Mystery garden
 

So, as many of you know, I have a new house. This house has a garden. A garden lovingly tended for many years by the previous owners. We moved into the house in January, when most plants were dormant. Now, spring is arriving and things are starting to wake up.

There are... things... blooming, growing, wanting to be fed. A very few of them, I recognize (Japanese Andromeda, daffodils, rhododendrons, azaleas, vinca, pachysandra. And lots of moss.) The rest are :confused:.

Tonight, I will post some pictures of what is out there. I hope to pull on the vast collective gardening experience of the Dwellars for identification and perhaps some advise.

Right now, I'll ask a shorter question:

What are the critical, can't-do-without gardening and yard maintenance tools?

We have about 0.2 acres, not much grass. Lots of trees, so lots of leaves. It's in Maryland, so that's hardiness zone 6, I think. My track record with gardening is spotty at best, so I'd like to keep it simple.

whatever tools you buy, I'd suggest finding a flea market or yard sale type place with used tools. Much better to buy a shovel or garden rake for $5 than $30, and when you are buying 6-8 tools it adds up. Garden tools last decades, so a used one is fine.

I mostly use a long handled shovel, garden rake, leaf rake, mattock (the best dirt digging tool imho. Get one with an axe one on side and adze/hoe on the other. It's great for cutting through roots as you dig. This is an awesome tool.), bypass loppers, pruning saw. I also have an extension pole saw that gets used every year to trim branches that get too close to our power lines while staying safely on the ground.

There's lots of other stuff you can buy that would be useful, but that's what I would start with.

This is my favorite yard tool.

A deckchair and a machete.

:lol2:

This is a vine climbing a trellis covering the dryer exhaust vent. It's also sorta-strangling the Japanese Andromeda next to it. It has little white pop-pom flowers (dried, from last year, apparently). Identification? Should I disentangle it from its prey, or let Darwinian selection rule the day?

http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2462.JPG

I dunno what this is. Big, vine-y thing, about 5 feet tall.
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2463.JPG

What is this plant, and does it have a condition I should be worried about? :worried:
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2464.JPG

Small, shrubby, don't know what it is.
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2465.JPG

Lots of snowdrops everywhere.
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2467.JPG

Sorry this is so washed out -- the plant in the foreground has purple flowers that are all hanging their heads. There's a white variety of the same flower elsewhere in the yard. The purple plant in the background looks like it's a goner. Is it?
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2470.JPG

?
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2472.JPG

Don't know if this dude is a relative of post #7's, but his leaves are much purple-er. He's trying to worm his way under the cedar shingles, so he may be coming out regardless of his species.
http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2469.JPG

...and finally, some of our fine moss. I've been thinking about encouraging this, rather than trying to plant grass where it obviously doesn't want to grow.

http://www.lunohoco.com/files/IMG_2471.JPG

I'm just guessing...

Post #6 looks like a Clematis, #7 looks like Honeysuckle, #9 looks like Forsythia, #14 has a big Hydrangea - my favorite.

I was thinking #6 looks like a weigela (the lower plant).

ETA: Oops, picture #6 post #11...

Yeah, there are great big hydrangeas in three or four places. Should I cut them back?
Re: #9: I think it's a little too small to be forsythia, and doesn't forsythia usually bloom before it puts out leaves?
I had to go look up Clematis -- it looks like it will have beautiful flowers! I can't wait to see what comes up next.

You could put in a really nice water feature in the area where the moss is growing. Something that splashes a bit so the moss grows extra thick. We don't get much moss growing in my part of the world. Mostly fungus. lol Nowhere near as romantic.

Don't cut the hydrangea back, it won't bloom again for several years of you do.
There are quite a few kinds of clematis... some grow slowly and some will takeover quickly. I used to cut mine down to the ground every year and it would still get out of hand. If that's what you've go there I would at least cut it back off it's neighbors... although it doesn't look like it got too big last year.

call your county government , see if they have an Agriculture extintion office ,
or ask a reputable garden center mngr who is the master gardner for the area ,
or do a Google search fpr the master gardner for the area , they should have Lots of advice

or just get your self one of these http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dragon-VT2...6903536&sr=8-1

Hell get one any way , they are usefull and fun !!!

Thanks, Jinx. I've been reading up on hydrangeas since I posted last. They seem to be 'mopheads', in which case I should definitely not cut them down, just prune off the dead heads themselves very close to the flower. Does that make sense?

I will pull the clematis off its victim. We'll see how fast it grows this year!

No water features -- too many mosquitoes. Too much work to upkeep!
I'm going for something like this.

I have a friend in the area who's a master gardener. I will be asking her to come over sometime in the next month or so -- but I didn't want to wait that long before I started work. I need to get moving on cleaning up all the fallen leaves and branches from the winter.

She's also much more interested in vegetables than ornamentals. Right now, I'm only planning to plant a few herbs.

If you wanted a more "uniform" moss growth, or just wanted to encourage it's spread you could try the moss recipe on the bald spots:

Mix up a batch of 12 oz. beer, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and a couple of clumps of moss. Paint this mixture thickly on any damp shady surface you'd like to be moss covered and the moss will slowly grow and spread.

:thumb: I'd heard of something similar, putting the moss in an old blender (to help break open the spore casings) with buttermilk, since moss prefers an acidic environment.

Hydrangeas attract ants, so it's best if you don't have any right next to the house. Mrs. Dar and neighbor gardening lady cut back our hydrangea every year and every year we get blooms. I don't know why. I do as little gardening as possible.

We moved in to our house in early spring, before anything had started to sprout/come up. I loved the little surpises I found around our yard every time I went out. On the other hand, I am STILL trying to get rid of some of the stuff, like a damn rose bush, that won't stop coming back after 6 years!! :lol:

I walk by a church every day on my way to work that has 4-6 huge gorgeous hydrangeas between the building and the sidewalk. Every fall for the last 8 years, they have cut them down to within inches of the ground, and every spring, they come back as beautiful as ever. I don't know how long they were there before I started working here though...so maybe you can only cut mature ones back like this?

Take your pictures to a local greenhouse/nursery, along with a sample of each if you are really feeling spunky. They will be able to identify everything, no problem.

Have fun!!!

Apparently, there are more than one type of hydrangea. Some only bloom on the old wood (therefore, you don't prune), and others will happily bloom on new growth. I was looking at this site for identification help.

Not from your part of the country so things may vary but, #8 looks a lot like a bay laurel type of bush - not very exciting. I forget what the healthy one in #9 is called, but it should be smothered in tiny pink or white flowers in early spring. Bees love it. Water should help the purple guy. #10 looks like some vinca creeping in there. Don't know about MD, but in the south it's a curse and takes over everything, so you might want to abate it now. On the right in #11 looks like a relative of a marguerite daisy - should have tiny yellow daisy like flowers on it soon.

Hydrangeas are my favorite too. Grew like mad in Cali, but not so much here in CO.

Enjoy your surprises!!!

How strange! Many people plant vinca on purpose as a ground cover back in NJ -- never heard of it getting out of control. I like its dark green leaves and purple flowers better than pachysandra, anyways. Now the ivy, on the other hand, was a vicious predator. It tried to eat our heat exchanger and damn near won.

Thanks for all the idents. I will try and water "poor purple guy" and see if he gets better!

Ahhhh. According to your linkie Pie, the plants I pass by are Annabelle (snowball) hydrangeas. They start green, turn white, and return to green.

::ticks "learn something new today" off her to-do list::

Hydrangeas are really pretty until after a hard rainstorm..then they just look like sad sacks.

Update!
Jinx, you got the prize!

In this pic, a Clematis (beautiful purple blossoms, now gone) with an Andromeda and a big honkin' hosta. There are lots of hostas in the yard, what with all the shade.

This is a red honeysuckle -- there's one near the front door, too.

A couple of general photos... We power-washed the patio this weekend.

...And now for some questions: what's a weed??
I have things growing in clumps (that seem to be premeditated, for want of a better word) that I don't recognize as out-right weeds, but I don't know what they are. I've circled them in red.

And some pretty-ish groundcover? near the patio:

We are surrounded by huge, honkin' tulip trees that spread their blossoms and seeds everywhere!

I don't know a bunch about plants and such. But I do know this: You have a killer ass yard and home. Very nice. It is relaxing to me just to see the pics.

In the top picture the red circle on the right I'm pretty sure is a weed, I've got tons of it. Tulip trees are really messy. ;)

Thanks, Capn!

Bruce, I almost pulled them out today. Tomorrow, I won't show them any mercy!!

Oh, and any idea what this shrub is?

I figure if it's green, and not in the way, to hell with it. You could also try smoking it. :haha:

None of them are poison ivy. So you are good.

if you like it, it's not a weed. if you don't like it, it is a weed.

the thing top right in the circle could be day lilies. you know the type you get in pots from florists that stink and shed pollen but people seem to like them.


http://extension.missouri.edu/nwregi...ay-Lily-01.jpg

They don't have any buds (yet). They also seem a little skinny for day lilies (which we did have at our old house). Hmm.

weedwhack the fuckers then ;)

Daylilies have leaves like huge blades of grass.

then i mean a different type of lily. But that is totally what our lillies look like when they come up. perhaps there are two types? The type in te pic is not they type you get from the florist in a pot, which is what I think Pie's weeds look like.

These ?

Yeah, those look similar, Bruce. What are they?

One of the 9 types of lilys, but I still think you got weeds. :D

Lovely yard, Pie. I'd be happy just to get decent grass to grow.

Looks like teh Golden Rod...

:smack: Damn, it do, don't it.

verify and destroy!

#36

I think your picture may be the start of a moonflower...
Below is a picture from mine last summer. The heart-shaped leaves look similiar. I was given moonflower seeds by mistake and I love them. The flowers, when they fully open up, look like paper plates laying in the garden.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/...0c8d26a5_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/...2ed125f5_o.jpg


As a side note, I like your patio!

How exciting for you pie. The discovery, the plants, the dirt ( something I love ) all tie in to a very wonderful yard. :)

Ooh! How beautiful -- I really hope they are. Thanks Woodie!