The best plan for a new gardener is to cultivate your friends, neighbours, the guys you speak to in the pub etc. There is bound to be at least one keen gardener you can find. Then invite them to the house for a beer, glass of wine or cup of tea and let them identify as many of the plants as they can. Rinse and repeat. As above, write the names down with possibly short description ie blue flowers, 18 inches tall, floppy and where they are in the garden, even if it's just ' bed by shed, front left' type thing. Once you know what they are, books or internet, whatever you wish, to find out cultivation tips. And when they flower, if you want to be really nerdish (sorry - thorough!), you can take a pic on your phone...….
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
@newgardeners2020 - I'm in the same boat. I have a garden full of stuff that I have no idea as to what it is, or where it came from! I wrote my own software to try to keep control - but it looks like that RHS link that I posted above may give you the ability to build a list of your own plants as you identify them - and it looks as though it may also give you reminders of what to do when. If you're not that techy - then a spreadsheet and if that is still too much - a loose leaf binder split by garden and plot with your 'notes' is just as good!
I have been taking photos to refer back to so and looking things up as we go along so hopefully will get easier. Would like to find good low maintenance flowering groundcover and billowy grasses that could fill all the gaps and stop the pesky weeds from popping up! Still getting used to gardening - it seems you no sooner get on top of it and a few weeks later it needs lots of attention again.
@hogweed - I really would like Monty Don to move in next door then he could come round and potter about for as long as he wants cultivating all the plants and I could stand at the window watching and taking all the credit when anyone admires the garden
@Rubytoo - what is then the difference between a Johnsonii and Magnificum?
Not Rubytoo, but I have both those varieties currently flowering so I've taken a pic for you - Magnificum on the left, Johnson's Blue on the right. You can see the difference in the flower shapes (magnificum has a little dip in the end of each petal) and the more obvious difference in the leaf shapes. NB I'm not 100% sure of the IDs - they were given to me many years ago by a friend who was a very keen gardener and that's what she said they were, but geraniums do hybridise (which is why the plant breeders have been able to make so many varieties).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Sorry I am not an expert. But Johnsonii Johnsons Blue has a more deeply cut leaf. @JennyJ Thanks I have just been scouring t'internet trying to find good pics. Fantastic
Edited to add I think they look right, I "imagined" magnificum might have a bigger flower. But the cololur differences and veining Johnsons being pale and having white veins in the petals and magnificum dark, is just how they look online too.
It really doesn't matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, it's just that some of like to know, and if you're getting a new plant it's good to know whether it's one that's going to end up 6 inches high or 3 feet, or somewhere in between. If you like what you have, keep it and if you don't like it, get rid .
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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And when they flower, if you want to be really nerdish (sorry - thorough!), you can take a pic on your phone...….
@hogweed - I really would like Monty Don to move in next door then he could come round and potter about for as long as he wants cultivating all the plants and I could stand at the window watching and taking all the credit when anyone admires the garden
@JennyJ Thanks I have just been scouring t'internet trying to find good pics. Fantastic
Edited to add I think they look right, I "imagined" magnificum might have a bigger flower. But the cololur differences and veining Johnsons being pale and having white veins in the petals and magnificum dark, is just how they look online too.