Beginner Gardening: New property, new challenges, new unknown plants, 1 by montanadolphin

montanadolphin wrote:
I began posting in the plant ID section, and it was suggested I move to a different Topic area so I would no longer face going off-topic. So...instead of leading you to that post, here's a quick recap.

My husband and I purchased our first home on December 27, 2012...after first seeing the property in mid-August. We moved in on January 19, 2012. The previous owners were the only owners, having bought the 8.63 acres of land and building the house in 1996. Since then, they created a beautiful garden pond area, which is new to me, having only delved into veggie gardening and some occasional flowers. There is also a veggie garden area, fenced in, that measures approximately 84 ft long by 60 ft wide. It is a mixture of raised beds, free-standing herbs, a tiny pond (which may be a bog bed as suggested by a member here), flowers, and lots and lots of weeds and Tree-of-Heaven saplings growing everywhere.

I have discovered, as spring approaches, lots of new plants and flowers starting to push through the soil. I have gotten some identified, but there are a few with no ID yet. And, as it gets warmer, I have a feeling there will be a lot more.

Since I cannot post more than 5 images per post, the following posts will be of images so you can see what I have to work with.

Pic 1: The garden pond area
Pic 2: Bushel basket planter on the right, looking at the pond. This has crocus, and what I believe is tulips beginning to emerge.
Pic 3: Bushel basket planter on the left which is falling apart. It has the tulips also.
Pic 4: Butterfly bush, but do not know which species.
Pic 5: An unknown species of Japanese Maple.