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Established garden with a new owner who has little knowledge, looking for advice and tips to care it
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Photos from 10:36. Top photo Peonies to the back near the right, Bergenia at the front, and possible Vinca Major crawling around the back.
Bottom photo has a Ginkgo Biloba tree, some more bluebells and on the right, I think that could be some sort of Calluna.
The blue flowers in the top photo are Spanish bluebells, very pretty but invasive. There is, I think, a seedling ash tree in front of the hedge on the right, get rid of it. There are ferns at the back and heather in the front. Your choice of what to keep. Personally I don't care for heather in gardens, love it on Scottish mountains.
Bottom photo has clematis montana on the left, I'd keep it. Ivy, I think, on the right. I'd get rid of it, gets everywhere. Or keep it trimmed. There is a low spreading ground cover conifer in front which may have been clipped by a lawnmower at the bottom, making it brown. I would dig it up and plant something better, unless you want to be low maintenance and you like it.
First photo has Hostas on top left with heuchera (?Marmalade) below, both good foliage plants for shade. Could be an azalea on the right with more Spanish bluebells.
Second photo. Can't see the pink flowering one clearly enough but maybe another clematis montana. Bearded irises below, they like sun. Delphinium on the right.
Third and 5th photos. Peony in the middle. Bergenia along the path.
Fourth photo, more heather. Looks rather old and tatty.
Not sure if this quote will come out right, it has more photos than the one I clicked on.
Then post just one or two pictures at a time of plants you think need tackling and we'll try to advise if you need to do it / the best way to go about it. (posting lots of pictures of different plants at the same time makes it difficult to give non-confusing answers).
Finally - do you know where the previous owners are? Are they close-by still? Did the house purchase go through amicably?
If the answers to all these questions is 'Yes' I would give serious consideration to contacting them and asking if they'd come and 'talk you round the garden' - identifying plants and giving you tips on care (have a notebook & camera to hand!).
Personally, I would have been more than happy to go back and do that for any of my previous gardens. Good gardeners love to share - and after years of work it's nice to know the new owners will continue to care for the space.
lightly clip the old flowers off the heathers (now)
remove the old flower stalks from the Bergenia (now)
clip back the ivy on the fence (when you have the time)
cut the grass and clip the edges (now)
The borders all look as though they are outgrowing their space. I would reshape the lawn back from the borders a bit - say 6 inches or so - just to let them breathe a bit. It may be that the pics are deceiving and once the grass is cut and edges clipped, they'll be ok.
Remove any obvious weeds. After that, just keep an eye on it all. Cut the grass at least once a fortnight, pull out any weeds as you see them and just see if you still like the garden when you have seen it through a whole year. There is nothing major needing doing by the looks of it - just routine maintenance for the moment.
The previous owner has at least left you a fairly easy to maintain garden, nothing that will get out of control too quickly. Like all elderly people they have neglected using hedge cutters and trimming branches, apart from that digging up the flower beds with gardening forks will help pull out weeds and loosen the soil for improved flowers.
Maybe think about getting a rose for next year, that's all your garden is missing mainly at the moment imo.