We just bought our first house, have always rented before and I never wanted to invest anything besides mowing and watering. Now that we have our own place, I'm ready to make it mine! Unfortunately, my grandmas green thumb wasn't passed down to me.
When we moved in, there were a few plants here already I would like to "bring back".
The first is a purple Rose of Sharon in a planting bed with a rose vine and trumpet vine, it is a little over 4 ft. tall. Either the Sharon has split in half or there are two trees there, but one "half" is dead and as I started to remove the limbs, they pulled right out of the ground. There were insects resembling maggots in the wood. The other "half" I have pruned to the best of my ability and am getting a few blooms now. My questions; 1. What are these insects and how will they affect the living part of the tree. 2. The tree seems very thinned out, how can I make it fuller?
Also, there is a rose THING in the front yard in full sun. It isn't a vine, more like a shrub or small tree. I've pruned this to the best of my ability as well and got , two (woo-hoo) delicate light yellow roses with very small dark red centers. There are new red sprouts on the plant that were not there pre-pruning. There are also several little green pods, similar to tiny green tomatoes on the plant. I'm assuming these are where the rose blooms from, but they are dried and black in the center. My questions: 1.Do I need to prune it back even more and remove all these pods? 2. Why are the new shoots growing in red? 3. HELP!!! What do I do?
Remember, I'm new at this. I just learned the difference between mulch and peat today and have been reading the Better Homes and Gardens book on plants for a week straight! Go easy on my silly questions!