Yes, I hate forsythia. It’s too yellow, straggly and uninteresting after blooming and dreadful in the winter.

LOVE!

Lobelia Cardenalis: I planted this beautiful native many years ago and I’m always surprised when (and where) it pops up. I usually find it when I’m cursing the depressing, dry, over-grown state of my August garden and then there it is! Happily flowering away, with an intense red that is not fire-engine or candy, something wonderfully in between.

HATE!

Sandy Cherry (Prunus x cistena). I love pops of deep purple in the garden: they draw the eye across the planting and highlight green foliage and can contrast really dramatically with flowers. This guy does that for about a month in the Spring and then becomes anemic and mildewy and just plain sad looking. I keep meaning to pull it out because it’s not earning its keep and replace with one of my beloved Smokebushes (below)–they really earn their keep!

LOVE!

Smokebush:cotinus corryggia ‘Purple Haze’