Beth, you will get good responses on the Landscape Design forum. Also, be sure to include your location (nearest big city) and zone.

Thank you!!!! I went to the Garden Center yesterday and got a TON of advice! They were amazing!!!! I totally underestimated the cost of plants so I don't think I can have a grand plan after all Also learned the sun/shade "rules" for CO aren't the same as all the labels because the sun is so strong sooo I guess I'll stick with the stores help. THANKS though!! Much appreciated!!

I finally gave up on the mulch and now use pine straw over weed barrier instead--the pine needles fell all over the mulch anyway! You might want to start shredding your leaves and do the same--more economical and they'll just decompose and improve the soil, eventually.....

Thanks Lizbest :)

Skybird - you are amazing!!! Thank you for all of this!!! Doing my best to answer correctly....

- I'm located in Littleton, just south of Denver. I'm used to New England climates which are obviously WAAAYYYYY different and VERY humid. But I've been in CO for almost 4 years now so I know this climate but that brings me to

- Nope, never gardened ever :/ Until we bought our house a few years ago I had only ever lived in apartments or a condo with landscapers so I've never had the opportunity. So when I say I'm a beginner... I mean I'm 100% green. No pun intended. HA!! Sorry bad joke LOL

- Free plants sounds AMAZING!!! I have nothing to swap though :/ I'll look that up, thanks!

- Bindweed - I don't think it is. I guess they are more like shoots, not vines. I do have some that looked like 1 or 2 pics on google but they haven't come back yet really. I'm including a pic of what they are but I chopped all of them so it might be hard to tell. They are already growing back :/ The tallest were probably about a foot and a half tall.

-Thanks for the mulch advice! If plants are covering that can I keep it for more than a few years? I suppose if I actually keep up with it it won't take as long as it did this time! haha.

- that actually brings another question that came up today. I was playing around "experimenting" with planting when I was babysitting my friends (adorable!) kid today and realized all the matting stuff is still intact under all the mulch. Do I take that all out and then just re-spread the mulch over it? Or do I just cut it where I'm digging the holes to plant? The back soil was soooo wet. For some odd reason that back line tends to stay that way no matter how many hot days we get. Even when I mow the lawn those few feet before the mulch the wheel of the mower makes marks in like its muddy. I recently turned off that zone for the sprinkler so I'll water it less back there.

- No, not sure what the trees are :/ The ones with leaves bloom tons of white flowers in early Spring. I love them!!! I'm just NOT a fan of this random Pine tree :/ I'll include a pic

- Ok, I'll plan on my vision over a few years. Haha. Good idea. And actually... considering I haven't done this before it's probably smart to follow your suggestion in case I am horrible at gardening. Haha. It would be a disaster to spend a ton of $ just to have everything die or be too crowded or place something in the wrong sunlight or something.

Last part! I went to Silver Sage Garden Centers. I really need to write a Yelp review about them. Truly phenominal customer service. The girl even said "it's a lot so you might want to take pictures and think about for a day or two before buying everything". I mean... THAT is confidence in your product and service right there! Awesome! Oh and I'm thinking of maybe starting small in front... with 1 splurge on a Gardenia for the corner. LOVE those!!!

Hi Beth,

I just have a minute right now, but thought I'd post this link to this spring's swap so you can get a feel for what we do and how we do it! The thing you might find the most interesting is OUR PRIMARY SWAP RULE a little way down in the FAQs!

The spring swaps are usually a lot of veggies/tomatoes and more, with some perennial starts, and the fall swaps tend to be more perennials, so the fall one would be a good time for you to get some small plants to start with.

I think your "100% green" comment should be, pun INTENDED! If you're gonna start gardening for the first time, GREEN is a great way to be! Start out assuming you're gonna be SO good that everything will grow for you! Who knows, maybe it will! When you're just starting it can seem a little intimidating, but gardening really isn't hard--and in a couple years you'll have lots of confidence and be wanting to try all kinds of things!

You posted some good info and pics, and I'll try to get back in the next couple days with more of a response for you!

Skybird

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4568991/spring-swap-2017-dates-and-location

I'm not sure what kind of gardenia you got, but I am not aware of any that are hardy here. So you'll need to bring it inside for the winter.

Thanks!!! I looked at the post and definitely interested, that sounds awesome!! I'll figure out some way to contribute :) I've looked everywhere to see what those things are at the bottom of the trees and I can't find anything! I think the trees might be dogwood? So maybe it's little branches growing from the roots? No clue!

Oops... I meant hydrangea. Thanks!!

Welcome, Beth! Skybird was right, I have been on vacation. I can't id the trees with leaves from the pics, but will look more. White flowers, any fruit or berries?

The tree in pic 4 is a Rocky Mountain Juniper, a native and quite a tough tree, perfectly adapted to our climate. It just doesn't work in your space. It wants less water than the other trees and is crowded. It's also been limbed up and not in a good way, so I think you'll want to take it down. That'll open up that space, benefit the trees next to it and give you planting room.

In pic three, those growths you're seeing at the base are called suckers. Some trees are prone to doing that, but it is can also be a sign of a tree under stress. You'll want to clip the suckers off. The tree seems well established, but I see some issues. I can't see the root flare of the tree and it should be visible. The root flare is where the roots of the tree go into the ground. If you can't see a top root near the soil level, the tree maybe planted too deeply and you may need to gently remove some soil from there. You also have landscape fabric around the base of the tree that needs to be removed. Once you've pulled it off, you'll be able to get at those suckers more easily.

I'm a mulch fan and use both pine needles and wood chips. There's no getting around needing to add more every year, unfortunately. I know the tree leaves can be a pain, but they are free compost if you bury them under the mulch in fall.

Barb

Hi Barb, thanks so much for the help!!!! I'll admit... the 'limbed up' is my fault if that means too much is cut off the bottom They were all dying on down there and obviously I have no clue what I'm doing so I chopped off a bunch to get underneath. Oops. They are such beautiful trees when I googled them! I wonder why it was planted there in the first place. Maybe it was alone and the previous owner was too lazy to remove it when the others were planted. Who knows. I'll take your advice to remove it, thank you! How much does it usually cost to do that? I'll hop on yelp but want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off since I have no clue.

The other 4 trees bloom small white flowers around April. I googled a lot and I think they might be dogwoods. Does that seem right? They are gorgeous in full bloom! I'll remove the fabric and some dirt tomorrow. Thanks for that! Since I'll be planting back there should I remove all the fabric from under the mulch or just in the places I plant? The soil is SUPER wet. Even in this weather w/sprinklers on for 15 min 3x/week (I took the sprinklers off that cycle). I was thinking to start (budget) maybe I'd do ground cover and just a few plants in the back row to get a little color then do more on the side. The girl at the Garden Center showed me Bowles, do you know anything about them by any chance? My friend suggested impatents but she had them in AZ.

Thanks again so much for all of the advice!!!

Impatiens bring wonderful color to a shade garden for the Summer, but they are not hardy here so they will cease as soon as it gets cold and not return next year. There's nothing wrong with that, just a decision. I used to plant them around my hostas each year for color.

I would research shade perennials hardy to zone 5. Most will be foliage plants rather than flowers, but there are many that have bright, colorful foliage. Hostas, heucheras, heucherella, brunnera, ligularia.

I've never heard of "Bowles". That doesn't sound right. Did you write it down?

The state flower, Aquilegia caerulea (columbine) does pretty well in the shade I think here at the lower elevations of the Denver area. Huecheras have great foliage and many have nice red blooms, which I am told are enjoyed by hummingbirds. They prefer dry shade I believe.

I would be pretty shocked if your trees were dogwoods. The only Cornus species that does well here in Colorado's low acid, high mineral clay is the shub version C. sericea (red osier dogwood) sold as either red or yellow twig dogwoods in the nursery. In nature they tend to be part of the shrubby understory in riparian areas, often mixed with narrowleaf cottonwoods and chokecherries and so may work if your soil stays pretty wet under those trees... Just a thought I had while typing...

I would remove as much of the landscape fabric as possible, for sure around the base of the trees and in any area you want to plant. You may have weeds popping up once you remove it, but in the long run you'll be better off getting it out of there. I know it's put down for weed suppression, but I don't think it works well, it interferes with water penetration and is such a pain when you plant.

I'm not suggesting you remove soil around the base of the tree in this heat, that'd be a better task for fall. You can use a hose on high pressure to move the soil away from the base of the tree to get a good look at the root flare. Pulling the landscape fabric and cutting off the suckers at the base of the trees is enough to do for now.

No criticism on limbing up the juniper, dead branches should be removed. It's just not planted in the right place. I can't tell how large the juniper is, but a tree service may charge hundreds for removal. You don't need a certified arborist for this job. In my yard, the better half and I would take it down ourselves, but I know that's not a job most people want to take on without a professional. We have an electric telescoping chainsaw and would start at the top of the tree, cutting down branches until we could safely cut down the trunk.

The other trees kind of look like hornbeam or beech but I really can't tell from the pics. Were the flowers individual or in clusters?

Hi, Beth! As you can tell, you've found a great group of knowledgeable and friendly people here.

I live in Highlands Ranch and am doing major thinning on some of my plants, you're welcome to come take a look and dig up anything you like. It will be better to do it with the weather's cooler, which is why a lot of us love the fall swap. Welcome to Colorado!

Hi all!

Thank you SOOOO much for the advice!! I must've turned notifications off or something because I didn't even see these responses! Sorry about that!!

I moved the landscape fabric from the bottom of the trees today... what I could anyway because the roots are growing through it now. I'll take a hose to it tomorrow :) I know you didn't mean to criticize, thank you! Future reference I don't mind hearing what I did wrong though! Helps me improve :) I'll try to recruit my friend to help with the tree. Seems way to expensive to have it don't professionally The flowers were in white clusters... you can see them in the background in the attached pic.

You are all PHENOMENAL!!! I'm so happy I found this site, thank you!!!!!!!!

Amester, I would LOVE that!! THANK YOU!!!!!

It will help me as well, so no problem! :)

Are you doing that now or did you mean for the swap? :)

Am I supposed to bury this irrigation hose? (also here's the tree pic I forgot to attach to my last post. It's hard to see but only pic I have of it in bloom in Late April)

You are getting after it, girl! I don't have an irrigation system (well, actually I do, it's me, hose in hand) so I really can't offer much except I'm not sure why the line is above ground. I'm surprised it hasn't frozen and split, unless you blow out the system in the fall. It looks like it's solid hose, not perforated, so I'm guessing it feeds to sprinkler heads?

My concern with burying the the line where it lays now is you'll have to cut through a significant amount of tree roots to bury it. You could really do some damage to the trees, especially close to the trunks. Could you move the line further out, like along the edging line or along the fence? That's going to be quite a job, either way. I hope someone knowledgable on irrigation systems chimes in.

I still can't id the trees from the photos, the flowering and suckering seems like Linden, but the structure and bark aren't right for Linden. They are lovely! It's going to be something so obvious that I'm going to smack myself when you get an id!

Barb

Hey! It was here when I moved in :) Yeah, attaches to sprinkler system. As I was planting on the side of the yard I discovered it goes over there too so now I understand why the weeds came so fast!!! 0 plants so I was watering WEEDS. Oops!

I did a bunch of research and it seems the consensus is to put it under a few inches of mulch so instead of burying I'll actually be pulling some up from the side since it's under dirt and that fabric stuff.

Went to a way more reasonably priced garden center (O'Tooles) and now have a good start! 4 hosted and ground cover under the trees, on the side a Lilly, delphiniums and something I forget the name of. And in the front a hydrangea in the corner. Oh and I think sage something to block the AC. They look really spaced apart since none are full grown but it's a good start so far!!! I'm excited!!

If the line is just under the mulch you will want to blow it out in the fall before the first hard freeze - any landscaper/lawn care service should be able to do it. Just a note for the future. :)

Thanks!!!! Yeah I had it blown out last winter. I had no idea but my friends are awesome and made sure I knew to get that done

Beth, you can come dig anytime! It's just sometimes hard for plants to establish in hot conditions so if you want to wait until fall that's fine. This cooler weather will help if you want to get things going right away. :)

Ohhh I understand now :) Maybe in a few days if it stays cool. Went tubing yesterday and I either sprained or bruised my ankle so trying not to walk on it much. Which is unfortunate since I have 4 hosts that need to be planted Thanks!!!

I hope you heal up soon! I'm not going anywhere and neither are my plants. W

Whenever you're ready, we're ready. :)

Thanks Amester!!! Do you happen to have many for shade? Or smaller for sun (I think I spaced some out my lily, vision spurge and delphinium too much). I have a delphinium that I don't know what to do with if you want it! It's starting to look pretty sad in the pot so I if you don't I'll find a temp home and bring it to the plant exchange

I'd love a delphinium if you're getting rid of it - thank you!

I have lots of ground cover geranium, tall yellow columbine, and maybe a geum or two. Is it deep shade or does it get a few hours of sun?

And I can easily find some small sun plants! I have daylilies, coreopsis, blue oat grass and maybe a dwarf sidalcea.

Wow thanks! I'll google all those. Haha I have a full sun line that I think I can fit things in because it's pretty spaced (pic attached) then the front gets maybe an hour or two of sun max. Then the random island thing my front tree is on where half gets probably 6 hours and the other half none. Then the ground cover would probably be awesome for the back!!! I planted creeping myrtle and bellflower(?) but again pretty spaced out (hence budget :/ ). I can come whenever you are free and I'll bring the delphinium! Thanks!!!!

Hey Beth, just found your post. The fall swap is next weekend, September 23. Hop onto that post and show some interest, and you'll be able to get the address and join us. Everyone loves to share, and no one is going to care that you don't have anything to trade. The spring swap was my first, and the people are amazing. It's nice to put faces to the names of the people you meet here, too.

Beth, I'm sorry I haven't been checking in! I'm home by 3:30 every day this week, is there a day that works for you?

The trees are not dogwoods......look much more like a flowering crabapple but would need a close up of the leaves (and preferably the flowers as well) to ID accurately. And the 'Bowles' in question is Vinca minor 'Bowles', a shade loving evergreen groundcover with very intensely blue flowers.

Thanks for the ID on Bowles, gardengal. That makes sense as a shady ground cover. Beth, if you can make it to the swap, I've got some I can share. I've always heard of it referred to as periwinkle, due to the color of the blossoms. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll dig some up, otherwise I'll probably just leave it in place. I love it.

Hi Beth,

If you turn on your houzz messaging, I can invite you to the swap. :-)