New property, new challenges, new unknown plants

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.

Pic 1: I'm assuming this is for water circulation in the pond. Can't find the power switch, but there is water in it with some sort of grass growing inside as well.
Pic 2: Another view of the water box...dunno what you call it. You can also see the jap maple on the left, and some sort of water plant in the pond.
Pic 3: Part of the landscaping in the water pond area. I guess that's a juniper shrub or something (blue berries) used as ground cover.
Pic 4: There are lots of daffodils popping up from under the ground cover.
Pic 5: Another view of the landscaping behind/next to the pond. Those saplings are Tree of Heaven, and I dug them out last evening.

Pic 1: In the background is the veggie garden, this pic being taken while standing at the edge of the pond. The sand in between is where a pool used to be. Bamboo is growing on the back fence of the garden, and beginning to creep inside the perimeter.
Pic 2: Inside the perimeter of the garden. Raised beds.
Pic 3: Inside the perimeter of the garden. Raised beds.
Pic 4: Inside the perimeter of the garden. Raised beds.
Pic 5: One of the raised beds. Hasn't been touched in over 2 years...that's how long the property has been vacant.

Pic 1: More raised beds...but this shows all the Tree of Heaven that is growing from the beds. I have begun to remove some of these.
Pic 2: Three or four of the raised beds have this trellis like thing over it...they squares are a foot by a foot.
Pic 3: Around some of the raised beds is small white rocks...there are iris growing against one of the raised beds. That's the next pic.
Pic 4: The iris starting to grow next to a raised bed.
Pic 5: More of the iris.

Pic 1: The mini pond or possibly bog bed. It's empty of water, but lots of weeds growing out of it.
Pic 2: Another picture of the mini pond.
Pic 3: A view of the tree of heaven saplings that are growing from the beds.
Pic 4: An unknown plant/small shrub yet to be identified.
Pic 5: An unknown plant...it's gotta be an herb...if I pick the leaves and crush them they smell like lemon. Possibly a species of thyme?

Now there is space to spread out and sort out what you want to do. And no problems about going off topic or just having a conversation about the garden.

Pic 1: There are three of these growing in different areas of the garden. I believe it's a species of sage.
Pic 2: Another pic of the sage.
Pic 3: Yucca growing around an area where a hot tub used to be.
Pic 4: Ugh...yes, it's an Empress tree. Another nuisance I have to eradicate.
Pic 5: The property also came equipped with a chicken coop attached to a shed...that looks like it was used as a slaughter house for the chickens. (This pic was taken in August of 2012 during one of our trips to view the property.

That's it for the pics for now. I will continue to add more, and keep everyone updated on the progress. Ooo, I take that back about no more pics for now. I did find some frog eggs in the top of the landscaping around the pond. It looks like these "puddles" were put there deliberately, in the center of the juniper? because there is black plastic holding the water...so here a couple fun pics just for the heck of it of the frog eggs (the top layer of them got frozen I think, hence the white blotchiness. I removed some and put them in a container inside for my kids to watch them develop).

Just took some pics from outside.

Pic 1: The two "puddles" on the top layer of the landscaping around pond.
Pic 2: The water box thing where i think water is supposed to be coming from to circulate the water in the pond. You can see there's a water spout and water in this thing.
Pic 3: The daffodils got bigger :)
Pic 4: The progress made so far with the tree of heaven saplings

I'm here!
Frog eggs , fantastic!!!

Speaking of the frog eggs...like i said, i took some and put them in a container for my boys...decided to photo document the eggs' progress (for my boys), so I'll add them here too. The first pic is what the eggs looked like when put in the container...little solid black eggs inside the goop. Pic 2 is the next day, they look like seed pods getting ready to open, don't they? Pic 3 is day three, you can see they look like little embryos lol.

There is an old saying and it's very true, from Old Gardeners, they say when you take over an established garden from others, Never dig or remove anything till you have lived with the garden for a year.

In that time, all bulbs, shrubs, tree's, plants annual or perennial will fruit, flower, bloom and grow for you, the new owner to take pictures for identification or advice, wait till the foliage / flowers ect have shown, then you can go to the library, friends or here on this thread for help in identifying what you have.

As regards the Box beside the pond, it looks like it should be trickling water or a very small waterfall spouting water into the pond, I would get gloves on and feel all the inside of that box as there must be an electric cable inside to drive the water into the pond and pos filter any dirt and recycle the water from pond back into waterfall.

If I were you, I would get in touch with the previous owner to ask the layout of electrics as it is dangerous from water / electrics, who knows where the main switch is, it could be accidently switched on and cause damage to person of cause fire.
Have you searched gently underground around the box for cable ect as there must be some around somewhere but please be careful and wear rubber boots to be on the safe side.

I took over a huge garden years ago and still finding stuff like pathways, edging tiles and and the odd set of steps, once you find them, they all make sense to the whole scheme of things but, you have to be patient AND very careful as you progress. weeding and feeding is all you should do other than investigate all you have and what to repair like water box.
Wait till the plants have had time to put on foliage, flowers etc then it is much more easier to find the names, dont be too quick to prune either or you could destroy a shrub /tree and believe me, replacing those is very costly AND you have to wait years for them to grow and mature to the size they are now, next year cutting back and seeing where everything is from this years pictures is the best help you could have.
Good luck, WeeNel.

Me too! Some of us jump about like frogs, chuckl. I am goin to add I watch a bunch of threads. Beg gardening and gardening, canning, hummingbirds, herbs...some I lurk, some I cant resist chattin on. Tomatoes I watch occ. Sometimes the word games. Some of the threads are as seasonal as their subject

WeeNel. Plant id has id'd many of her things. We are watching to see what pops up- careful of water snakes, scorpions, feeling around in damp wet places- dinnertime now guys.

OK, how about a garden fork to remove some soil but do it gently, someone has to look inside the Box to make sure no one gets electrocuted, there must be electric around there somewhere as the water would not be able to get UP and into the box as there is a clear picture of of a ledge/ tile for water to spread out like a waterfall. There Must be an electric or SOLAR power even, as water must be pumped pumped to the box from the pond and then recycled back around again otherwise you end up with a dried up weed filled box as shown in picture, the grass might even be used as a filter.
Good luck. WeeNel..

Thank fully, we (I live not too far away, in MD) do not have to worry about scorpions up here, kittriana! But black widow spiders, yes. They seem to love junk.

Love the frog eggs! I used to catch tadpoles. Now I don't know if I am not getting out early enough, or trying hard enough, but I have not seen a wild tadpole in years.
: ^(
I need a garden pond...

Too neat on the froggies...we get tons of both tadpoles and toadpoles...grin

There is certainly electricty to the pond area...you can see the outlet box to the left of the grass box. But, it may not be a waterfall....that may just be an overflow drain for the grass box. What is the pipe/hose jutting out on the bottom right of your first grass box picture? Again, it may be that the pump is gone...removed because it malfunctioned or because the owner wanted it.

Yep, no scorpions here...but sally, you are sooo right about the black widows! They are as common here as crickets! I haven't seen any yet here at the new house, but then again I haven't exactly looked LOL!! But, at our old house, I could go outside and find at least ten around the front of the house under the landscaping rocks. I'd kill them. Go back out the next day and find 10 more!!

As for the power around the pond...my hubby is an HVAC technician, and works with electricity as well. He actually took one of his tools...some sort of voltage meter maybe...and checked the outlet boxes around the pond...and they were all dead. He said he will have to find the pump and trace the wires to find out what's going on with it, when he has time.

Weeneel...I don't plan on removing ANYTHING I can't get a positive ID on. I'm not going to prune anything, either. In fact, I'm almost afraid to till the veggie garden, cuz I am afraid I'll destroy something special hidden in there!

Moon...where? I don't see a pipe/hose in the picture? Unless you are talking about this picture?

In the second set of pics, first pic....lower right side...it may just be a dead branch, but looks like it runs (to the right) under the rocks and out again...

As for electricity, there may be a breaker for power inside, or a separate circuit box somewhere outside...the whole thing should...and I do repeat should have exterior ground fault interrupters (GFIs) for safety's sake. They cut off the power at the outlet, much like a circuit breaker, to prevent electrical shock. They have to be reset if they trip.

moon...

That's just a dead branch :)

Yea, hubby's gonna look regarding breakers and such. He just hasn't had time...now that we live out in the country, rarely does he get home from work before dark. It will have to be a weekend project, and most likely he won't work on it until it's warmer out lol.

Took a pic of the tadpole eggs...this would be day 4. You can see on some of them that a tail bud is beginning to emerge :)

:)

Okay....I really do need to get new glasses....Bet it would make a world of difference...LOL

That is the cool thing about frogs...you can see changes almost daily as they morph. I'll bet the boys are tickled getting to watch them. How old are they? (the boys, not the frogs...grin)

tad poles - love em!!

mont- if there was asparagus in the garden there would be huge golden tan fronds. Maybe some onions will pop up, chives, or herbs... yes there could be some dead looking sticks too which are really some thing.... few weeks you'll know

My boys are 8 and 10. They love the eggs....and love watching the changes daily in the embryos. I love it when they get excited about nature instead of video games :)

Sally...I'll have to look up what you mean...I don't think there's any asparagus, but I sure wish there was! That's one of my new crops I'm adding to my gardening experience this year, although they won't be transplanted till next year, since I'm starting them from seeds...they are mary washington heirloom seeds. I'll google asparagus in the winter and see if I have any! There were onions, already in the garden...I pulled them up but they were all mush so I couldn't use them. Oh well :)

This is still day 4 on the frog eggs...but these 2 pictures were taken around 4 p.m. while the other one up above was this morning. Look at the difference !

I grew some asparagus from seed- its still little but grew a lot last year. Get plenty of manure in this year where the asparagus will be going. There must be plenty of horses down around there.

Turns out they weren't frogs...they were salamanders! They hatched into newts! Also, a late blooming purple crocus emerged, and the daffodils around the pond have begun to bloom!

How cool. never seen the salamander eggs. Spring is trying its best to get here.

I like crocus. we arent quit cold enough for them so i plant them at my brothers home. He thinks they look like footballs, chuckl. has anything else become more recognizable?

kittriana-

No, nothing else has really grown much more...well, maybe a little bit taller (like the irises and tulips) but that's about it.

I have found some more of the irises popping up out of the ground around the garden pond...I'm wondering where else they've been planted. Also, I was cleaning up some of the debris around one of our heat pumps, and discovered something new emerging...another plant I have no idea about. Maybe one of y'all can tell me? If not I'll post it in the i.d. forum.

Maybe hosta. Especially if that is a shaded area.

I agree, kinda has that hosta look.

Tons of hostas up there, still a bunch of plants in seasonal secession to show up, tooo. I must be hungry- it makes me think of asparagus- tho none I know of grow in a circular clump...

It is those fat little tips pushing up Kittriana....but i think you're hungry...grin

Montanadolphin, you referred to a plant called Tree-of-Heaven. If it's what we call down in my neck of the woods Paradise Trees, and they stink like mad when they're cut, do you have any suggestions as to how to be rid of them? We've recently purchased a plot a little over five acres down here, and I've noticed in the five years we've lived here they seem to mass-produce themselves. I'd like to be rid of them.

sparklinBarb...

I don't know if it's the same or not. Here's a link to the Tree of Heaven: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_altissima See if it's the same. If it is, I do not know how to get rid of them yet. I've cut a few of the saplings down to about 2 feet tall, but they didn't stink. I'm going to attempt to dig them up first. If that doesn't work, I'll try something else. They have invaded my entire vegetable garden.

Here is a bit of info for you sparklinBarb. In our yard, we cut the trunk back and paint it with straight undiluted Roundup...as many times a necessary to kill it.

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/health/resources/pub_Ailanthus-Control-and-Utilization.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AfncAlUtOU

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1699/

Everyone...I think you're right about them being hostas. I googled "hostas emerging" and found a bunch of pictures that look exactly like what's coming up here. It is a shaded area...on the northern side of the house. Lord knows I WISH it was asparagus though! Haven't seen any here...I've looked up how they look emerging, since I've only seen asparagus in the grocery store...and haven't come across any. That's ok, though...in a few years I'll have some, as long as I'm successful in growing them from seed!!

Here are some pics for ya

http://www.martineau-gardens.org.uk/2012/05/asparagus-is-here/

http://ecologichomemakers.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/local-asparagus-a-recipe-for-delicious/asparagus/

http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-asparagus/#sthash.29GmYyVm.dpbs

Yep, that's what's down here. (It's got other names around here that shouldn't be uttered in polite company.) Thanks, both of you, for the links & info. I've become a Roundup queen last year, so I'll gladly use it on those as well! Oh, I believe Roundup has come up with an improved product, that works longer. I'm going to check into it this year for sure.

montana-- not quite time yet for new asparagus but google up pictures of dried fronds and check for those. Since the place was not maintained they would be there, up to five feet tall but very fine texture. But since asparagus is such a heavy feeder I think any that might have been, would die out and succumb to beetles without care.