I’ve not been too well this week. For the first time in years I’ve been tucked up in bed for several days with hot tea as my body fights whatever this malaise is; I’m very rarely ill at all, and this has really taken me out. Woken at some godforsaken hour by the feeling that someone has stabbed me in the throat (illness always seems so much worse at night), I tried to distract myself with some nocturnal Facebook browsing.
Big mistake.
Algorithms
I look at a lot of plant and gardening content on the internet, usually aiming for specific resources and nursery websites.
This idea of vinegar being a ‘safe’ wonder-cure for weeds is everywhere
Nevertheless, those shadowy algorithms that follow us around the internet seem to think that if I look at some horticultural content I should be looking at all of it.
Mixed Quality
Sometimes I come across something really good online, an article or post that is accurate and insightful.
I read rather a lot of quite mediocre stuff, with sometimes slightly dubious content given as ‘fact’.
Yet I’m seeing more and more content so outlandishly inaccurate that it astonishes me that people have the audacity to produce it, let alone release it to the internet as serious advice.
An American Icon
Martha Stewart is a household icon in the US, possibly Canada too(?), but not really in the UK. We’ve heard of her though, and I believe she’s highly respected. The ‘Martha Stewart brand’ should represent the best, right?
8 plants you should NEVER grow near roses…?!
So with a mixture of pain, exhaustion and the irritation of reading an article titled “8 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Roses”, I find myself sitting at my desk to write this article at 1am.
What’s Wrong?
I’m intrigued by the idea of there being plants you should never grow next to roses. Do they fight? Are there plants that will reach their stems down into the ground and dig your roses out during the night?
The article follows two lines: fungal problems and competition for resources.
Allegedly common lilac, Syringa vulgaris, will compete heavily for resources with roses. Now some lilacs have a fairly robust root system that helps them cope with hot and dry summers. If you have a small rose planted right next to a large lilac then yes, quite possibly, you might get conflict between the two.
Big plants can sometimes outcompete little plants, but why pick on lilacs?
Yet the same would be true of a range of trees and shrubs grown in gardens. Sometimes plants don’t get along it you have a very vigorous plant already well-established and you’re trying to get a weaker plant to take, but this isn’t really peculiar to roses.
The article also lists lilac, snapdragons, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers (does anyone actually grow potatoes, tomatoes and peppers with their roses?!), hollyhocks, leopard’s bane (the picture shows elecampane, or Inula to use its botanical name), morning glory, mint and, most bizarrely, creeping Jenny, with the idea that these plants attract diseases to roses.
Rose diseases primarily occur when plants don’t get enough light and airflow. Wild roses are real fighters, used to battling it out with other plants to hold their space, but when they’re brought into the close environment of a garden, packed in with other plants and, dare I say it, also overfed they can become susceptible to mildews, rusts and spotting.
As indeed can the plants on the list in the article for pretty much the same reason. These plants aren’t attracting diseases to the roses, just developing the same problems for the same reasons. Furthermore they don’t suddenly not suffer from diseases if no roses are growing nearby.
Wait… What?
Sometimes you see something that makes you scratch your head for a moment.
“The strong scent of mint can deter pollinators from visiting the roses”?
Mint stops pollinators visiting roses?
Now I can’t speak for American bees but British bees seem rather partial to mint. I know there’s this idea, supported by but not quite comprehensively proven by science, that aromatic plants ward off pests. Mint is an absolute icon of the aromatic plants!
Aromatic plants need to be pollinated too. In the same way that carnivorous plants don’t eat their pollinators, any aromatic plant that repelled its pollinators would fail to produce seed. Mint is no exception.
Definitely Not Just Martha
This is absolutely not just a phenomenon particular to the Martha Stewart website.
To illustrate I visited the website ‘Devon Live’, a regional news website for my part of the UK. The word ‘news’ is often a little stretched in the case of this website.
Apparently if you water your plants in hot weather they will all die… apparenly.
As with roses, yes you can get fungal problems on lavender foliage. You might well say that this means that foliage should remain dry at all times.
But what happens when it rains? Are we to rush out with umbrellas every time the clouds linger over our gardens?
Lavender can be difficult on nurseries but less so in the garden
Lavender can be difficult in nurseries; tightly packed plants with regular irrigation and the stress of being in pots can be susceptible to diseases. If gardeners had the same problems that nurseries have with lavender crops they would probably avoid growing the plant altogether.
Lazy Journalism, Fear-mongering And Misinformation
In the ‘age of information’ you’d really hope that people would do some fact checking. Or maybe just apply a bit of logic?
I guess part of the problem is that there’s so much information that it’s hard to know what to trust. The internet, the primary source of easy facts, is so awash with junk content, and one publication just lifts content of the next, then the next, fuelling an exponential growth in poor quality content.
If newspapers are to be believed then hydrangeas would constantly be close to death
Very little is actually being written by people with specifically horticultural backgrounds, beyond maybe supplying a soundbite for someone’s article. Maybe editors don’t want to get dirty fingerprints onto the keyboards of the newsroom computers?
There’s also a pattern to a lot of this mainstream gardening media. “You have a serious problem you didn’t even know about, but don’t worry here’s an easy solution that will make everything right again.” That is until you read the next article that tells you that you have a different serious problem that needs fixing.
‘Clickbait’ is a key tool for online media; apparently nobody wants to read articles telling them that they’re actually doing pretty well at life. We must be bullied and cajoled into thinking that we’re all miserable failures, but all will be OK if we defer to this publication or that one for a remedy.
I like how the writer of the headline seems sceptical about whether this technique (salt and vinegar) is cheap and effective
Outright misinformation takes ‘clickbait’ to the next level, cutting at the rope of reality to the point where only single strands might remain. Social media is awash with people telling you that you can make useful fertiliser with banana skins, grow citrus trees from pips that will fruit in 12 months, and my own favourite where someone grafts a mango tree to other mango tree and gets a bumper crop of shiny red apples. A small number of people might question the validity of the content but as long as the majority go along with what they’re told then it’s fine.
Who Cares?
I derive enormous satisfaction from seeing people succeed with their gardens, regardless of whether or not I’ve had a personal hand in their success.
I believe in the importance of gardening, not as a chore to be tackled using a series of hacks but as a creative and contemplative process we can all enjoy. I believe, absolutely, that to write about gardening for other people is an honour and a privilege, and a role to take responsibly.
Roses and a plethora of other plants thriving in an English garden
Bad information, deliberate or not, is unhelpful for gardeners. I’ve been gardening long enough now that I’ve learned to spot things that aren’t right, but new gardeners are faced with a barrage of information and expected to pick out the bits that are actually true from the half-truths and fakes. It’s hard enough getting started in gardening without misinformation.
Fear-mongering doesn’t help. Keeping gardeners in a constant state of angst in order to generate clicks seems right for some media publications, but not for me.
I’m just glad I made my way into gardening with the support of kind and rational people; not everyone gets that option.
Six Top Tips To Make Your Garden Thrive
-
Plants thrive and plants die, and they have a bewildering range of habits in between. A yellow leaf here and there is usually a plant dropping an old leaf it doesn’t want. There is no point trying to ‘cure’ perfectly normal plant behaviour.
-
Pests and diseases have good years and bad. If you’re getting the same problems every year then it might be worth exploring alternative plants for your garden. Bear in mind that young and soft growth is usually far more susceptible to problems that tougher growth, so go easy on your feeding.
-
Treat all gardening wisdom as advice rather than instructions. Your garden is unique, thanks to soil, microclimate, history (what’s happened on your site in the past), plant selections and a wealth of other things. Giving die-hard absolutes about your garden would be like trying to ask a monkey to measure the moon.
-
Don’t berate yourself for any problems, and don’t let yourself get into the habit of thinking every imperfection is a disaster. One of the gardeners I admire the most was a lady I overheard over 10 years ago who, after a rough start to her sweet peas, had pulled them up. “This year just wasn’t meant to be,” she told her friend, “but I’ll try again next year.”
-
If a particular type of plant or a particular gardening job becomes too much hassle, look for ways to avoid growing that plant or doing that job.
-
Always, always, ask questions. Anyone who truly knows what they’re doing will usually be more than happy to share their insight, while those who are just regurgitating the same few facts over and over really won’t want to help you. Cake and cookies are a friendly way to get an audience with a knowledgeable gardener!
I couldn’t agree more. The ones that really irk me focus on hydrangeas. Yes, it is somewhat of a diva, but nowhere near what gets picked up by ignorant writers that just repeat what some other amateur has written. And the solutions they offer — what rubbish!!! Doesn’t anyone care about writing accurate plant info?
If you took all the advice about hydrangeas at face value you’d wonder how they ever survive at all!
Sorry you’re under the weather (an interesting expression!?), Ben. Hope you’re on the mend soon.
Always love and relate to what you have to say. And this rant is right on the mark, for sure. When you search for info on the web, CONSIDER THE SOURCE!! Duh! There is so much BS out there, and now we have to contend with AI as well, sigh. What’s an inquiring gardener to do?
Absolutely; check sources.
I’m personally careful with my books, but websites are so much harder to verify.
When digital media dismissed the gatekeepers, it allowed a lot of people who had been kept out arbitrarily to speak to the world. But it also created the fat mess above. And it’s only getting worse with the use of AI to create more constant content. I love the research I can do on the internet as someone who knows what to look for and where to go, but I could do that before, just differently – and my concentration overall was better as a result of it. A net negative I fear.
Get better soon Ben, unless it interferes with writing more articles like this one. 😉 – MW
A double-edged sword if ever there was one.
Ben, you make so many good points I hardly know where to start!
Yours are among my favorite rants so I am sorry you’re feeling sick, and I hope you feel better soon.
I too am irritated regularly by advice given about plants, especially as much of the problems are usually obvious to anyone who uses common sense: if a plant has overgrown their space they will affect the conditions for smaller plants, growing near them. Since they share the soil nutrients and moisture, the smaller plant will suffer. True.
What is particularly irritating for me is advice that comes on the label on new plants. It will be at least a year before you know whether it’s in the right place, and even then to decide what’s going wrong; this is true of every plant you put in the ground, except annuals, of course.,
so it’s up to you to analyze what’s going wrong….it all takes experience!
Gardening is a lifetime interest!
Thanks, Ben.
In the case of labels you could at least argue there’s a very finite space to communicate. That said, some labels are very generous when it comes to hardiness etc.
I wonder if, given the diversity of plants and gardens, a more holistic and conceptual approach to gardening might be better?
Ben your no. 5 above “avoid growing that plant” hits home when i think about how iris borers have devastated entire beds. what factors should we consider? cost over foolish hope? the odds of an insect missing an opportunity? hos do you arrive at The Final Solution for a beloved flower?
It’s one of the hardest things for a passionate gardener, when beloved plants become ungrowable due to things that are not our fault and are beyond our influence to protect against.
Ultimately the decision to give up on a plant is a personal one; there comes a point where the expenditure and the crushing disappointment becomes too much to bear.
Hi, Ben. Hope you are better now but just in case: For What Ails You–My mother would make strong tea– and then add honey, lemon and a VERY generous splash of ginger brandy. She said it didn’t cure the symptoms but it made them a lot more fun.
I grow roses fighting for sun with all sorts of things, herbaceous and shrubby, and have never had any problems.
Thanks for the tip.
Roses are so much more resilient than gardeners might assume.
Many years ago (some 75!) the very elderly next door neighbor took me under her wing and shared her ‘secrets’ to the lovely garden I admired through the fence. The 2 most important things she told me were…’you need to know the moisture needs and soil ph, for each plant and adhere to them and you will have a garden like mine.’ I, of course, have deviated over the years to my regret. I, therefore, would not plant lilacs with roses as lilacs want an alkaline soil and roses prefer more acid.
So her advice might have merit, but not for the reasons she gave!
I live in a region with acidic soil and lilacs do well here!
A big issue for lilacs is drainage; lilacs hate being waterlogged. As they also grow in (mainly) alkaline soils in the wild, it’s not unfair to assume they need it in cultivation. However as long as the drainage is good the plants will usually be fine.
Roses like very similar conditions, and where conditions are right both will thrive.
Very enjoyable read. Thank you.
Thank you.
And when you’re looking for information on a plant, check out websites (like the Missouri Botanical Garden Plant. Finder here) that aren’t also selling them.
Hope you’re better soon!
Absolutely; people trying to sell plants very rarely tell you about all the pitfalls and flaws…
Darn. Iv’e yet to get any cake or cookies for my garden advice.
Oh no!
Hi Ben, I’ve decided, most people want a garden, but less people want to be gardeners. These are the people who want quick gardening information and will fall into the trap of social media for gardening advice. A friend asked me once, about hanging Irish Spring soap to deter bugs in a vegetable garden. I said, well it looks ugly for one thing. I’ve taken classes, attended lectures, and have books for education. People who want gardens but don’t want to be gardeners, are less likely to do that. And they don’t see the value in hiring a professional, when they can get free info online. Now when someone asks me for my free advice, I point them in the direction to someone who gets paid to do it, or a resource. Get well soon!
I have a feeling you’re probably right; like other things in life, people want the result but not the effort that goes into achieving it.
Until recently I worked for someone who employed all sorts of techniques to ward off deer. None of them worked (deer presumably took a moment to admire themselves in the reflection of CDs before eating all the flowers) but they were bits of advice given by people this person considered worthy. So worthy in fact that anyone who pointed out that the methods didn’t work would be told how they should respect the real experts.
It’s true for all kinds of work and hobbies. Folks look for rules as a substitute for thinking.
Martha Stewart used to be well-thought-of back a while back, but all of her online publications have been terrible for gardening, cooking, etc., for a very long time. They’re full of misinformation and click-bait type titles. Interestingly, the deservedly respected Margaret Roach used to manage much of Stewart’s empire (back when it was still respected), and Roach has her own podcast that is very much worth listening to.
https://awaytogarden.com/
Oh dear, I suppose a rapid expansion of the ’empire’ meant diluting the core product as it were?
Not forgetting Garden Professors dot com. I’ve read a lot of Prof. Linda Chalker-Scott’s myth-busters on tree planting, causes of root girdling, what to do with container grown trees etc. You know that 2-inch trunk in a 5 gallon pot never started out with roots 8 or 10 inches long… My greatest find to date was a crushed beer can in the middle of the cherry tree rootball (!) Great rant Ben — sorry it kept you awake when you’re already fighting off a sore throat.
Actually, not so much causes of root girdling so much as what can be done once you find them. Ever tried to straighten out a circling root on a container grown tree?