Newbie with a question

[Crankyshank]

Hi everyone

I'm new to the whole puttering around a garden thing. Before buying a house, my previous experience was watering my parents' extensive landscaping, mulching, and lawn mowing.

We bought a house 2yrs ago that had 2 previous owners. The first lived there for 50yrs. the 2nd lived there for 6.

What happened is that the people we bought the house from neglected the plants and everything is sorely overgrown in back

This is a picture of the front. I hate all the hedges btw. you can't really see it, but there's geraniums by the hedge where the sign post is and I planted a white lilac in the front. I'll also have some gorgeous red dahlias where the geraniums are come september. There from a dahlia my father has been planting offspring off for 20yrs

Here's the side, I took the pick before I swept away the mulch and painted the trellis LOL. That's a climbing hydrangea I just planted

My backyard has 2 levels. There used to be a rock wall that seperated the 2 levels, but now it's just a hill with stone steps on the side.
DH is going to define the hill again by putting in a new stone wall. The trouble is that the area is so overgrown. Gorgeous azaleas and roses and other plants that are literally growing on top of each other. My question is 2 fold:
1) can I transplant these roses and azaleas that have been growing there for 50-something years without killing them?
2) how do I get rid of all these ferns that are choking the plants? I dug them all up by the roots last year and the darn things came back. It looks hideous and I am so frustrated because I really do tend to have a black thumb.

 

[Snowwark]

Welcome Crankyshank!

I can see the geraniums! Very cool about your Dad's dahlia's offspring...that should look lovely!

Crankyshank, would you be able to post a pic of the back area that you mention? It might be easier for us to offer some suggestions if we can see a pic.

Is the majority of the area shadey? Are the roses in a different area from the azaleas and ferns?

Would it be possible to do a thinning of the area, instead of/in conjunction with, transplanting? Perhaps removing the plants that seem weakest, or the ones you don't like. They sound as if they are very well established, and happy where they are.

Ferns are spread by creeping rhizomes and/or spores, so besides continuing to dig them up, I'm not sure what to suggest, especially if they're tangled up with plants you don't want to lose.

BTW, what's in the Monroe Dairy Box (it's cute!)? Yes, I'm nosey...lol....

Now I'm the one asking all the questions...lol.

I have a climbing hydrangea also! They can be slow to establish themselves, but are very nice, with great visual interest, both summer and winter.

I hope you'll get back to us, and then we'll take it from there, okay?

Kim

 

[mommytotwo]

welcome to the f&g board.

I like what you have done with the plants in the picture. We have azaleas that my dad had planted over twenty years ago and we have tried moving them and it didn't do good. My dad also told me that if you trim it too much then it would die and of course I was curiuos and he was right, so I would suggest just trimming it a bit if you want to keep it.

For the ferns, I would suggest you spray a strong chemical such as roundup to get rid of the fern.

 

[Crankyshank]

Thanks so much for the info. I was afraid there was no getting rid of the ferns. I would hate to kill the roses that entwined with the ferns and I know roundup kills everything.
The monroe dairy box is actually used every week - we have the milkman delivering milk to our house

These pictures are from when we were in the process of buying the house.The house is primarily sunny. except for the lower back, which is all shade. it's not a direct beating sun, though.

Here's the stone steps, that I love, that connect the 2 levels. I have to buy more roundup to attack the weeds on the steps.
I'm not sure what kind of plants that is on the left, but it has pretty white flowers. I need to attack the rust on the iron gate too - it's been very neglected.

This is the view of the upper part of the yard. you can see the over growth. I hate those hedges too. they are soo ugly.

This is the view from the lower yard. That part is fenced in with chicken wire fencing now, to give the dogs a place to run while DH works on the other stone wall so we can put a wood fence in. the view you see, we want to be a tall (4ft) stone wall so we can have a nice little garden area that's not marred by a fence.

Anyhow, the azalea is gorgeous and huge - it's to the far right. The tree has these beautiful pink flowers, but I have no idea what it is. the ferns need to go. I swear, whoever planted these things just stuck things in the ground with no thought to looks or maintenance

 

[Crankyshank]

I forgot to add, in the picture with the milk box, are going to be more dahlias and some lavender. the squirrels ate my bulbs so I have to plant more

When we moved in, there was absolutely nothing in the side or the back. The back part of the house I've just planted some squash and I also have roses and peonies that I just planted.

 

[mommytotwo]

Great pictures with a nice green yard. For the hedges that you don't like, are you planning on keeping it? If you trim it nicely, then during the Christmas season, you could drap those Christmas lights that are like a net, and it would look very nice and Christmasy. You could put in some nice ground covering-we have false heather and they spread fast so maybe something like that...the only thing is that bees really like to come around to them.

 

[Crankyshank]

I haven't decided yet if we're going to keep them. A lot of the work is going to be decided when the wall is finished. I'd like to be able to have a jacuzzi and a nice sitting area back there.

The back hedges are too far from an outlet to do christmas lights on them. I do put lights on the front hedges and the mini trees in the front

 

[Snowwark]

Crankyshank, how nice that you still get milk delivered!! That hasn't happened around here in ....well.. forever it seems!!

Your yard looks nice and deep, I'm envious! Are you planning on putting in any hosta in the lower back area? Some of the large varieties make magnificent specimens, and are very easy to maintain.

The stone wall should look fabulous!!

If you are still interested in trying to move some of the azaleas, you might want to check out this site. It has lots of info, including pruning and transplanting.

~ Azalea FAQs~