Hi all,

We just moved into a new subdivision in Mountain View, California (a little bit north of San Jose), and the builder left us a well manicured front yard full of plants we've never had before. We are new to gardening and want to know how to take care of these, but the first step is knowing what they are! Can you help?

The album in the link below has some photos taken about a week ago. There are four pictures of Tree #1, which has pods and flat leaves. It's prone to suckers, apparently - we've already pruned those off.

Next are two photos of plants with very long leaves, with white edges. Will these flower, or are they clumps of grass?

Then come two photos of Tree #2, which is planted all the way down the street. Probably very common.

The last three photos are of three small plants with small leaves. The first one is taken from directly above; this plant is very short, with reddish leaves and stems.

The next one is slightly larger, with reddish stems/branches and dark green leaves.

The last photo shows our only flowering plant (at least, so far). It has bright blue, almost purple flowers and yellowish-green leaves.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Here is a link that might be useful: Mystery plants