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Blooming Biases - Plants that will never make my "A" list.

© Carol Wallace

Ok, I admit it. I am guilty of prejudice. Plant prejudice, that is. Some may call me a snob, looking down my nose (which is tough, considering that it turns up at the end) at some poor innocent flower, for some poor, insubstantial and stereotypical reason - such as "I don't like it".

I'm not talking about the garden thugs like mint, that once invited in, take over and show themselves unworthy of your gesture of hospitality. I'm talking about perfectly good plants that for some reason have failed to make my "A" list when I drew up invitations to my garden beds.

And what are my reasons?

Well, they vary from plant to plant, actually - but here are a few examples.

One of the first flowers that I turned my already turned up nose at were those of the Impatiens family. They bored me. Ours is a shady street, and the front yards are inhabited almost exclusively by impatiens. It's like they are the "in" family - and I tend to avoid fads. And it's no wonder the selection of annuals at local nurseries tends to be so abysmal. No one will consider anything else!

So I considered it my civic duty not to buy impatiens, but instead to ask for interesting annuals like osteospermum or scaveola. Year by year, the selection of annuals widened a bit. Pretty soon the Nicotianas (the hybrid, unscented kind), Pansies, Petunias, Coleus and Dusty Miller were available - although in my humble opinion they haven't any more special flair than impatiens. Then last year I went to a local nursery and found scaveola. So the party prospects are improving.

Confession: Last year I allowed a few white impatiens into my yard. I didn't really mean to, but I read that it would bloom in deep shade. My husband's garden isn't just in deep shade - it's in the dark! So I figured I'd give impatiens a try and do you know what? It bloomed! And it looked absolutely lovely among the ferns and hellebores. Considerate, adaptable, modestly lovely - suddenly I began to understand why everyone was so fond of it.

That does not, however, mean that I will stop bugging the local nurseries to stock the exotic osteospermum! Just because impatiens turn out to be useful, easy care and attractive does not mean I want to settle for only them. I gave up wearing uniforms after high school, and I refuse to dress my garden in one now. I value individuality very highly.