Hello everyone. It's my first winter in this garden and i've been pottering about trying to figure out what to prune, pull up or leave where it is. I'm new to all of this - so i've taken a few pictures of things I have found as best I could and was hoping you would be able to tell me what they are? Some are most likely obvious (to everyone except me), but i'd rather err on the side of caution! Don't want to go ruining something that will look wonderful come summer.
The photos can be found on my garden blog (because I couldn't figure out photo uploading on here quickly enough): http://breuddwyd.blogspot.com/2011/02/win-lose-or-draw.html
Thanks in advance for any help! And apologies for my ignorance!
Siani.
Ok..my take of you plants are..
1 Privet..leave it to flower, nothing special to look at but pleasant smell..or tidy/chop...
2 ?..chop the old berries and twig off..it has done it job.
3 Hydrangea..leave..it will flower later on
4 Old Hydrangea flowers..you can cut it off all the way back to he new healthy buds
5 Old flower of some sort ?....but if you want prune do as above
6 Geranium...leave..you can tidy off any old brown bits around the new green leaves if you wish..but it don't hurt neither if left on
7 Dephinium..or Monkshood?..leave..they will flower later on
8 ?
no 8 :- weeds, lords and ladies, arum call it what you like, some people like to keep a few but when the stamen turns into bright red berries young children get attracted to them.
Ahh..yes..that's it..I've got some of them myself and rather like them..not weeds but purposely planted ;D
Native plants..rather..
Quote from: goodlife on February 19, 2011, 18:39:47
Ok..my take of you plants are..
1 Privet..leave it to flower, nothing special to look at but pleasant smell..or tidy/chop...
2 ?..chop the old berries and twig off..it has done it job.
3 Hydrangea..leave..it will flower later on
4 Old Hydrangea flowers..you can cut it off all the way back to he new healthy buds
5 Old flower of some sort ?....but if you want prune do as above
6 Geranium...leave..you can tidy off any old brown bits around the new green leaves if you wish..but it don't hurt neither if left on
7 Dephinium..or Monkshood?..leave..they will flower later on
8 ?
That's great. Thank you very much :-)
Number 5 -- this is a picture of it last autumn that i've just found, which might help some!
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FBiXpvP95gY/TG94HhPeeaI/AAAAAAAAAAk/0XnYih8LPwE/s320/Summer+2010+158.JPG)
As said, 8 is Lords and Ladies, Arum Italicum. The others are also correct.
No 5 is hydrangea flower...another one ;) and instruction is same
I think you have your pictures mixed up as the 5th pic on the blog is a helebore.
Lords and ladies is the native species, Arum maculatum. This looks like Arum italicum, a more attractive plant all round. It's poisonous, so don't let toddlers play with it.
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on February 20, 2011, 19:49:33
Lords and ladies is the native species, Arum maculatum. This looks like Arum italicum, a more attractive plant all round. It's poisonous, so don't let toddlers play with it.
Ah, ok. Thanks for this. Is it poisonous to cats? My cat is prone to finding troublesome things....
It will be poisonous to them, but it's extremely nasty tasting, and very rarely causes serious illness in humans. I doubt whether a cat would touch it.
a lot of your plants are native woodland (welsh).Shame to get rid
No 6 looks like parsley. Was there a herb bed?
Quote from: Bugloss2009 on February 22, 2011, 12:13:21
a lot of your plants are native woodland (welsh).Shame to get rid
No 6 looks like parsley. Was there a herb bed?
Oh, i'm not getting rid. Don't you worry about that :-) I'm a big fan of native plants. I just wanted to know what was growing so that I can read more about it and make sure I know how to take care of it!
There may have been a herb bed. It's a new property (to me and my husband) so we don't know what was there beforehand - it was cared for at some point, but it's last owner let it go to rack and ruin a little.
Thanks for your reply :-)