I’m absolutely amazed by how many plants there are.
I know the plants in my garden well; I have paid for them and chose them above others. Yet every time I visit a garden or a nursery I see plants that are new to me. It’s rather wonderful.
I love this Narcissus ‘Ellen’ but don’t grow it myself
But I don’t yearn for every plant I see. I’ve written about a plant that I pretty much hate, but what about the huge gap between the plants I truly adore and couldn’t be without, and the single plant that I really, really don’t like?
It’s A Matter Of Taste
Some plants are similar to some that I grow already, others I like to see in other gardens but don’t want in my small garden, and there many plants that are just not to my taste.
Not sure what this is, but it’s not to my taste
And I mean that, they’re not to my taste.
An Important Distinction
Why do some feel the need to become arbiters of what is in good taste and what is not?
We must, in our gardens at least, be allowed to embrace the things that make us happy. It’s wrong to suppress joy under the leaden pall of garden taste.
Aucubas, ‘spotted laurels’, tend to polarise opinion
We all like what we like. A knee-jerk response to the plants that irk us is understandable, yet I cannot help but think that we must learn to temper our responses. Just because we would never consider allowing a plant to grow in our own garden doesn’t mean that the plant is ‘bad’ or worthy of scorn.
Some plants are just not to our taste.
Points Of View
The gardening world is littered with people who will tell you what to grow. Some of these people are kind folks who would like to draw your attention to a plant they think has great merit.
House plants can be hard enough to grow without complaining about their colours
Some gardeners seem to think that their personal tastes represent what is right and good in the world, and this is just not right.
I’ve had to learn how to distinguish between plants that are ‘bad’ and ones that I just don’t like. It’s sometimes difficult to have an objective view, but I think it’s important to at least be aware of our personal tastes when it comes to the plants that we encounter. If a plant is reliable, does what it is supposed to do really well, and makes a gardener happy, then by any sensible definition it is a ‘good’ plant.
I was told by wise old gardeners to hate Narcissus ;Jetfire’ for its orange trumpet, but I’m now wise enough to know that I love it
And so I might not be willing to give a plant room in my own garden, but by the grace of all that is good in the world I will defend your right to grow it in yours.
O, that weasel word ‘taste’.
It defeats me. Is it : (a dictionary definition here) “a person’s ability to judge and recognise what is good or suitable, especially relating to such matters as art, style, beauty, and behaviour” – who is to judge their ability?
Or (alternative definition) “a person’s approval of and liking for particular things” ? – based on?
Or “simply the fact of liking or enjoying something” ?
And why do I loathe that eternal “people have different tastes” when someone criticises a garden. (But not so much if they criticise a film, a book, or a play…)
Ah yes, you can definitely have different tastes, but fundamentally it’s important to identify that planting that’s not to one’s taste can still be executed well.
That second image is of Iresine, which comes in at least 2 colors and I love them both.
And I do agree with this post.
Ps I hate old fashioned hyacinth.
It might be a rather larger Iresine than I’m used to seeing; it’s in a tropical greenhouse!
Not all dismay about particular plants is a matter of preference. Within certain settings, more than a few common garden plants are likely to be harmful. Many are best left out of suburban American gardens, particularly non-native invasive plants or trees that will later prove a menace to the homeowner or the properties around them (Callery Pear and Japanese honeysuckle come to mind). I’ve no problem with gardening advice that warns unsuspecting homeowners about potential thugs. While we still live in a democracy, if anyone has a problem with opinions given on particular plants, they have the full right to go on and do exactly what they please, which is what I’ll do when someone tells me I shouldn’t plant a plant I like.
While that’s very true, there’s a big difference between “you shouldn’t grow that because it’s a menace” and “you shouldn’t grow that because I don’t like it”.
Thank you! You have enlightened me on a new response to unwanted advise on my plant or landscape choice. “I am now wise enough to know what I like”. I am 76 years wise thank you very much. Of course I would not share my thought out loud. Don’t need to. I have only myself to please. No more shame. Hooray!
Completely agree with you. Grow what you like; growing plants well is what makes us gardeners.
When you live long enough and follow a passion for gardening or any other endeavor you realize that opinions are sometimes just that…opinions. They may seem to be based on the latest research or data collection but years later these can and often change as well! At the present time the planet is rapidly warming. We are encouraged to plant native species. Yet the concept of native species is not so simple. How are they defined? Are native species able to survive in a changing environment? My answer? Better to be a gardener than not!
Absolutely; it’s good to have opinions, but opinions are not, and must not be regarded as, facts.
Fortunately, the planet IS NOT rapidly warming.
I completely agree! It takes a loving heart to accept some plants that others insist on growing in their garden. My mother grew a Fuchsia in her California garden. It got to be 6ft tall, with those beautiful pendant blossoms. I had to admit it was healthy and beautiful, even though I would never grow it in my garden!
Fuchsias are a good example of a plant I could take or leave, but as you say a well grown one is nice to see.
It would be a pretty boring world if we all liked the same things!
That’s certainly very true!
I thought I once read Christopher Lloyd said a little bad taste can prevent a garden from becoming boring.
I admit I overdo it in mine.
Wise words, whoever said it.
I get to enjoy what little the deer don’t eat.
Before the world of easy search via internet. My mom thought the Canadian thistle was beautiful. She got some somewhere and plunked it at the corner of the house and realized what a mistake that was. Well, it kept us kids from running around the outside of the house at top speed.
As the old proverb goes, “Variety is the spice of life.” Your story is a great reminder that each person’s garden is their own. Growing up, I always liked that no two family member’s gardens were alike.
Very definitely.
Right plant, right place?
Possibly, although I’ve generally thought of the expression as referring to planting conditions rather than taste as such.
I’ll take hot, jungly, garish colors with big fat and/or strappy leaves every time, and reject anything remotely resembling a prairie. To me, it seems crazy that anyone would choose dusty little shrubby things like lavenders when there are fatsia japonica and salvias out there in the world!
For what it’s worth, I like the orange trumpeted daffodil too. That hot color in the cold weather is invigorating and unpretentious.
It’s good to have, and to know, your preferences. While lavenders and so on might not be to your taste, far worse to grow lavenders and Fatsias in the same space!