We have some plants in our backyard that have come up quite nicely despite the previous owners’ apparent attempts to kill all things living on the property in the 4 years they lived in the house.
We’d like to save some of these plants and tranplant them to the front of the house where we’re getting ready to do some landscaping. The problem is, we don’t have the slightest idea what any of them are.
The only thing I can think to tell you that may help is that we are in Southern Ontario. The pictures were taken on May 17th, and most of these started to sprout around mid-april (despite some rather cold evenings we’re still having).
C is lily-of-the-valley – small fragrant flowers (around now, on the east coast). Spreads like a son of a bitch – you can use it for ground cover, but you may want to rub it out now while you still can. I try to keep it contained to one bed – I’m due to undertake my quntennial “pull it all out of that bed” project.
D is grape hyacinth. They look nice in clumps – I personally treat 'em as a weed, but that’s just me.
E looks kind of like a peony, but peonies don’t have maroon foliage.
F – dunno what it’s called, but it’s a weed in my garden.
(Note: the definition of weed is “any plant you don’t want.”)
Sorry – for some reason I thought you were in Southern California (California, Ontario, what’s the difference?) – you’re probably a month or so behind me, so the lilies of the valley probably won’t come into full bloom for a while, and your grape hyacinths are right on schedule.
A. Certainly looks like a spider plant but looks a lot thinner than the ones I’ve seen. Are they growing little ‘planlets’ ? They usually put out a long spike with insignifiant flowers and another plant develops at the end. When that plant touches the ground it roots and away it goes.
B. Probably not an iris of any type that I have seen.
C. ?
D. I’d also go with grape hyacinths. They’re bulbs so should transplant well. It’s not cold enough where I live to get them to grow sucessfully in the ground (unfortunately).
E. I’d go with the herbacious peony. Does it die down over winter? That may give you a clue if it’s not a peony, but it sure looks like one. When the flower comes out, check out picture of peonies and see if they look similar.
F. Wouldn’t have a clue. The foliage doesn’t do anything for me and the flowers are insignificant, so I’d dump it as a weed.
Most of these plants looks like bulbs, so you’ll need to wait until they die down before transplanting.
Yeah, I was thinking daylily for B as well – looks like they could stand to be divided.
For E being a peony – if it starts growing little tight buds about the size of a marble at the ends of stalks, it’s probably a peony. I looooooooooove peonies.
I think there is an “Ontario” in California. I should have specified I am in Ontario, the Canadian province, not the county in California.
Yes! There are four or five little plantlets, and though I’m not at home to check, I’m pretty sure they’re pretty much touching.
Yes. it does. In fact, I don’t recall seeing it at all last year (we moved in in late July), but there was a lot of crap back there we’ve since removed; perhaps it was just hidden. It wasn’t there in the winter though, that I know for sure. I’ve been watching it come up this spring.
Believe it or not, I took these pictures and didn’t notice the bud until you mentioned it.
If they are Irises, and I transplant them, will they flower or have they been ruined?
Not that I recall seeing. Of course, we moved in pretty late in July last year so I may have missed any blooming.
I don’t recall seeing any flowers on them at all this year (yet), but the neighbour has a bird feeder just a few feet away from where they are. Could birds have eaten or damaged the flowers? There are a couple of lonely tulips next to this stuff and I suspect a squirrel has eaten at least one of the flowers off those.
I don’t think B are irises, but daylilies. And you’d have to try, I mean seriously try, to kill a daylily. Just transplanting them won’t even faze 'em. Although you may wish YOU were dead once the muscle aches start the day after you dig up and try to cut apart 30-pound balls of spaghetti-crazy tubers and roots…
A could be crocuses – I was “reading” the foliage as being a foot high or more – how tall is it, RumMunkey?
The peony would have been back there as nice lush foliage through mid-fall – not particularly noticeable, though, so it’s easy to miss. It dies back at the end of the season.
A looks like crocus leaves. If they haven’t been taken care of in years, it’s not unusual to have leaves without blossoms.
B looks like day lilies.
C looks like lily of the valley.
D is grape hyacinth.
E is definitely peonies.
Don’t know about F.
And don’t worry about the distinction between a “plant” and a “weed.” A weed is simply a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it to grow (I like the dandelions in my lawn, and consider them “wildflowers,” not “weeds.”).
jayjay was making a little joke about daylilies – they’re not really a nuisance. They do tend to grow into big clumps that can be a PITA to divide – but they also do nice flowers. They’re esp. nice if you’ve got a bank or slope you want to cover with something you won’t need to mow. If they are daylilies, they’ll start to bloom perhaps as early as late June (you’re a lot further north than I am) – let 'em do whatever this year, and then next year we’ll explain how to divide/move them.
