NIMG: Not in My Garden meme

September 17, 2007


You won’t find any bougainvillea—or many other tropicals—in my garden. It looks gorgeous in this *San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, garden, however.
Kim at A Study in Contrasts offered this challenge recently: What design style, plants, decor, etc., do you say “Not in my garden” to? Kim points out that you may admire these elements in other people’s gardens, but you’ve simply decided they aren’t right for your own.
Memes like these are pretty fun, and it’s always a hoot to see your favorite garden element turn up on someone else’s taboo list, so here goes. I’ll preface this list, however, with my oft-stated garden philosophy: To each his own. Your garden should make YOU happy. If it also brings joy to your neighbors, garden-blogging or otherwise, great. But that’s just gravy.
NIMG:
1. You won’t find tropicals like bougainvillea (see photo at top), canna, palm trees, or even plumbago in my garden. Except for the bougainvillea, these are winter hardy in Austin, and quite popular. I like them in other people’s gardens, especially around a pool. But they don’t mix well with my Texas cottage plants, so I leave them alone.

2. Impatiens can fill that shady spot with bright color, but I’ve never cared for them, especially the bright-pink ones (photo courtesy of morgueFile). Instead I lean toward reds and deep purples in my shade garden: Turk’s cap, Texas betony, purple heart, purple oxalis, Salvia guaranitica.

3. Hanging baskets of flowers can look nice in other people’s gardens (though this one, courtesy of morgueFile, looks sad), but NIMG. I can’t be bothered to keep them watered, I don’t like looking at the underside of a plastic pot, and I haven’t been inspired to try planting one of those moss-lined wire baskets.

4. No bird feeders in my garden. They attract rats. I’ve seen it. Enough said. (Photo courtesy of morgueFile.)

5. I won’t succumb to visions of Old South loveliness by trying to grow camellias, azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas, Japanese maples, or even magnolias in Austin. People do grow them here. I’ve grown some of them myself. But it was a struggle. I grew up around these plants, and I love seeing them when I visit Houston gardens (3 hours east of Austin). But they are difficult to grow in Austin’s alkaline soil and hot, dry summers. I’d rather grow plants that need less encouragement from me to stay alive.

Texas black gravel mulch—Yes. White rock mulch—NIMG
6. I won’t use white-rock or red lava-rock mulch in my garden. This one has come up on other people’s NIMG lists, and I don’t have anything to add. Except that I DO love decomposed granite mulch, Texas black gravel mulch (great for contemporary or Asian gardens—see photo above), and even colored glass mulch, as used artfully in Tom Spencer’s garden.
That’s my current NIMG list. But nothing’s carved in stone. In fact, I’ll take this NIMG challenge a step further and list four NIMG elements that I’ve changed my mind about over the years.
I used to say NIMG to:

1. Formal design like clipped box and symmetry, which I used to consider too rigid for my naturalistic inclinations and too fussy to maintain. But in recent years I’ve grown to appreciate the use of a few formal elements to give structure to an otherwise loose planting scheme. I’m still without a clipped boxwood, but I can imagine adding a couple to punctuate an entrance, maybe, or to add a rounded shape to a billowy bed.

Meanwhile, I do use symmetry in my front garden. I like the way it visually pulls you into the courtyard, and it plays up the courtyard’s circular shape.

2. Roses. I used to think roses were doomed to look like this spindly collection of thorny branches (photo courtesy of morgueFile). But then I discovered the Antique Rose Emporium and learned that old-fashioned shrub roses will grow in Austin without heavy fertilizers, sprays, or watering, and I was hooked.

Now I enjoy the trouble-free blooms of ‘Carefree Beauty’ (pictured here), ‘Belinda’s Dream,’ ‘Valentine,’ ‘The Fairy,’ and ‘Marie Pavie,’ with only an occasional feeding of organic fertilizer and periodic trimming.
3. Yuccas and yucca-like plants. For many years I was anti-yucca because I thought they were all like Spanish dagger, a beast of a plant that must be given lots of room but is routinely planted on the sidewalk’s edge in Austin, waiting to poke someone’s eye out.

But then I discovered sotol (pictured above), a yucca-like plant with a gorgeous, round form that shimmies and shivers in the wind; graceful softleaf yucca; beautifully striped variegated yucca; and little twistleaf yucca. All of these have softer leaves that bend rather than stab. They prove that yuccas come in many shapes and sizes and can be successfully worked into many garden styles, providing evergreen structure and bold form. I’m sold on them!

4. Crepe myrtles. You probably don’t know that a very large, hot-pink crepe myrtle grows in my back yard. I inherited it with the house, and it’s probably 30-50 years old. Its location behind the garage ensures that I rarely notice it, except from my upstairs bathroom window, and I never think to photograph it, even when it’s in full bloom. Why? Because crepe myrtles, especially the watermelon-pink variety, are so common around Austin (and the South in general) as to have become nearly invisible to me. It wasn’t until Ki blogged about them after a trip to North Carolina that I gave them more than a passing thought, and I’d been sure that I would never plant one. Why plant something that everybody has?
Well, NIMG no longer. I’m going to be replacing an awkwardly aging vitex in my front garden soon, and recently I began considering the possibilities. I wanted a small, multi-trunked, ornamental tree with all-year interest, attractive bark, flowers if possible, and well suited to our seasonal droughts and intensely hot summers. There were several good options, including Anacacho orchid tree, Mexican plum, Mexican buckeye, Texas mountain laurel, and Texas redbud, but I ended up settling on the unlikeliest (to my mind)—a crepe myrtle.

I chose ‘Muskogee‘ (not from this vendor), a lavender-flowered, medium-sized crepe myrtle with excellent resistance to powdery mildew. I’ll be planting it soon, after I have the vitex removed. After thinking NIMG for so long in regard to these excellent trees, I’m excited to be thinking, Yes—in my garden!
All photos mine except as noted.

0 responses to “NIMG: Not in My Garden meme”

  1. bill says:

    I have heard claims that palms once grew natively as far north as Austin. But they do _look_ out of place.
    Interesting. Actually, there is a small, native palmetto, Sabal minor, that grows here. And I did in fact plant one of these by my container pond. It can work well in a tropical garden, but I think it also mixes nicely with other locally native plants. —Pam

  2. Hmmmm. I’m too new of a gardener to be very picky but now that I think of it….
    Lantana. I have one left and I am sick of it. I think it must go. NIMGEA, not in my garden ever again!
    I like lantana, but it takes up more room than you think it will. I pulled all mine (except trailing lantana ) last year, but I do miss it now that it’s looking so pretty all over town. I guess it didn’t really want to leave my garden because I got a volunteer—a pink one—this year, and I haven’t had the heart to pull it out. —Pam

  3. An open mind is a beautiful thing – I love that you included the maybe-in-my-garden-after-alls! To think I used to hate the color orange… Things sure do change! I hope everyone comes back to this meme in a few years to see if any minds were changed. (I haven’t posted a NIMG because Blithewold isn’t *my* garden…)
    Part of the fun of gardening is the garden’s evolution. Over time, your tastes may change, and your garden changes too. Or perhaps you move and start a new garden, and what once seemed utterly inappropriate now seems just right in the new space. So I do try to keep an open mind. And I’m glad to know you came around to the color orange. It’s one of my garden favorites! —Pam

  4. Stuart says:

    That’s an interesting take on adding plants that you’ve changed your mind on Pam. I’ve done this with a few things as well.
    I’ve often made up my mind that such-and-such plant looks ridiculous until I find a garden where it seems to be doing really well. Only then will I try it out and I usually find out that my misgivings were fairly shallow.
    Great to see you changed your mind on the roses. Yours are always beautiful.
    You’re right, Stuart, that seeing a plant growing in a lovely setting can change your mind about it. Education can too, and that’s what changed my mind about the roses. Thank goodness! I wouldn’t want to be without them now. —Pam

  5. kate says:

    It’s interesting to see how our ideas on what works in our gardens changes with time. I love the yucca … and am looking forward to seeing photographs of your crepe myrtle when it is planted.
    Any time I have to get to tear up the garden to put in something new, it’s bound to be blog-worthy. Stay tuned! —Pam

  6. Kim' says:

    Pam, how fun… as others above noted, I like that you included the “maybe after all” plants as well. (And funny, we have both formal items and yucca in common there. Although it was the variegated yucca and not any soft-leaf varieties that got to me.)
    Can you grow variegated yucca in your northern garden, Kim? How wonderful! —Pam

  7. That ‘Muskogee’ crepe myrtle has been on my ‘someday’ list ever since I first saw it, but I hope it will be a while before I need to buy one… it’s the designated hitter if/when another of the Arizona Ashes has to come down. Seeing how your new tree will work where the vitex once ruled is going to be fun for your readers! The courtyard design is so beautiful, however, that you could probably put a patio umbrella frame in there and it would look interesting.
    Pam – if you ever miss the plants of your childhood, you could come up here where I’ve chosen to “succumb to visions of Old South loveliness by trying to grow camellias…hydrangeas…..magnolias…” as well as tropicals, hanging baskets full of impatiens, and box hedges. Some of it came with the house, but the ultimate responsibility for the rest is mine.
    Annie at the Transplantable Rose
    An umbrella frame would definitely be pushing it! But thanks for the compliment, Annie. I have high hopes for ‘Muskogee,’ and naturally I’ll be letting you know how it works out.
    As you quoted my list of banished plants back at me, and pointed out how you’re growing every one, it just reinforced my notion that beautiful gardens—like yours—are at their best when they are personal expressions of their owners, as yours surely is. Those plants look great, each and every one, in your garden. I’ll be happy to enjoy your “Old South loveliness” again the next time I’m up there. 🙂 —Pam

  8. Bonnie says:

    Great list. I love hearing these and knowing what pet peeves people have.

  9. max says:

    Sorry to weigh in so late, but I have to point out that there are around 1000 species of Impatiens, and some of them are cool. Check out Mr. Impatiens.
    I love my I. niamniamensis, but it’s turning out to require a TON of water, so I may eventually do the smart thing and get rid of it.
    Yeah, I know, they were blanket statements. Probably there are some cool impatiens. I was merely thinking of the ones I see around town all the time.
    Thanks for weighing in, Max. —Pam

  10. Cindy Dyer says:

    Really, really great posting, Pam! I love the “NIMG” topic. I internalize NIMG quite often, but reading someone else’s list is cool. I ESPECIALLY agree with you on the white rocks. They just NEVER work. I wish vendors would quit selling them. Some people (who have less taste than others) put them in their front yards in our townhouse community. Ugly, ugly, ugly! Then after the snows melt, the mildew starts…then it’s a lovely (not) mixture of white and dark green slime. All of this surrounding their sad little plants that are begging for leaf mulch.

  11. Gale says:

    Yeah, I felt the same way about the Crepe Myrtyls being so common..but then I learned they actually omit a mist, so I’m starting to rethink that. Sitting under a misty tree in the hot summer sounds like a great idea!