. With the gorger, I simply don't provide water for at least an hour after they eat. Hasn't completely eliminated the problem, but it's reduced in frequency to once a week rather than twice a day. With five siamese running the household, sometimes it takes as long to identify the culprit as to cure the problem.

The only "clay-buster" list I could find was for wildflowers which can supposedly survive in it... :-(
But, on the other hand, you and I do have fertile soil (or so I've been told), even if it is rather solid at least it's not rock!
Natasha

Boojum..your echinacea will be back next year. The bunnies didn't kill it. It's a real tough plant.

Trifunov...Prairie Nursery sells a mix of Native Grasses and Forbs called the "Claybuster" mix, if you're into Native plants. I think their e-mail is www.prairienursery.com The thing with planting a native mix like this is that it WILL fix the soil (bust the clay), it will just take time. The roots provide channels into the soil that allow humus and air in, is what I have read and been told. any humus or compost or leaves you can add to your soil will help, too. By this I mean just letting it decompose in..it does almost no good to turn a clay soil.

Meezersfive...I agree that if you're a cat, the carpet or couch provide WAY better traction for ease of hairball depositing. Got a new couch 2 weeks ago. Was thrilled. Went to bed. Woke up in the morning, looked at my new couch...and Lo and Behold! It had been used, already, as vomitus target practice! Someone had eaten their dry food way to fast. I have less than a dozen of the beasts, and in my experience...some of them are eat-too-fast-and-too-much-then-puke pigs, and some of them are just pukers.

Hobbes looks just like my Minstrel, except Minstrel quite recently decided that he would go hyperthyroid, and lost a bunch of weight. We got him on medicine, so he's gained a couple of pounds back....whew!.....

I am really fortunate (except when it rains a lot)in that what I am living on is an ex-swamp and ex-cow pature. I do have some clay. But mostly, it's just plain old dirt, as far as I can tell.

I saw a bunny in my yard 3 weeks ago and was thrilled, as I have never seen one in my yard before, 'cuz we got coyotes (and had feral cats until we took them all in). Haven't seen it since, though. Got a black squirrel, too (Blacky)! And a chipmunk! Haven't seen the chipmunk lately, either. I have HIT the wildlife lottery, LOL! No Deer...yet. But a few of them live less than an eighth of a mile away.

April

Oh, and the plant I unintentionally killed...and kill every year? Silene Regia. Can't figure out what it WANTS! April

I have got to remember this, "vomitus target practice" and "eat-too-fast-and-too-much-then-puke pigs".

Say, what do you call it when your dog goes out and scarfs down a bunch of grass and then comes in to nuzzle you under the armpit and barfs in your lap? This oughta be good based on your hairball descriptions.

Thanks dodecatheon, for the clay info. I saw this site, but I thought it was just a link to things which would grow on clay - I didn't realize it would actually break it down to some extent. Right now I am raiding all the neighbours garbage for "organic material" to fix the stuff.
Equilibrium, I knew there was a reason I don't let my husband's dog inside the house...
Natasha

For the life of me I can't seem to keep certain plants alive- baby's breath, red valerian, and anything that likes a little lime (except lilacs). Anything that needs excellent drainage is doomed in my clay soil.
I do lime around the individual plants but it does no good. I kill the plants anyway. I just have to accept that I will try something 3 times and if I kill it three times I give up. I try to stick with things that thrive for me, but I'm always trying new things too, Raised beds and greensand have helped a lot. over the years I've planted a lot of things that turned out to be invasive- English ivy, gooseneck loosestrife, etc., and had to kill them on purpose- so now I try to be really careful about that.
I so admire your gardening spirit and persitence- imagine what it was like for our ancestors trying to grow food before we had running water! They had to depend on the weather.

Oh no, poor you! English Ivy! I've been down that road before. Matter of fact, I'm still dealing with that ivy a little bit here and there right now. Say, what's greensand?

Greensand is an organic soil conditioner made from natural deposits undersea. It is an "iron potassium silicate that contains traces of many if not all of the elements which occur in seawater. " It contains potash, silica, magnesia, small amounts of lime and phosphoric acid. It can absorb and hold large amounts of water in the surface layer of the soil, and the numerous trace elements feed the roots of grasses and other plants in a slow release way. You need about !/4 pound per square foot of soil but it is expensive, so it can be spread thinner. It is also said to loosen clay soil.
Gypsum loosens clay soil too, is a lot cheaper, but doesn't have all the micronutrients that are in greensand.
Thanks for the empathy about the English Ivy! What a Nightmare! I'm still fighting with it. I'm sorry you lost all those trees! How devastaing for you!

Bummer, I've never seen the greensand around here. They should be trucking that in by the semi load caravan style. Bet it would be a great seller. Lucky you, we are greensandless around here.

Call around. It's in many garden centers around here. I used it on a recommendation from a landscaper to feed some very sad looking arborvitaes and there's nice new growth on them all. I'm poking holes in a circle close to the roots and poring some down all around these bushes twice a season.

I'm back in from butchering buckthorn for a few minutes! Yee ha! Got 3 bigguns! What is the brand name of the product? I've got 3 specific plants I'd like to try this on, Thanks, Lauren

It's naturally occurring, like peat moss, so it's just called greensand.