Blue and yellow crocuses, midlle is hyacinth, lower are tulips. There is something else growing inside of tulips circle but I have hard time identifying it. Advice- leave everything alone, watch and learn what you have for first year.

Crocus, crocus, crocus, hyacinth, tulips, tulips.

The first 3 are crocus, the next one is a hyacinth and the last few look like emerging tulips to me

thank you all!! i was hoping the one was tulip :)

oh, and that thing in the middle..um, a weed i believe..lol. least we pull them like they're weeds. they were all over the flower beds last yr.

Its hard to tell for sure - but the weed looks kind of like oxalis - a real pain for us. Seeds all over the place. It has yellow flowers.

FYI - good advice for any new homeowner is not to dig anything out until you've been there a year. Given all these bulbs, you probably have lots of other treasures too. Many bulbs, like lilies, dahlias, etc. will not emerge until much later in the year. If you start digging now, without knowing where any are, you could be destroying some beautiful plants. So just weed now, watch, and wait. Next year you will probably want to do things differently than you do now.

I'll apologize in advance to momto4boys, this is not intended to be critical of you, but this post makes me cringe.

I have nightmares about someone buying my home and tearing everything out of the garden without waiting to see what rare and wonderful plants are there. All the thought, work and money that goes into building a garden ... lost. It's understandable, from the buyers' point of view, but anything that can be done to slow down new owners is a step in the right direction.

There are often threads on garden web from new owners who say they've removed "icky, overgrown" shrubs around trees (especially around maples) and now want to replace them with new shrubs, and want to know how to dig in among the tree roots and get some privacy from their neighbors. Well, a little pruning of the established shrubs would have been so much easier, and would have re-established a nice buffer so much faster.

Sorry again, just venting - but momto4boys, please see what you've got before you tear out any more plants. The sellers may not have tended their garden once the papers were signed, but they may have left you some great material to work with.

diggingthedirt makes an excellent point! Specially if one is a new homeowner that is also new to the joys of gardening, it is very important to leave the garden intact. Often, what is perceived to be an overgrown mess are just simply perennials out of bloom, done for the season or annuals gone to seed. Or yes, shrubs in need of trim. It is expensive to "start over fresh" - and new homeowners seldom have extra cash to throw at their garden unnecessarily.

A suggestion can be made to invest in a couple of DIY gardening books that will help get you started in your gardening education. Often local nurseries will have free classes that can help as well. And they can ID 'mystery' plants or you can post photos here for ID help. But as a garden designer myself often called in to assist new homeowners, it is of more value to allow the existing landscape to remain in place until you know exactly what you have and what you are dealing with than it is to unknowingly remove what could be attractive and valuable plants just for the sake of temporary tidiness.

I absolutely agree with gardengal and digginthedirt. In a year or so we will be making a move, and the hardest part for me will be thinking about someone coming in and ripping out things that I have saved for and nurtured over the past 15 years. Perennials, after their bloom can often look untidy, and someone preparing to pack up a home may not have had time to do the pruning, trimming, weeding etc. that would have kept it neat and tidy. PLEASE, PLEASE don't rip out anything else until you see what you have, what you like and don't like. You will of course develop your own way of doing things and your own favorite plants. But for now just weed, don't yank unless you're positive what you're pulling is a weed.

i definitly see everyone's point...so ty for the insight.
again, i didn't have a clue..and nobody to guide me. i saw weeds that were up to my hip, cannas(i think they were called?) to the very top of ALL the front windows, and we just started to pull.
i will say, even though i probably planted the wrong things in the wrong spots, by the time we were done..it looked great. and for wks we had nieghbors stop by to thank us for cleaing up such an eye sore.
the good news is..we didn't TOUCH the flower beds in the back yard. it's a huge mess. i was actually getting ready to rip it all out as well. now that the weather is warming up. instead...i'll just pull out what appears to be old blooms, and see what happens.

ty again!

Instead of "pulling out what appears to be old blooms", just cut the dead tops off and leave the roots.

Most perennials die down to the ground surface. The tops are dead, but the roots are alive and just waiting for warm weather to start growing new stems and foiage (and flowers).

Claire

Yes, I sometimes think as I gloat over the 27 flowers on the double bloodroot or the mat of blooming cyclamens under the Harry Lauder's Walking stick (now 9 feet high) or the heptacodium along the fence or the stewartia out back - that in a few years, when I'm gardening where there are no weeds, someone will hire a bulldozer to level this site and then a 'landscaper' to put in a lawn. After, that is, they tear down my house and put up something three times the size - which is what's happening around here.

If I sold or left my home and gardens, I would surely plan to leave a written map and name exactly what is planted where in case the next owner wishes to continue to garden.

pink warm mama - I actually have maps of all my landscaped areas. Helps me keep straight what I have and, in the winter, plan for the following year. Although we have no plans to move, I have also thought that if I did, I would turn a copy of these over to the new owners and hope they love the gardens as much as I do.

Why not ask your gardening neighbor who took your bulbs to help you identify what's in your garden. Or if that neighbor can't help you look for someone in your neighborhood who is always out gardening and ask them. Gardeners love to show others their gardens and to help new gardeners get started.

Don't be scared of the hyacinths! They smell heavenly! When the flower stalk starts to "lean", I cut it off and bring it in the house and put it in a vase. They make the whole house smell wonderful!

Deanna

Look at all those lovely crocuses! Lucky you.

Please, please, just slow down and take a year to identify what you have before you start cutting down or pulling out. There will ALWAYS be more time to neaten up; this is the only opportunity you have to get to know what's in the mature garden you "inherited".

Kristin

lol

ahh this thread hurts my head :( You have some pretty treasures there in your yard :) At least you gave a lot away to your neighbor. He/she must have made a steal ;)

I think most of us have moved into first homes and tossed or dug into things that we later realized were worthwhile. Thus I agree completely with the "wait and see" and "study up" camps. Even a peony can look pretty lousy in September. However, if the house is only two years old, it's likely that there aren't all that many fantastic, irreplaceable treasures you're yanking--just in case you're feeling bad after reading these posts. Still, I'd say go easy with the shovel until you know what's what. You just never know when you're going to slice into a $65 hellebore!

Also, when you post on these forums in the future, it's always helpful to let us know what part of the country you're in so you get zone-appropriate advice. Good luck and happy hunting this spring.

As a gift to my aged parents I had their yard landscaped. They were easy care plants, nothing really unusual, but very pretty in season. I was forced to sell their home after their health deteriorated. After the papers were signed I overheard the new young homeowners talk about cutting down the trees and shrubs in the back yard so that their children could have a swing set and a place to play touch football. My realtor confirmed that, with the exception of a tree or two, most new homeowners want low to no maintanence plants. They prefer to have an open space that lends itself to trampolenes, volleyball nets or other childrens activities.

When I was growing up my neighbor had the most incredible garden in the back. It took up a 1/4 of the yard and on one side was trelles filled with grapes and the other was a lawn that was filled with plants along its' perimeter. It was magnificent. She had amazing plants too! Tons of lillies that were triple flowered! I would love to find them. It was 3 full flowers of pedals surrounding the reproductive parts.

Well, my neighbors sold the house and the owner stated he wanted to make a pond with a waterfall in the back and was going to do some major digging up. She convinced him to wait a summer so he could see what he had. He did! Actually he left it like that for a few years. Then one day I went into his back and he cleared everything out! I could not believe it. I would have killed for those plants, besides... now all he has now is weeds that he mows. :c(

Here's another thought: while your bulbs are blooming, mark what they are and their color in some way. Even a craft/popsicle stick with permanent marker will still be readable in the fall if you wish to plant more bulbs, perennials on sale, etc. and you won't have the damage you could otherwise.
posiepaula

Wondering how a 2 yr old garden can be overgrown. ??!
1st yr sleep
2nd yr creep
3 yr leap

I suggest you dig out all the so-called 'mess' and give it to neighbors who will appreciate it. Sure wish I lived next to you! You are one lucky lady.
Pondy

I wish I lived next to you, Give me Give me Give me!

I bought our house last August more for the beautiful gardens than the house, although the house is nice as well. The back yard was like walking into a BH&G magazine cover picture. Thankfully the lady who was selling left me a detailed map along with pages and pages (each in plastic page protectors) listing all the plants and trees, where purchased, price and date planted. What a godsend to have it. You can tell she spent a small fortune on plants but when I added it all up I was shocked and that didn't include all the slate pathways and raised slate beds, the shed and the sprinkler system on its own well. Now I just have to keep it up to her standards, the neighbors will be watching LOL If she hadn't left "the map" there are definitely a few things in there that I would have thought dead annuals and pulled in the fall or spring cleanup

I have one other idea for you. Mulch what beds you have. It will help smother weeds and will help what perrenials might be there. We took out time with our house and the 3rd year we were here we mulched our beds with pine needles (although pine bark is fine too, just not my preference). That spring and summer I had plants come up that had never surfaced before. Things like hardy geraniums and hostas. It also helps make your yard look cleaner while helping the soil.

Also, a really quick way to make an impact is to plant some annuals. Even a couple of containers planted in mass color will make you feel like you've done something! Good luck!

No offense, but is this a joke? You are causing me to hyperventilate.

I have to check in here and share a "would you believe this" and some grief. I downsized housing last summer, leaving behind a (to me) lovely perennial border and ten mature trees, five of them excellent specimens. I can't tell what they've done to the perennials driving by, but they chopped down EIGHT of the trees within one week of moving in. I'm still in shock. The place looks like a desert.

After I sold my lake home, the new owner invited me to tour the house. What a sweet gal. I had to admire all the changes. They werent my taste, but so what? They looked good. Same with the yard. It was all made much simpler and easy care. The veggie garden was halved, the bed set aside for peppers was turned into lawn. Many perennials were gone. But, hey, it still looked great, and suited this new young family. When your priorities are small children and (usually) jobs for both parents, some long-term gardners wishes just dont cut it. I just love that they have adapted that old lake house to suit their family. I was happy to just 'move on' with my life and certainly will never cry over lost plants.
Pondy

Realtor told my sister that her rose garden, perennial beds, blueberry patch, vegetable garden - all hindrances to selling because people worried about upkeep. She's 81 and did it all single handed but the purchasers have found they can't keep up with it and it has mostly gone back to weeds or is mowed.
When we sold my parents' home, the first thing the buyers did was yank out the double lilac hedge along the road - now they get all the dust and noise from the traffic which, presumably, was what they wanted! They also mowed down all the roses and ditto the perennial beds. Lawn was what they wanted and cropped weeds was what they got. They did leave the Hopa crab in front which still stops traffic every spring but they mowed into oblivion the mat of grape hyacinths under it. Just as my neighbors carefully mowed a big swatch of primroses down by the stream until they had eradicated every one. Those primroses needed no care - just not to be mowed. But they had to go anyway. The same neighbors tried to eradicate the crocus in the front lawn but most of them were too small to hit the mower blades.
What's with this obsession with grass?

When we moved into this house. Whihc is our first home we bought. I will admit I did get rid of about 70% of the hostas that the previous owners had planted. The hostas ran along the full front side of the house and I wanted colors. I did wait until the first year to attack the hostas though. But they were either given away (freecycle) or trades for other flowers. And in fact in the last two or three weeks we have enlarged two of the flower beds. We have done ALOT of work on our beds and granted if we did ever decide to sell the house I will "raid" the flower beds first and take alot of things with us. I am too attached to my babies to just leave them behind. But I would also let the new buyers know that the plants would be missing not all but alot.

Paula

I'm with you Paula! We purchased a home with land 3 years ago and I (with some help from DH) have literally put in hundreds of trees, shrubs, perennials, ground covers, etc. Now, my DH is saying that there are some things that bother him about the neighborhood, especially the road noise and is talking about possibly moving!!! All I think about is my gardens and that I haven't even gotten a chance to enjoy all the hard work and beautiful gardens I established.

If we do decide to relocate, I will DEFINITELY take with me many of the wonderful treasures I have in my garden! There will be plenty left for whoever moves in, if they want them!!

I noticed a lot of ideas about marking plants.

May I share what I know for sure about marking plants?

I use the most common of markers to write the precious information about my plants- A #2 lead pencil.

Whether you cut up a mini-blind or use fancy purchased markers, the pencil is idea for recording info you want to keep. It will not fade in time or the sun, will not wash off and cannot be rubbed off. But...........you can erase it and reuse your marker.

I usually use an old mini-blind that can be bought at a yard sale or Salvation Army store. Even at WalMart, a new mini-blind is only about $4.00. Take it apart, cut it into a cazillion pieces, and write away. You can use a hole punch to put a hole in one end and thread a piece of elastic or plastic covered wire to attach the tag to a plant.

I once took a propagation class from a man who would not allow unmarked plants to exist in his greenhouse or garden. He insisted the unmarked plants be thrown away, and no retrieval was possible. We did learn to mark our plants tho. LOL