# What plants can you not grow, and where? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023 "2003-05-09T01:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/1 "2003-05-09T01:53:09Z")
Gunnera-bugs ate it before the Summer killed it in Little Rock, AR Venus Fly Trap (laugh, go ahead!) Devil’s Claw- sprouts and dies. Cobra PLant (Darlingtonia californica)- too hot, too dry here. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/2 "2003-05-09T01:58:09Z")
Well, if you are Maureen, you cannot grow ANY plant ANY where. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/3 "2003-05-09T02:07:33Z")
Me, too, \*\* Maureen. \*\* I swear to God, my grandmother could take a nickel, bury it in a pot of dirt, and within a week, have something beautiful growing. For me, it’s a struggle just to keep a simple vine alive. Obviously, a green thumb isn’t inherited genetically. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/4 "2003-05-09T02:18:53Z")
I’m another plant killer- or it may just be herbs, as so far I’ve only killed a rosemary topiary, and some (potted) oregano and thyme. I miss that rosemary bush, it was so handsome looking. And it was kind of expensive, for a plant. I want to get a bonsai tree but I just know I’d kill it and that would be a waste. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/5 "2003-05-09T02:25:42Z")
You’re supposed to have a Medeterrania climate for Rosemary. A guy across from the campus has a _hedge_ of the stuff. I hate him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/6 "2003-05-09T02:29:39Z")
The rosemary was indoors. I think maybe I overwatered it. Or underwatered it. Or it just hated me. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/7 "2003-05-09T03:12:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Venus Fly Trap (laugh, go ahead!) Why would I laugh? I’ve tried to keep those alive. I’ve given them little hamburger balls, fercryinoutloud. They _always_ die right away. I’m not a plant killer either. I’m good with most plants. I’m the king of bare spots in the yard. Having a German Shepherd gives you lots of experience. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/8 "2003-05-09T03:13:56Z")
I usually rule that my plants’ deaths are due to suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/9 "2003-05-09T03:16:40Z")
Ah, ahem, except your username of course. :o Anyway, look at [this!](http://www.thegardenhelper.com/flytrap.html) I used to kill a lot more plants before the internet. ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/10 "2003-05-09T03:26:45Z")
rosemary has been unfriendly for me, too. i’ve tried a couple topiaries from the store. my guess is they can be pretty finicky about watering. i’m notorious for not watering frequently enough, and that seems to end a promising plant. (i’ve tried to put some creeping rosemary in a small indoor strawberry-type jar, and it’s already looking kaput after barely a week. however, the regular rosemary that’s outside in my gigantic planter version of the strawberry jar seems to be doing just fine. go figure.) i actually have 1 bonsai that’s stayed alive for over a year now. i keep it at work, right next to my mini-fishtank with the 2 bettas (don’t hyperventilate–they’re separated by a partition). the reason it’s probably still alive, though, is because my co-worker pours her leftover water onto it at the end of the day most of the time. african violets, now… i cannot begin to count the numbers i have killed. for a while i thought i’d got the hang of it, but the drought-by-owner must have finally caught up with them. plants **not** to grow if you can’t remember to water on a regular schedule: ferns (with the exception of asparagus ferns); african violets; neantha bella palms; bonsai; zebra plants. plants that seem to keep going despite anything short of a direct nuclear hit: wandering jew (or some weird all-green cousin of it–i swear, i’ve had cuttings just sitting in a paper bag for a month with no water, no soil…and the DAMN THINGS WERE STILL GROWING!); christmas (or thanksgiving) cactus; aloe; some varieties of orchids; primroses; spider plants. ---
**Author:** ![fizgig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@fizgig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizgig)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/11 "2003-05-09T03:50:14Z")
I can keep almost anything except orchids. OK, I managed to keep an orchid for over a year, but it never flowered. It died post-haste when I moved to New Mexico. But the varieties! I want to take them all home with me, but know I’ll never see their lovely blossoms again. ☹ **lachesis** I also managed to kill a spider plant. Turns out I drowned the poor thing. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/12 "2003-05-09T04:03:18Z")
Lissa, I think my mom is related to your grandmother. She doesn’t have a green thumb. She has a green arm. And there may be a genetic link, she passed in on to my daughter, the lucky thing. I can’t keep mold alive. My ten year old has a rose bush she stuck into the ground out front, waters twice a week, and grows just because she smiles at it. Brat.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/13 "2003-05-09T06:06:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maureen \* > \*\*I can’t keep mold alive. \*\* Well THIS I can help with! What day do you want to schedule the refrigerator swap? More peculiarly to me, I seem to be unable to make a compost bin work. It’s sad when your plant pots look like compost (because nothing’s growing) and your compost bin looks like a plant pot (because nothing’s decomposing). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/14 "2003-05-09T12:15:53Z")
Beagle: It’s providing the domant period. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/15 "2003-05-09T13:08:50Z")
I’ve had a lot of trouble keeping Citrus. It isn’t warm enough here to leave them outdoors in the winter, so they have to be grown in pots; it used to be that I could grow quite a handsome plant even from a pip (although they never flowered, which I’m told is normal for seed-grown citrus), now I can’t even germinate the buggers, let along keep a bought-in calamondin alive for six months. Hmpf ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/16 "2003-05-09T13:36:35Z")
African violets. They never flower again. I can’t grow them no matter where I have ever lived. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/17 "2003-05-09T14:21:23Z")
African violets. It’s a matter of some shame to me, because actually I’m a hell of a gardener, but I’ve killed every African violet I’ve ever come near. The most recent attempt lasted about a year, and did bloom once, but I think I got cocky… Pffft. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/18 "2003-05-09T15:05:37Z")
My silk plants grow very well under my care. The tulips have been in bloom for two years now! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/19 "2003-05-09T21:27:40Z")
Mother in Laws Tongue, if you can find it, grows anywhere, you can’t over water it, under water it etc… Some special herbs that I won’t mention, do better outside in the sun, rather than inside in the closet 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023/20 "2003-05-09T22:02:31Z")
Outdoors, I’m OK. That’s probably because that has more to do with sunlight, soil and the automatic sprinkler. Indoors, however, as long as it doesn’t bloom, I’m OK. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-can-you-not-grow-and-where/174023.md?page=2)