New homeowner with lots of unknowns..

I am a TOTAL beginner at gardening.. just moved into our first house and the couple who owned the house previously had a lot of gardens. There are all kinds of things starting to come up and I'm not even sure where to begin. Should I just leave everything alone and see what comes up? Should I pick a few plants that look interesting and post them here? I don't want to annoy everyone with a ton of plant ID pictures..

Oh, my goodness - you're never going to annoy a gardener with too many questions. Not possible.

Is the owner still available? It sure would be great to have them give you a "walk-through" on the garden. If they had a lot of plants, you could be talking about a very valuable asset to your home as well as the possibility of a new lifelong hobby for you.

Take all the pics you can and post them - this is therapy for most of us and the real experts from your area of the country will love the challenge.

I think everyone will agree, though, that you probably need to contact a local gardening club and see if you can get someone to actually walk through the garden with you once the spring growth in well underway - there's no better way for you to learn than one-on-one, and you certainly don't want to mistake a valuable garden plant for a weed. Even if most of your plants get ID'd here, you'll still benefit from the know-how of a local gardener on the care and maintenence of the garden.

Remember - it's always easier to get rid of too many weeds later on than it is to replace several years' worth of growth by removing a good plant accidentally. Good luck, and congratulations on having a ready-made garden to love!

Hi, Jess, Welcome to Dave's Garden! My brother moved into a new house last summer with the same problem.

I suggest getting some plant markers together, IF you don't have dogs or kids, you could cut some empty plastic bleach or detergent bottles into strips and buy a paint marker for a few bucks. Then when you get a plant identified, you just stick the plant marker next to it. Regular marker will fade off. If you do have kids or dogs, the plant markers will disappear. In which case drawing out a diagram and writing the names of each plant on the diagram works best.

Most times it's easier to identify plants that are in bloom. And no, you won't annoy anyone by posting pictures on the plant identification forum. Everyone here is a big help!

Happy Gardening!

Hi Jess, post every photo that you can of your unknown plants; show the whole plant, leaves, and flowers and someone on this site will probably identify and tell you useful information about your plant very quickly!

Take pictures and ask away--you won't bother us! We all love a challenge. And what better way to start getting to know folks on DG?

Great! Its supposed to be a beautiful weekend so I should be able to get some good pictures. It might be a little bit too early to tell though. I won't pull anything out yet. Unfortunately the previous owners aren't available.. they moved to FL! Thanks for the suggestions!

Jess - I have a secret to share with you. Each of us on this forum is genuinely afraid that one day we'll have to sell our garden - home attached - and move, and the new owner will not be willing or able to take care of our well-loved gardens. You have already endeared yourself to us by wanting to tackle this challenge and you'll find plenty of help and encouragement here. Just keep your sense of humor and you'll do just fine!

I second MsRobin's advice re: the plant markers or diagram - the best of us cannot remember exactly where everything is, and some plants disappear entirely in mid-summer or mid-winter. As for the advice re: the dog/kid issue, just today my newest Pekingese puppy proudly brought me a marker for a Texas Native Eve's Necklace. Now I have to track it down and I have no idea where it is.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2009 8:27 PM

LOL mocatmom--when our golden retriever was about three months old, hubby and I were having breakfast and I saw her toting something fairly substantial around playing with it. Hubby couldn't tell what it was either so I walked outside to see. She proudly brought me one of my formerly beautiful three foot azaleas she had snatched out of the ground! We went to Jackson that very day and got everything we needed to put up an electric fence around all my flowerbeds.
Jess477--I've already had to sell a house with lots of beautiful flowerbeds. I couldn't bring anything with me as it was winter and I couldn't tell where anything was because I didn't have markers. I drove by our old house a couple of years after we sold it and the new owners had let all my gorgeous flowerbeds go back to grass :-{ I totally agree with mocat--we will all think you're great for wanting to try to preserve those flowerbeds. We will all enjoy helping you do it too!

Jess welcome =)

Welcome Jess, I totally agree...you can never ask too many questions....and the best thing to do is if you know any gardeners enlist their help in id'ing the plants....I'm one for not touching anything until a whole year goes by so you see exactly what is growing where, when they come up, where there are empty spots that need filling, also tracking the sun to see where the sunny/shady spots are.
When you get some pics, make sure you post them, we'd love to help.

I don't have any kids or pets yet, so I will try the labeling idea.. I just took a bunch of pictures, but I understand that I should post them in the plant ID section so I will try that :)

I'm with flowerjen on not touching anything for a year. When we bought this house although I could ID alot of what was in the ground, I needed to get familar with the light conditions and hot/cold spots in the garden. Although it nearly killed me not to jump right in and muck about I'm really glad I waited.

We'll be sure to watch for you on the Plant ID forum.

Lucky for me we had a full-service, locally-owned garden center within 5 miles of this house which we bought in 1991. I talked to one of the managers there and said I wanted to hire someone to do a "walk-through" to tell me what I had in my new yard. He said he had never done anything like that, but was willing to do it. The fee was fairly reasonable. I had a notebook, clipboard, pen, and so on, and took notes. That's how i learned what all my trees and shrubs were, and he also pointed out some planting mistakes and gave some recommendations.

My yard didn't have any perennials or flower gardens. If I were going to do this for a house with landscaping and flower gardens, I would ask for one consultation visit from someone who works in the perennial area, and then if needed i could ask for another one later from someone who knows more about shrubs and trees. In the busy season, this garden center employs some people who are inexperienced, but the long-time year-round employees are really really knowledgeable. A year or two ago I was chatting with one of the employees in the perennial area, and she said she lived outside town on a 5-acre site and has EVERY PERENNIAL THE STORE SELLS in her gardens!

If you are a young homebuyer with a typical tight budget, or if the garden center won't provide the consulting service, you could try asking them if they know of any gardening fanatic-type customer who might take you under her (or his) wing and do one or more free walk-through's with you. Or post something in the forums for Roses, Clematis, Dahlias, or Cottage Gardens, i.e. one of the hobbyist-type forums, with a tag line "Anyone in North Carver Mass, help?" and see if you get a mentor who will visit.

And the idea to have something to write on and stick in the ground is a good one. For temporary labeling, you might look in the wastebasket at Menard's and the like for the pieces of mini-blinds that they cut off and throw out when they customize those blinds. The white plastic would be easy to write on and see for at least a month or two; later will become brittle and crack, i think. For my permanent labels, I have a Brother label-maker which hooks up to computer via usb, I print a label on clear label tape and affix it to zinc plates, cover with uv-resistant weather-proofing tape, slide onto hair pins which stick in the ground. (www.EverlastLabel.com). Just depends on how much you want to get into gardening as a hobby. . .

That full-service garden center moved to a new location about 7 years ago, and now they are bigger and better and even closer to my house. Again, lucky for me.

Another idea: I now use a certified arborist for all my tree removal needs, and he is a really knowledgeable guy, and into organic gardening, e.g. grows all kinds of edibles for himself, so he is my consultant for trees and substantial shrubs nowadays. He says he doesn't get many customers who are willing to pay him for consulting, but I consider his advice well worth his hourly fee. (But i think he is probably way more knowledgeable than the typical certified arborist.)

You might google to see if there are garden tours in your town or nearby cities; they can be helpful for new gardeners. I used to go if the city was within 30 or 40 minutes drive, when I had more time.

That's a great idea Ella.... WOW, every perennial!!! I would love to see that employees yard.

I don't know how on earth she keeps it up. She works part-time AND is a mom!

Welcome Jess477. Ella Tiarella has some very good advice about finding a mentor. Ask your local extension agent if there is a master gardener who would be willing to do a walk-through. Mocatmom's advice about asking a local gardening club member is good to. If you are unable to find help in these advenues drive around until you find a beautiful garden then stop and knock on their door. Most gardeners love to here compliments on their gardens and you might find yourself a gardening friend with whom to share advice and plants.