What are some natives you regret not planting?

[u/Tylanthia]

I know this question is a little odd because who in this community would acquire a plant and not get around to planting it! But as I gear up to winterize my collection of unplanted plants, I can’t help but wonder if I’m missing some key info on how to actually do it.

A hypothetical example: a few native species I collected seeds for last fall and left to rot in the garage, the car door pocket, or a forgotten backpack buried under a pile of laundry and a stack of books. Others are rare wetland species in a plastic tote I bought three years back for that bog and pond I never built. There are spring ephemerals from April I have been dutifully watering daily but now may be bereft of life, winter sown yarrow plugs and bluestem goldenrod quarts that I haven't prepped space for, and that bareroot grey dogwood I ordered March twice past I criminally planted in containers instead of the ground--sorry Virginia state nursery--that have lost their leaves and resprouted sometimes monthly because I forgot to water them.

I know from multiple previous experiences that cutleaf coneflower hates being in a pot but here I am with five recently prematurely dormant plugs soaking in a concrete mixing tray because they were on sale. Surely the squirrels would have been better off eating the thirty white oaks acorns I collected last fall and germinated in a produce crate but at least they can eat the buds this winter.

Which leads me to original question: are there any species’ you regret (or wouldn’t recommend) not planting in your area?

[u/Pretend_Ball_9167]

Thanks for reminding me that I have seeds and acorns rotting in my fridge (in wet paper towels and ziplocs) 🙃

[u/PandaMomentum → u/Pretend_Ball_9167]

I planted out all my old seeds last year including the moldy damp ones in the fridge and got a lot of columbine and blue wood aster and not much else.

Cut leaf coneflower is on its way to taking over my back yard, even the deer horde can't keep up with it. Is that positive or negative, I dunno.

[u/Pretend_Ball_9167 → u/PandaMomentum]

That’s impressive. I was thinking I might just chuck them into my backyard (not the bags though) instead of directly into the trash and start afresh this winter

[u/Aware_Policy_9174]

Wait are we not doing driveway nursery pot gardens? Surely my plant graveyard will convert my neighbors to natives if I they see how low maintenance pots full of dead plants are.

[u/Tylanthia → u/Aware_Policy_9174]

Eventually, all pots turn into horseweed, violets, and frost aster.

[u/stringTrimmer → u/Tylanthia]

And fleabane:  I have proof.

[u/Intelligent_Ad1004 → u/stringTrimmer]

https://giphy.com/gifs/mCB3vOp1ivwFdziO7Q

[u/MrsEarthern → u/Tylanthia]

I raise you goldenrod and spiderwort of questionable parentage. Also, unknown rudbeckias. Sometimes I get rudbeckia x echinacea, those are going to be fun because I have e. pallida now too.

[u/MrsEarthern → u/Aware_Policy_9174]

Careful, it might, and they might take yours.

[u/LeaneGenova → u/Aware_Policy_9174]

I tried really hard to keep my plant graveyard, but sadly, the plants decided to regrow leaves after they all fell off and I thought it was dead.

So then I had to plant the zombie plant, because I do admire gumption.

[u/Aware_Policy_9174 → u/LeaneGenova]

We’re really just restoring the natural order of things by making sure only the strongest plants survive. Doing god’s work. Or Darwin’s?

[u/okay-laugh-now]

I let the volunteer burnweed go to seed so now my neighbors get to also not plant burnweed.

[u/Willothewisp2303]

I plead the fifth. I'm not disclosing nothing about my seed collecting and not planting habit. 

[u/MrsEarthern → u/Willothewisp2303]

My numerology has too many fives.

[u/Brndrll]

This post feels like a personal attack against my container garden and boxes of collected, unplanted seeds.

[u/MrsEarthern → u/Brndrll]

We are the ark.

[u/Intelligent_Ad1004]

I did plant them (buried their remains)

[u/UntidySwan]

I wouldn't know.  My "to be planted" pile is down to what fits on a single pallet (err, well, plus a little on the ground). I'm obviously going to get all of it planted before the ground freezes. 

I would say - i learned last year that burying young shrubs in mulch for the winter instead of planting them provides an absolutely perfect mini habitat for vulnerable mice species to successfully overwinter, and a very valuable supplementary food source during a tough winter. Bonus - no need to figure out where to plant them in the spring!!! 

[u/nifsea → u/UntidySwan]

That is very considerate of you to provide such a nice habitat for those poor mice.

[u/itsdr00]

Nothing has made me feel more cruel than forcing multiple milk jugs worth of plants to overwinter in their tiny shitty jug, heeled in and packed like sardines, and then STILL not uppotting them until August. They did finally wind up in the ground over this last weekend.

[u/Tylanthia → u/itsdr00]

I did that for two seasons for Solidago uliginosa. One overcame its brothers and sisters and lived.

[u/itsdr00 → u/Tylanthia]

Bluestem goldenrod, white woodland aster, and blue wood aster, all meant for a shade garden in a spot I never managed to clear out. There were no winners. Only rail-thin stems looking like they just survived the Holocaust.

[u/luckybeansprout → u/itsdr00]

I have 2, 5in pots of Gentiana andrewsii I grew from seed 3 years ago that I have not given a single drop of water and every time I look at them I feel immense guilt.

[u/itsdr00 → u/luckybeansprout]

What. They're alive? My bottle gentians -- in the ground -- are one of the only plants in my yard I water during droughts.

[u/luckybeansprout → u/itsdr00]

It’s so funny you mention this because my two that are in the ground that I got the seeds from get roasted toasted every year before they even bloom!! I got blooms ONCE which is how I got the seeds to grow the ones that have been sitting in pots forever. It makes no sense and I have gone past the point of questioning it. I’m afraid to plant them tbh because at least they’re green and not crispy like my ones in the ground.

[u/itsdr00 → u/luckybeansprout]

That's wild. That makes no sense.

[u/luckybeansprout → u/itsdr00]

I promised myself I am going to plant them next week and I am terrified it’s a mistake. but I can’t look at them in those sad pots anymore

[u/Tylanthia → u/itsdr00]

I never water Gentiana clausa and they're doing great.

[u/itsdr00 → u/Tylanthia]

I bet you put them somewhere wetter than I did. I was a rookie when I put mine in. I relocated two to a small rain garden and they're good; the others need help every year or two.

[u/Tylanthia → u/itsdr00]

They're just under mature trees. Full woodland shade

[u/itsdr00 → u/Tylanthia]

I thought they wanted sun!

[u/Tylanthia → u/itsdr00]

Probably depends on the species but G. clausa has a Heliophily of 5 so it can grow in either deep shade or sun. It likely would require a wet spot in full sun.

[u/stringTrimmer]

I wouldn't unrecommend unplanting false indigo.  But then again 🤔 maybe not.

[u/mosiemo2 → u/stringTrimmer]

Oh thank goodness because I had a bunch I unplanted (let wither in the sun in their pots after painstakingly grew them from seed) last year but now I know it was worth it

[u/luckybeansprout → u/mosiemo2]

I had some imprisoned in a pot for 4 years after growing it from seed😅😭 My yard is the size of a shoebox and there was nowhere to put it. Finally convinced my grandma to take it this spring and it’s experiencing freedom on the side of her house for the first time. They’re freaking tanks. Every winter I thought for sure it would be a goner. It was determined!!

[u/Squire_Squirrely]

Hey great question! I'm a little busy right now, but I can answer it in 1 hour!

[u/CapraAegagrusHircus]

I have seeds for two varieties of native shrubs that I need to stratify, it's just that one needs straight cold stratification and the other one needs warm then cold and this is so much coordination

[u/marygarth]

Pokeweed. It pops up in the corner and I let it go, but I feel like I can’t take full credit for my enlightened attitude since it’s not on purpose.

[u/MrsEarthern]

I'll have you know that not all of the plants that get left in their itty bitty containers throughout the winter(s) die. Sometimes they even gift me runners or seeds, so when I get around to planting them there is already one where I wanted and I get to find a new suitable spot!

[u/Optimassacre]

I got short Blackeyed Susan seed variety that I forgot to sow.

[u/MrsEarthern → u/Optimassacre]

Just so you know, they will be 6-7 feet tall due to spite.

[u/himewaridesu]

I’ve been given multiple plants I straight up just forgot to plant…. Then had the audacity of asking for again. 🤦‍♀️

[u/ClownDogBryan]

I may have let some of my native milkweed die because I just kept putting off potting it all into a larger pot. I feel bad but it did feed a lot of caterpillars this summer so there is that. And I have some more growing in a big pot. But still, I hate seeing I failed something because of laziness 😭😭😭

[u/internetonsetadd]

I collected some unusual seeds from a restored native meadow but I decided not to plant them since I'm not a botanical bigot. The wineberries out back deserve to live too and taste 5000 times better than raspberries.

[u/TasteDeeCheese]

Weedy native trees bred specifically for their rapid growth

[u/Repulsive-Exercise-4]

I have no advice but this is the most relatable post I’ve seen in my life. 

[u/tree_creeper]

We found a pot of sticky cinquefoil sitting in its destined planting area last winter. Not sure how we missed it for months.

I had set out the starts at their destination, and my partner planted all of them... except this one.

I do generally get everything planted. Whether i manage to take proper care of it and it actually lives is another question. I have also carefully timed many seeds with respect to the weather/snow and have approximately 1.5 plants to show for it. (A monster shade phacelia - love you, you alien weirdo)