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| Also posted this in the Alabama gardening forum:
Hi y'all, It's been a year after buying our first house in the Montgomery area and we finally have settled in enough to have time for gardening. We are trying to plan our approach to caring for our landscape (inherited from the previous owner), but both of us are (extreme) beginners and have no idea how or when to start. I've taken MANY pictures, so beware of the long load time. The previous owner had the yard professionally landscaped and maintained and left a lot of goodies! Unfortunately, we are on a limited budget and would like to do all the work ourselves. I think the first order of business is identifying what we actually have growing around the house! With no further ado, here is what we have:                              |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 9:43
| ok.. welcome.. first ... too many pix.. and they arent numbered .... and flipping back and forth is not going to work for me ... if it were me.. i would do 2 or 3 pix.. of each plant.. in one post ... so i will do the first pic .. no clue what it is .... other than a guess at a fern ... the leaves were left for winter interest ... if they are brown and crunchy ... they should be cut close to the ground .. BEFORE new growth occurs ... MOST likely .. if you go look in there.. you will see at what height is was done before ... personally ... i do not like some of those hedges right on the foundation ... some selective pruning or removal of those MIGHT be contemplated over the years ... no hurry on those .... there is one tall one which probably has a door behind it.. near the patio ... that one will need some rejuvenation pruning to tame it back into a nice plant .... there is one tree shrub that looks like it might be telephone poled [planted too deep] .. the grass should be removed.. and the soil pulled back.. and a mulch ring applied ... it has pretty pink flowers .. its near the bottom of the pix .... also looks like it might have water sprouts.. or sprouts coming from below a graft.. hard to tell with the dead grass there ... and ID will help ... garden will be your aerobics and your therapy .. we can get you up to speed .. dont worry about it all ... it should become a pleasure to you .... just post a couple posts on one or two plants .... on wed or thurs.. so we can give you some ideas on one or two plants.. that you can attack that weekend.. and before you know it.. you will learn and work thru it all .... good luck ken |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 11:01
| It would much more helpful if you posted these photos by number on a photo-hosting website, then linked to that :-) And you will get a much larger response if you tried posting this in the Name That Plant! forum, as that is specifically for plant ID and will include all types of plants, not just shrubs. And just to explain a bit further, photos of tree trunks alone, without a view of the full tree profile and stem and bud close-ups (especially on deciduous trees in late winter) are not very helpful. Having said all that, here's what I've come up with :-) (in order from top to bottom) 1 - sago palms (cycads) - these should be evergreen and look pretty well cold damaged, if not dead. |
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| I'm sorry about all the pictures...but thanks so much your your help. Regarding the Sago palms, is there anything I can do to improve their health at this point? And finally, which forum (or other resource) should I seek help in learning how to properly maintain my landscape? The previous owner spent a lot of time and money and I'd hate to see it go to waste! Thank you much again. |
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| I guessed (on the Alabama Forum) that 29 was Japanese Cleyera; 6 looks more like Ophiopogon to my eyes; 14 looks more like Trachelospermum asiaticum (Asiatic Jasmine) to me than Vinca. About all you can do for the Sagos at this point is to remove ALL of those dead fronds. They will never come back to life. Then, you'll simply have to play a waiting game to see if the plants ever revive at all. Sagos are really tropical in nature and I'd think would find it quite challenging to live in your location....even without the kind of winter you had this year. Look for the emergence of new fronds once it begins to truly warm up. Not too far away! ljbrandt, once you've made an inventory of your plants (with our help), you can begin doing some quick research on individual care. I see nothing in the landscape that is out of the ordinary or unusual (except maybe the Sago in your climate), so you shouldn't have any problem looking up some information. We can help with experiential advice, which will be of much more assistance to you once you've done a bit of research. For example! Watch out for euonymus scale on those plants! Those small and inconspicuous insects are very common on euonymus. Below is the link to the post in the Alabama Forum, just to see some others have come up with. See what you think, Gardengal. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Click here
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| #3 is tea olive, looks like it is blooming #5 is yellow jasmine on trellis, ours is blooming now #9,20,21 & 22 lavender form of loropetalum #11 is gardenia # 26,27 & 28 is peach, the suckers coming up from the base (w/o flowers) should be removed. |
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- Posted by thisismelissa z4a-S Twin Cities MN (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 23:53
| I think it may be worth it for you to hire someone from a reputable local nursery to come out and help you identify your plants and maybe even have a plan drawn up for you, of your current plantings. This will help you with your "inventory" and further be able to research proper care of your lovelies. When looking for said individual, during your initial phonecalls, ask if it'd be possible for that individual to give you some advice on their proper care. There is a nursery here that would provide that kind of consultation for a fee of $85/hour, which given your extensive plantings, I would do that in a HEARTBEAT! My limited advice so far.... in the case of that peach.... eliminate those suckers.... they're stealing energy from the main plant. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Tree suckers
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 23, 10 at 9:44
| rhizo, I will gladly defer to your judgement and those who responded in the regional forum :-) Mine were just 'best guesses' anyway and since I don't live in that area, I'd trust you guys to be much more on point! To the OP: you might want to find someone in your area that does consultations or garden coaching. For a quite reasonable fee, these folks come visit your garden and will ID everything there. They will also provide maintenance and care recommendations so you will know how to proceed going forward. It looks like you have the basis for a lovely landscape but it will take some attention to keep it looking good. And being so new to gardening, asking for help is a very smart thing to do :-) Congratulations on your new home and garden! |
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- Posted by dave_in_nova VA zone 7a (My Page) on Tue, Mar 23, 10 at 13:10
| 1) sagos - remove the brown fronds near the base. Should reflush with warm weather. Foliage will brown at about 14º. But trunk should be OK much lower. 2) don't know -- need to see leaves 3) Osthmanthus fragrans -- smell like Juicy Fruit? 4) some kind of cherry or apricot?? 5) maybe carolina jessamine on the trellis. does it bloom yellow? 6) liriope. Many people remove last years old growth before new growth starts in . 7) hydrangeas with holly ferns in foreground 8) golden euonymus 6) lorapetalum 7) maybe dwarf yaupon holly? 8 gardenia 9) a tree without identifying leaves 10) same tree? 11) maybe vinca? or jasmine? 12) a Ligustrum maybe japonicum? 13 and 14) more euonymus 15 and 16) azalea 17, 18, 19) lorapetalum 20, 21, 22) ornamental grasses. --trim off the straw. 23 maybe a peach? with suckers growing up from the rootstock. trim off suckers. they will take over and not flower as attractively. 24 save 25 same 26 maybe a pittosporum or a cleyera? |
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| dave in nova, One question about the sagos - you said to just remove the leaves near the base, however from what I've been reading/reasching, I'd need to remove ALL the brown fawns and not just the one's near the base since they will not return to green...curious as to your take. thanks! |
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- Posted by dave_in_nova VA zone 7a (My Page) on Tue, Mar 23, 10 at 20:24
| no, remove ALL of the brown FRONDS and cut them off close to the trunk of the sago. I would use a pruning shears --- and wear gloves because of thorns. Really, you could leave them on -- it won't hurt the plant, but it's unsightly, and eventually the sago will likely flush again soon. Sorry if I was unclear. I'll bet by June those sagos will look just beautiful again. Do you see a lot of sagos around town? What was your lowest temp this winter? |
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| Will do! thanks. Don't see a lot of these in the area...I think they're pretty rare for central alabama. As far as the winter temperatures, I think we hit a stretch of days in the mid-high teens. |
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| You've already gotten a lot of good ids and advice...I was just stopping in to check on a post I made earlier this week, and saw your post and wanted to thank you for asking about the plantings and your interest in learning to care for them. I am sure whoever planted your garden would be pleased. So many people move into a house and just bush-hog everything to the ground. Kudos to you! :D Your ornamental grass (5th and 6th photos from the bottom) is emerging...see the green coming up from the base? You need to cut the dead leaves off now, before the new comes in much more. :) Have fun! Do you all have a dog? Sago palms are on the ASPCA's Top Ten Poisonous Plants list. I think they're beautiful, but we have dogs so they'd have to go. Just thought I'd throw that out there, in case. |
Here is a link that might be useful: ASPCA on Sago Palm
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| I would trim all the tall branches on the shrubs against the house. The fern in front of the hydrangeas, I would toss, looks like it is pretty well spent. A few of the trees need to be pruned. Watch that vinca, the green leaves with blue flowers, they have a thing of escaping their holding pot, then running all over, mine did, and have been pulling it up for 20 years still. The azalea or rhodie in bloom, pink, can be trimed back after bloom. Not a lot, just here and there, as next yrs. flowers will be in the tips. You have to do it right after flowering. Maybe fertilize it also after flowering. You could go to the library, and get a book on shurbs and the care of. That is how I learned all I know, I have a vast library of books on gardening now, because I started out like you, with little knowlege. If there is a garden club in your area, (ask at a local nursery), maybe someone there would be willing to come out to give advice. Don't overdo it in the work area until you get limbered up! Darlene |
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| Just in case you guys were curious about follow-up, I posted before and after pictures in this thread - http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/alabgard/msg0302542517726.html ?5 |
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