HelpfulGardener.com

Hi there,

We moved into our new home last November, it is a new build and there were plants already planted in front of the house by the landscapers. We thought they were dead (they certainly looked it!) and we decided to wait until spring to see if they would rally.

The plants have thrived since we started getting warmer weather, but we're still none the wiser as to what they are. We didn't have much of a garden at our old house, but since the back garden here is lovely and big I'd like to start doing more in the garden, starting with caring for whatever these plants are properly!

[img]https://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo170/Carmimage/photo.jpg[/img]

This is the first plant, we have two of these which they have planted in a fairly shady area, they seem to be doing okay, but I'd love to know what they are so I can figure out whether to leave them there or move them somewhere more suitable.

[img]https://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo170/Carmimage/photo1.jpg[/img]

This is the second plant, there are about 10 of these spread across the front of the house. I was hoping they would have flowered by now to make them easier to identify, but nothing yet. Although there seem to be small reddish leaves (possibly buds - they're very small at the moment) popping up on the larger plants.

Any help in identifying these plants would be very gratefully received. I've tried a couple of search engine type identifiers but I guess I'm not inputting the characteristics correctly, being a novice an' all [/img]

First plant is sedum -- they are very drought tolerant and the flowers attract all kinds of butterflies as well as bees and wasps (I counted 14 different species enjoying my sedum one summer). They would prefer a sunny well-drained location.

I should recognize the 2nd plant -- fagus? I have to go look it up. I might be wrong. ...nope that's beech. Now what is it you have...it's on the tip of my brain....

#2 is Ulmus, or to put it more simply, an Elm. If it's close to your foundations at all, you're going to want to move it soon - they become beautiful stately trees, but they've also got strong roots.

Thank you both so much.

The second plant is planted right up against the house! I can't believe they've done something so daft. I guess we'll be moving them shortly, but luckily the back garden is pretty big so we should have enough room to move them to somewhere safe.

After requesting a look at the landscaping plans it appears the second plant is apparently 'Hornbeam' (Carpinus Betulus - I hope I've spelt that right). It's a tree but can be used for hedging so I'm off to 'Google' to figure out whether it's safe to stay or not. The picture I found looks the same as what's outside.

The first is definitely sedum, it's the Autumn Joy variety so we have some colour to look forward to come August!

Thank you all again for your help, I can't believe it didn't occur to me to ask to see the plans until this morning though :/ The next job is to figure out what I can plant in the back garden, it's two tiers and the top gets a lot of sun so I think my flower garden is going up there. At least planting it myself I'll know what's been put there

Thanks again,

Jeeps.

I have an American hornbeam tree that I planted as a small sapling. It is growing very rapidly. They get to be 30 - 40' tall and have wide spreading root systems.

I don't know if there are other varieties, but I'm not thinking hornbeam is something you want right next to your house either.