I have always been of the mindset to work with what you are given, it is part of the challenge. Where I have felt the impact of someone else's conflicting tastes has been with color selection.
A lot of the flowers in my Cabbagetown garden were pink.
Hardy Geranium front right
Hardy Geranium's blooms are discrete but pink nonetheless
- Pink Spirea (bottom left) I eventually transplanted to the cottage for its stature as much as for its colour; it was simply too big to be at the front of the garden.
- And let's face it, a good reason to say 'Echinacea' instead of "Purple Coneflower" is because the latter is somewhat misleading - the blooms fall more into the pink than purple camp if you ask me.
- And way in the back some beautifully tall Asiatic Lilies that fell pray to hungry red lily beetles a couple of years ago.
Unlike Beth at "Beyond the Garden" gate who has sung the praises of pink in a few posts, it is my least favorite color in the garden. Over time I replaced pink plants when they died, moved some to the cottage, and simply added many other colours so it became less prominent.
Every garden I have had, I have inherited and now that I have two blank canvasses (one of them in full sun!) with my new lasagna gardens the planning can sometimes feel quite daunting. One thing is for sure though, there will not be a fraction of the pink in the gardens I will plan from scratch as there were in their inherited predecessors.
I better get back to planning!