Basil! Indoors, outdoors, it hates my guts. Is it just a bad plant for a pot? (no yard)
Annie, I had a basil plant in a pot indoors that lasted through 2 moves over 3 years, including a re-potting when it got too big for the old pot. So I think it’s a fine plant for a pot. Unfortunately I killed it when I decided to put it outdoors and we had an early frost.:smack: I knew me having a living plant was too good to be true.
I’m another plant killer.
I have amazing success with plants ( except herbs, because I really haven’t tried too much.)
But Roses are the death of me.
I finally gave up with the pruning, watering and tucking it in at night and ripped the damned things out to give to my mother in law who has an uber-green thumb.
Mother in law’s tongue is a noxious weed here. I’m ripping it out all over the place.
Thyme’s hard to grow here, it’s not just me, my father can’t keep it alive either.
Citrus – but I’m convinced there’s something in the soil which is killing it. There’s none anywhere in the street which is unusual for Brisbane. Pansies are winter plants here.
But I miss the cottage garden perennials. Lavender’s tricky here and roses are a waste of time. Hostas, delphiniums… :
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Tell me more! How large was the pot compared to plant size, how close to the window was it(we have thin windows here, so it’s colder in the windowsill) watering schedule, everything!.
No pressure.
I had a horrible time last fall; all but one of my houseplants fell victim to some kind of bugs. There were nasty little white bugs and nasty little black bugs; both just barely visible, they were so little. I couldn’t get rid of the damn things. They multiplied like mad and just devoured my poor plants. Fortunately, I managed to get some un-infested cuttings, so I’ve grown back some pretty good clones of my original martyrs.
My latest problem has been getting chives to germinate (indoors). They just won’t do it. My oregano keeps dying, but at least it SPROUTS first. I’ve been trying to grow the damn chives for five months, and they simply WILL NOT SPROUT. The seeds just sit there, doing not a damn thing. It makes me sad.
I’m sorry.
It’s my fault for starting this stupid thread.
I’m sorry.
I never should have done it, and I’m sorry.
Well, I am.
Sorry.
After a thread her, I went to eBay and bought 3 Giant Sequoias. They are doing marvelously. I plan to keep them going in a pot for a couple years, then plant them in my yard.
In Minnesota.
I’m a dreamer.
Don’t tell me; you’re not sure they grow for 1,000 years. so you planted seedlings to see, right?
Hey all. Please don’t feel bad about your rosemary dying. I have found, through much hard experience, that the average rosemary that you can buy in a store isn’t really adapted to home conditions. I’m guessing that they are grown in greenhouses and fertilized and forced to within an inch of their little lives, and when they are taken home, they can’t survive. I find this with a lot of store-bought houseplants, actually. Rosemary is a picky plant in any case.
I have found success, basically, by getting lucky. I have bought many small rosemaries in stores, and they kept dying. Finally, I got some prostrate rosemary that survived. I kept it for a few years, and then I killed it by underwatering, but it would have been fine otherwise. I also planted an upright rosemary in my garden which turned out to be a very good plant. It thrived for 3 years because we had mild winters. This year’s winter did it in. I’m going to try putting another one in, and try and give it some weather protection. It’s worth trying, because it’s my favorite herb.
In other words, if you want to grow rosemary, I think you’ve got to accept that you will have a high failure rate, and just keep trying. As such, make sure to buy small plants, because they have spent less time in that greenhouse environment. That eliminates topiaries from consideration. Small plants are also cheaper, and so are less annoying when they die.
As far as houseplants in general–I think it’s usually best if you can get a cutting or plant from someone rather than buying in a store. That way you know it’s been proven to survive in home conditions.
And FWIW, the greatest killers of houseplants are overwatering and low humidity.