Hi, Happy to have someone else from Va. And I'm going to love watching your progress. Looks like a lot of work but you will feel so pleased with yourself when its looking beautiful again.
Welcome thenoobgardener, You really do have a good chunk of work ahead of you. Our trees were over grown by about 20 feet and the gardens looked like old jungles. We took years go finally get it to where it should have been when we moved in. We even had trees growing up and through our outbuildings. Good like and post pictures. The members here will follow your progress and give you good ideas on which way to go. Barb in Pa.
I'd see if you have a local Master Gardener group that might have a new member that needs their volunteer hours to come help you out with identification and recommendations.
Good morning, well what a project! The first picture which is the aerial one looks like a dolls house in the surroundings....good luck. Somehow some fences look higher than the house. Certainly were dedicated gardeners!
Noob, here's a site with some pics that might help with the difference between ailanthus, walnut and sumac. They are all similar. http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages ... plants.htm
The Noob, Rockhounds information on comparison pictures was a great page to reference. I did not think about the ailianthus when I ID'd the pictures for you, either way they are both awful weeds, I am not sure if the ailianthus spreads like the sumac, I think it has a tap root not a rhizome, but they are both nasty weeds. The sumac has a pleasant smell the ailianthus stinks.
At least Sumac has some uses, so if you have a plant or clump in a good place you could save it for it's ornamental/edible things. AS LONG AS IT'S NOT the poison sumac, which has white berries that hang down. The good ones will have red fuzzy berries that stand up in a cluster.
New pics Ok everyone, we officially own the house! My fiance and I went exploring today and I took some more pictures and sorted my thoughts. I think I'm going to start with our patio and work from there. Here's what's on it. I know a lot of these are weeds so we'll get those out of there pronto. Also, any advice on how to prune the good plants would be awesome =) ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) How far back can I prune this? Out of control! ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden ) And that's the update! ( photo / image / picture from thenoobgardener's Garden )
Congratulations! Now... let the fun (work) begin. :-D You've got lots of knowledgeable folks here that will help you along the way. Hope you have extra batteries for your camera!
Hi Noob, Congratulations!!! Glad for you. #1. wild/wood violets...Weed pull, pull, pull. these have a difficult to pull rhizome like root system. and reseed very well . You might want to invest in a bag of pre emergent for the flower beds and lawn. this kills the seeds AS they germinate, not after they are up. #2. Poke weed. VERY huge tap root. Dig it out. #3. I am not certain, but maybe a locudt tree. there appears to be thorns on the stem ate the petiole of the leaf... dig it out. #4. The dreaded Virginia Creeper. Makes a nice screen if that is what you want, but it will keep growing up, up, up. It is beautiful in the Fall. A gorgeous burnished dark red foliage...But still a weed. Can be very invasive (as it is here) it will grow up any tree and attach itself to the bark with adhesive disk-like "roots", which I am not sure is the correct description. it is tenacious, hard to pull down. #5. ??? MAYBE, Oregon grape? I am not sure if the new leaves are immature and not developed or this is just not it, (which is what I am thinking..not it) otherwise, I have no idea...maybe someone else will know #6. ??? Looks familiar, but I am not coming up with a name..sorry.. Someone else, please. #7. Creeping Charlie...Weed. pull, pull, pull. #8. ???
#5 is not Oregon-grape. Below is Oregon-grape Oregon-grape-Mahonia #5 and #8 Anyone think they are burning bush??? #6 Could be some kind of smooth leaf Holly. I see mostly weeds but some very nice real plants scattered in all your pictures so be careful what you pull out. When I first started, I planted seeds and then promptly pulled them out as weeds as soon as they sprouted. I did that over and over again till I gave up. Anyone see poison ivy or the like to warn her about? I didn't spot any. That would set her gardening back a bit.:'( I did that over and over again, all the way up to this year. Barb in Pa.
The fuzzy fruit are peaches, probably from a wild root stock. You sure do have a lot to do. The good thing is the before pictures. If you want to try to duplicate that yard then you will need to identify what is what and start pruning, cutting down and digging up what is overgrown and you don't want. It might take several months to a couple of years to get it back in order. It did not get that was over night.
