Help (!) with identifying a whole garden full of plants

Hi everyone,
I am in need of everyone's expertise here and hope that some of you will be kind enough to help me in my quest.
I "inherited" a relatively good size courtyard garden on the northern Oregon coast. I have been diligently tending to its needs and it looks beautiful, but I am a novice gardener and have no idea what I am taking care of, and therefore am a bit worried about how to get them all winterized correctly when the time comes. The original landscaper had a plan, but neither exist any longer. I do believe that most of these plants are native to this region or at least very established here. Going through the database on this website is cumbersome...I have no clue what I am looking for.
I can take pictures and put them on Google Picasa, if someone here were willing to look at them and maybe help me identify them?

Thank you so much,
Ottie

Pictures are easy to upload here. All you have to do is click on the "Browse" button below, find your picture file in the window that comes up, double click on it, submit and it is done. You don't need an outside storage site to put your pictures on Dave's Garden. You can do just one picture per post. Add more pictures by replying to each post.

If your plants are indeed native then I doubt you will need to do anything to winterize.

Pardalinum,
thanks so much for replying and for the tip on the pictures. I'll take some tomorrow and put them here. :-)

Ottie

If it turns out that we can't help you here, there is a Plant Identification forum here with some real whiz kids:-)

Try to take pics that show close-ups of leaves/flowers, if at all possible.
Any size references would be helpful, too.
Sounds like an adventure...

Well, I took some photos, here we go. And I really appreciate the help! :-)

Seaholly?

These are all over, are growing to about 3.5 feet and bloom most of the summer.

I don't know what either of them are. But, they sure are pretty. Especially, the blue one. : )
~Lucy

I know...I love that one as well. It has a hue about it that doesn't quite come out in the picture. But it's nasty to cut the dead stuff off, I get stuck every time! :-)

Ottie

This may be some sort of Chamomile? It's a little taller than a foot, blooms until late fall.

This is very beautiful as well. Until the blooms break open, the buds are almost black. It is just now starting to bloom. I have to say that we had a foot of snow last year here on the coast (unheard of), it stayed for about 10 days (also unheard of) and some of these plants may have been nipped by this and are a bit late this year.

These little guys are on all the corners (we have six separate beds in the garden). I didn't cut them last spring/fall...not being sure if ALL grasses need to be cut? I have another grass I never cut (sometimes it's hard, they look so beautiful as they are), being a novice I don't want to do the wrong thing.

I hope someone shows up shortly that knows what these are. They are all very nice plants. Wouldn't mind having any of them in my yard. (That's if they would grow here). : )
~Lucy

Thank you, Lucy. I do try to take very good care of them, but I don't want to just use my intuition, especially since it's not very good when it comes to a garden. But I'm learning. :-)

Hi Ottie,

I'll play! Let's see how I do, then the real experts can come in and tell you where I went wrong, Lol!

I tihnk you're right about the sea holly.

The pink tubular one is a Penstemon, but I'm not sure which cultivar. There are lots and some are very fussy, whereas others not so much. Whichever kind you have, it looks happy-keep doing what you're doing!

The one you think is a chamomile could also be a Threadleaf Coreopsis.

The one with the blue flowers and black stems is most likely "Black and Blue" Salvia. http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/perennials/Salvia_guaraniticaBlackAndBlue.html, http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54031/

The cute blue grass is most likely a fescue as the blade size looks narrow and round. There are a couple of different cultivars as well as dwarf ones. A really popular one is called "Elijah Blue" so that's probably a good place to start.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/69300/

I think this may be a sage, from pictures I saw here it looks like a pineapple sage, but it never bloomed since last May. It was quite tall and I didn't cut it last year, not until a bit ago...the foliage and stems looks sick/dead and I saw all this new growth inside. It had grown to about 4 ft...just a green thing that suffocated other plants around it. Now that I cut it, it looks healthier, but I still don't know what it is.

That last one looks exactly like my pineapple sage. Does it smell like pineapple? Mine blooms very late in the season. Surprisingly, I have one little shoot of red flowers right now, but I'm not expecting much until late August or September. For some reason, this plant keeps suffering accidents- early freeze last year, things falling on it and breaking it, whatever. It bounces back really well. I'm surprised how thirsty it can be, though.

Susybell,
yeah! LOL. Thanks so much for *playing*! :-) And the links!
I am very glad I came here, because I want to be able to take good care of this garden and do what's right for everything in it. And yes, most of them are happy, they know I am trying...lol. I had a completely dead looking Jasmin that was moved last year and hardly recovered from that when the snow came. I diligently pruned it and watered it and fed it and low and behold it's alive! :-)

You can maybe tell that I love my garden...unless it's weeding time.

Thanks for your help, I have more photos coming. Here's one of the whole thing, well most of it.

Hmmm...I water this garden early every morning before the sun hits it. Maybe I haven't been watering the pineapple sage enough. The ground in this garden is extremely sandy. Compost was mixed in with it, but it's still very sandy. I haven't fed on a regular basis, I'm not sure yet what I can use that will be good for all these plants. This courtyard is surrounded by our little Inn and I have flower baskets in the front, another garden in the back and I just don't have enough time in the summer to really spend hours in it. So once I know what everything is, maybe I'll find some food that makes them all happy.

Ottie

The one on the left is a milk plant (we call it that in Germany, where I'm from). When you cut it, it bleeds a milky substance. They are about a foot tall. The one on the right is very hardy. I give it a "haircut" every now and again. In front are wild strawberries...those I could identify...lol.

About 2 ft tall, it's usually green and I'm not sure if those are blooms that are yellowish?

Ok, enough for today, there's plenty more and tomorrow is another day..lol.

Thanks!! :-)

That's a really nice courtyard! I'd be quite happy settling down there in one of your chairs.

I'd say that whoever planted everything was pretty careful about their choices. The fact they are doing so well even as you're figuring out what's what is a good sign.

I can't advise you on fertilizer other than to say I prefer organic ones, and considering you're close to the ocean you will want to be careful and use a lower strength slow release to try and avoid a lot of nutrient runoff. I've never really had an opportunity to do it, but I've read that gardening near the ocean can be tricky because of the salt and wind. Are there any nurseries nearby? I'd check with them on the fertilizer.

That sandy soil probably has a lot to do with why the penstemon is happy. Some of them tolerate ordinary soil and some of them like very lean, quickdrying soils. That's why they can be fussy.

Glad to help! Here's one last post. I need to quit stalling and go do a little weeding, myself.

The milk plant is a variety of euphorbia, you can find it as "spurge" as a common name, as is the other one that is currently blooming. I don't know what kind, though.

I don't have a clue on that other grass.

I think the bluish white lacy one in the front of it (only partly in the picture) might be an artemisia.

You are just a great source of knowledge! Thank you so much. :-) I have some more to upload tomorrow, but I'm getting there...with your help!

Looks like Euphorbia 'Tasmanian Tiger', and a Carex (Sedge).
Penstemons up here can be challenging, depending on the drainage.

Katye,
thank you very much for responding!
I found the Tasmanian Tiger here and that seems to be it. And the Penstemons seem to like the sandy soil, because they bloom and bloom and bloom! I'll have to look up the Carex now and upload some more pictures.

Ottie

Aha! Ottie, NOW you've got some real expert help. Katye really knows her stuff!

I think this is a Black Mondo Grass....?

This one blooms white starting in early Spring until a few weeks ago. Small roundish open bell like blooms.

A very tall grass that just took off last fall and keeps growing. I didn't cut it at all.

Here's something else I didn't cut, not knowing what I'm doing. Thought I'd throw that in..lol. This rose had less than half the blooms it has this year!

This one blooms pinkish purple. I have seen it around the area and think it's quite popular in this neck of the woods.

Another...

and another...

and one more...

This is most of them, the rest I could identify already. I really appreciate the input, I'm very glad I ended up here and who knows, you all may make a good gardener out of me. :-)

Ottie

Oh, and if you're coming to Manzanita, send me an email...I know a great place to stay with a really nice courtyard garden. ;-)

Oh my, ....that is one awesome rose bush you got there. So pretty. : )
~Lucy

Second to the last might be fringe cups or tiarella. Third to the last is Cape Fuchsia (Phygelius). There are a number of cultivars. Fourth to the last could be Erysimum or perennial wallflower. Well that's about all I know (if I know, that is)! Oh, I think you are right on the Black Mondo grass (Ophiopogon).

Hi Ottie,
I'm back....If I count from #1 Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus "Nigrescens", if you want to be formal about it...:) )
#2 Possibly Snow-In-Summer http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/728/
#3 Need a closer picture of the grass blades
#4 uhhh.... A Rose! (lol!) Cecille Brunner? Check on the rose forum?
#5 Perennial Wallflower, Erysimum is my best guess. Most common is "Bowles Mauve' http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/110515/
#6 Cape Fuchsia, Phygelius, possibly "Sunshine" http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/59535/
#7 Heucherella "Rosalie" http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58102/
#8 Hosta, but take this to the hosta forum. I'm a hosta newbie