My new yard

[cloudsoffools]

I just moved this winter and now that spring is coming in, I uncovered what the previous owners had planted. I'm not sure what some of it is though because apart from container roses and a few houseplants, I'm new to gardening. I live in Iowa, zone 5.

Comments

[labradors]

Lots of stuff here, it may be helpful to number the photos for accuracy. Number 24 is a lily, if it becomes a stalk it's an Asian lily and it stays bunchy it's a day lily. Number 8 (upper central) is a weed, 7th from the bottom is probably an allium. A lot look familiar but names are escaping me. Don't be afraid to kill the mint, you'll be battling that for years! It should be grown in a container and as you can see it loves to take over. You're right on all the hostas.
I'd love to know what your flowering reddish tree at the bottom is, my neighbors have one and it's beautiful. Agree it's way too close to the house. Good luck, looks like you have a lot to work with! Are you in southern Iowa? A lot of these are way early for the season, my peonies are just buds close to the ground still!

[rainarana]

What you're calling hens and chicks are mostly different varieties of sedums (#3 looks like Autumn Joy), there may be some stone crop in there too. For the herbs, pluck a leaf and crush then smell it. I'm not familiar with a perrenial lettuce, although if they bolted they may have self seeded. #13 looks like pachysandra. Fourth from last another sedum.

[dinulya]

What you are calling hens and chicks is actually a sedum. I don't remember the exact name, but it has pretty pink flowers in a fall, and overall is a very nice looking, easy to take care of plant. I had plenty of them at my old house in Illinois. The flowering trees might be just ornamental apples and pears, they can grow big, but if you regularly trim them, they look very nice every spring. However, I would recommend to move them farther away from the house, while they are small.
Your chives are indeed chives or, maybe, garlic.
What you think is a lettuce or kale, most likely is some kind of ground cover. Lettuce and kale are not perennials, and cannot come up on their own.
My advice to you would be to wait until fall before ripping anything out. You need to give plants a chance to grow and flower. This way you will make a solid and educated opinion on what to keep, move or get rid of.

[dickgloucester]

I'm in the same position as you, having moved in last autumn and I am now discovering what we have, with a very small knowledge base! It's very exciting.

The stuff you think might be thyme doesn't look like thyme to me - the leaves seem too big. Yes, that's mint, not lavender. Mint is invasive, so unless you like it you're going to have to deal with it. Me, I'm seriously considering letting some loose in this garden as I love the stuff.

You have some very pretty trees there!

[arwen_17]

22 looks like creeping charlie. if it is, it will have little purple flowers on it. it is a highly invasive groundcover- i'm thinking it's this because it has already flowered by the daylilies. DESTROY IT AND NEVER LET IT COME BACK. it is super hard to get rid of once it takes over because i've had no luck with traditional weed and feed destroying it- which means either ripping it up or spot killing.

Lots of pretty stuff though! enjoy!

[labradors]

Haha, my dad is always telling me how to get rid of it ... Two applications of 2-4-d in the spring, two weeks apart, then one more in the fall. It's pretty heavy handed which is why I haven't done it yet, and unless you want it gone now I'd wait for fall when plants are sending energy to the roots for winter... http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1997/8-22-1997/borax.html (this says dicamba is what works, not 2-4-d.) Borax works too but takes years to break down in soil and leaches into water very easily, too much and you'll have a dead spot for years; herbicides break down in a matter of weeks or months.