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.