My husband and I are buying a house this month (assuming the inspection goes well). The house has a beautiful, beautiful garden, which is a selling point, as I’m very interested in becoming a moderately skilled gardener.
The problem is that I have no gardening skills right now. I mean the only flowers I can ID on sight are roses and hydrangea and daisies. The only green and growing things in my life are 4 houseplants in various stages of demise.
I figure I have a couple of options - and ripping out the garden and sodding it over is not an option:
I buy a book and attempt to identify the various plants and flowers
I try to get a guy from the local garden center to come out and ID stuff for me and give me pointers
I see if the sellers are willing to give me a quick walk-through and ID the plants for me.
Really I’m not sure what I’m asking for here…I’m just fretting on how to keep my beautiful garden alive and thriving while I learn what I have growing out there and what the heck I’m doing.
1)Yes, buy a book. We live on the left coast, so I don’t know the availability of stuff in your area, but the ‘Sunset’ books are a good place to start. Lots of pictures and they’re easy reads.
2)Sometimes you can clip a leaf from a plant and take it to a nursery where the gardeners there can identify it for you. Go to a nursery, not a store that , oh by the way, sells plants.
3)An excellent idea! You know if they landscaped it, they may even have documents and plans that could be quite helpful. If there are sprinkler times and settings, they could tell you all that good stuff. My SO would be pleased if a potential buyer wanted an informational walk thru on the garden.
Congratulations & good luck with the house & garden.
Another vote for asking the current owners. If they care about the garden at all, they’ll be thrilled to know you want to keep it up. Gardeners love to talk gardening!
Another possibility – you may have a friend who’s a gardener. If so, he or she would love to come over and check things out and offer as much advice as you can stand. I’ve done garden surveys for a couple of friends, and really enjoy it.
Color me jealous; you’re going to have a great time in your new garden!
I definitely vote for #3. The previous owners will be happy to identify things for you, and probably tell you about their care schedule, as well. You might try to map out the garden so that when they walk you through it you can label the unidentified plants. Take good notes, and ask about watering, fertilizer schedules, pesticides, etc.
A good gardening book would be money well spent, also.