New house=Big Mess!

[msjamie]

I'm new to this site, but not completely new to gardening. It's been about 10 years since I have owned my own home and had a yard to garden in. Growing up we had an acre and around 6-7 flower gardens and 1 vegetable garden, but I digress.

So we purchased a home and moved in early January. Spring is here and I have a mess in my front yard. No idea what anything is. It doesn't look like anything was cut down before winter set in. I remember looking at the home in the summer and there were mostly bushes. No flowers. I'm just not sure where to start with this mess. I would like to fill in some flowers around what is already here, but I won't really know until next year what to do (after I see what happens this summer). What should I do to clean this up? Do you know what any of these are? Any suggestions?

I am really excited to have a garden again, but it was much easier to start from scratch! Thank you in advance!




I have a few of these bushes, they seem to be healthy and in no need of cleanup.


I really want to know what these are and if I need to cut them down.


This looks like really long grass that has been flattened by snow.




The only thing that was still labeled!


Cut down?

[rainbowgardener]

Congratulations on your new house! It will be great fun for you seeing what comes. It doesn't look like "a mess" at all, it looks like a garden that has been very well cared for. You can start with what is there and then modify to make it what you want it to be.

It helps to number your pictures, so we can refer to them. The brown dry stuff in picture 1 and 3 is probably sedum. It is a nice fall blooming perennial. You can cut all the brown stuff off now. The little evergreen in picture 2 is probably boxwood.

The grassy stuff in the next picture near the downspout would be some kind of ornamental grass, possibly blue fescue. It should also be cut back.

The brown piles in the bottom picture are the remains of some perennial, at a guess one of the purple heucheras, very nice plant. Just cut off some of the dead foliage.

It's a very neat, well tended garden and they were right to leave all that foliage through the winter, to protect the roots. Early spring (like NOW) is the time to cut all those perennials back.

[msjamie]

Thanks for the help! I guess it just feels like a mess since it was flattened by the outrageous amount of snow this winter. I will go out this weekend and cut down the dead stuff. I want to fill in with some flowers this summer and then decide if I want to change anything next year. I also want to plant some bulbs. I'd like to have a garden that flowers all spring/summer/fall. I also have some tall ornamental grass in the corner of the lot... I assume I should cut that down as well?

If I remember correctly, I should start planting mid May depending on the weather.

Another question. The entire side of the house has a row of hostas that are huge and overgrown. I know I can divide those to make them look nicer, but what other plants would go nice along side of a house where people usually plant hostas. I just feel like they are boring. I want more color. Zone 5.

[rainbowgardener]

Re the row of hostas: Hostas are shade plants, so I assume this is maybe the north side of the house or otherwise shaded. If it is a dampish area, ferns and hostas go well together, and there are silver ferns and red ferns.

If you want to have easy all season color, you can pop a bunch of impatiens in with them. Impatiens are annuals that are sold cheap as bedding plants in all the nurseries. They come in a whole bunch of warm colors, reds, pinks, oranges, and white. You would have to replant them every year, but it isn't hard.

For shade perennials, you could think about heart-leafed bergenia, which is early spring blooming but also has nice fall foliage color, hellebores, primroses, woods poppy, heuchera and heucherella, which don't have very showy flowers, but come in all kinds of beautiful foliage colors and varigations.

[applestar]

I recommend you draw up a map of the garden and/or push in a garden marker by the plants with the possible ID as you cut them down. Once they are nothing but stubby sticks, they will quickly become indistinguishable from each other. It will help you plan the garden as well.

Lots of great suggestions while I was trying to type, so have fun!

[msjamie]

Thanks for all the help. I just purchased some basic gardening tools to get me started. Planning on cleaning up the dead stuff tomorrow when it is warm out. Do I need to remove the old mulch? I want to get fresh mulch after I plant my annuals later this spring.

[rainbowgardener]

You don't really need to remove the old mulch, but I would go over it with a rake or hoe or something to be sure it is loosened up. Sometimes mulch like that compacts and turns in to a solid layer that cuts down on air and water circulation.

[NatureHillsNursery]

Congratulations on the new house--how exciting to be starting new! It sounds like far wiser gardening voices than mine have already answered your questions, so I’ll just offer a suggestion. Everyone loves annuals, but I prefer perennials for their long-lasting, low-maintenance nature. There are a lot of spectacular choices in plants that flower all year and don't need care. Also, looks like what you have now isn’t very decorative for winter. Check out some of the fantastic winter-color plants available. It depends upon what area you’re in of course.

[AngelicaGray3409]

Well, it looks like there's a lot of work to be done here. I am in a similar position right now. You'll just have to take everything step by step. Determine if the plant is live or dead, remove the dead ones, and decide what would you like to plant. There are many different flowers and shrubs you can fill the place with, it all depends on your budget.

[imafan26]

Welcome to the forum. You have gotten some good advice. I don't recognize most of the plants but I live in a frost free zone.