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Plant identification in winter

#1 · 15th January 2023, 6:09 pm

Hi, I'm new here and new to gardening! I moved house in November and have inherited a lovely mature garden that I don't want to ruin! How can I identify the plants/shrubs that I have while they're dormant so that I can research the correct way to prune them all? I've tried taking photos and checking Google but I'm not convinced this is a good bet without the help of flowers/petals/colour/leaves to narrow the search. Really hoping someone can help! Thanks

Lee Garden Ninja has reacted to this post.

#2 · 17th January 2023, 12:31 pm

Hello Charlotte,

For what it’s worth my advice would be, leave your garden alone until spring, and possibly even later than that.
Plants do not come into flower or produce buds at the same time also they require a prune at different times of the year, some plants you can leave over winter and when new growth is seen at ground level, cut back the old dead stems right to ground level, allowing the new growth to form, other plants require a cut back after flowering for example Lavender, cut this back to about an inch or so to within the previous years growth.
There are a few Apps that require an image of a leaf or flower to ascertain the plants name, I don’t know of one that will identify branches/stems, so if it were my garden, I wouldn’t touch anything unless it’s just a tidy up, wait and see what you have.
Once you can identify your plants, then advice can be given, and Lee has numerous videos that will help you out, as will the forum, happy gardening.

Bob

Charlotte has reacted to this post.

#3 · 18th January 2023, 5:13 pm

Hi @charlotte

The advice from @bob is correct. I would always wait for Spring before trying to ident existing plants. That way, you can check both the lead shape/characteristics and then the flowers or buds. This is the easiest way to identify plants.

The other thing to bare in mind is that you want know how they look or the health of them until the plants are in leaf. I know it can be tempting to want to get ahead with pruning plants now ready for next year but given you're new to the garden my advice as a garden designer is to watch how it develops over the next 6 months.

Check where the sun rises and falls, and where you want to spend most of your time. Those lovely areas of the garden you find yourself sitting in. Do all of this, take notes, make sketches and take photographs before doing any new planting, pruning or designing. Here are my top tips on what to avoid with a new garden design to help!

Besides, I can guarantee there are loads of other things to do when you've just moved in!

It's super exciting taking on a mature or established garden. Someone loved it to create it so see what unfolds and then make a plan for tweaks, changes or pruning.

What's the best tool for identifying plants?

Google lens is probably one of the best to identify plants. Snapshot a plant and then let it search millions of images for similar plants. Even I use this when I come across an unusual plant. It gets you 80% of the way there in a matter of seconds.

Do let us know how it unfolds and of course, use this forum for questions.

All the best

Lee

Charlotte has reacted to this post.

#4 · 25th January 2023, 6:49 am

Thank you so much @bob and @lee for your advice, which I will absolutely be following. Bearing that in mind, I've taken a couple of photos of areas that look a real mess right now and I feel need some level of attention. Could I check what you would suggest with regards to these specifically please?

Also, I've allowed fallen leaves to remain on the flowerbeds because I felt it would add a layer of protection against snow and frost (spring bulbs were emerging in Dec!) and perhaps add nutrients. Am I right to do this? It looks unsightly but if it's serving a purpose I'm happy to overlook the short-term mess!

Thanks,

Charlotte

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#5 · 25th January 2023, 9:36 am

Hello Charlotte, thanks for your pictures, regarding having a tidy up, personally I don’t think it would do any harm to have a trim back, the top picture shows stems that are fairly few and sparse, similar too number two, some folks would leave these stems in position simply because they identify a place in the garden where a plant is growing, and prune these off when new growth is seen, picture number three I think is Ajuga Reptans, if it were mine I would just prune off the soggy leafs laying on the ground leaving the centre crown leaf, leave the leafs on the garden these will rot down.