keep or remove - Norwegian garden

Posts

• Obelixx Posts: 30,090

  November 2020

  The usual advice when taking on a garden new to you is to live with it for a year so you can see what grows as such a lot of plants die down and hibernate - spring bulbs, early spring and summer perennials - and you need that time to record, take photos and work out what you like, what you don't like, what grows well, what doesn't and also any restructuring you might want to do once you've worked out what you want from your garden.
  
  I would limit current activity to cutting back anything which blocks paths or is encroaching on the house doors and windows and then removing any obvious weeds.   If plants are unfamiliar, ask your neighbours.   
  
  Take close up photos of foliage and stems as well as photos of a whole plant to show its structure and then we can help more easily to identify and advise on care. 

  Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
  

  "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."

  Plato
  

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• Buttercupdays Posts: 4,546

  November 2020

  Well. at least you've got some things you know will grow there!
  

  I would leave the things that look like shrubs unless bits are over hanging paths or otherwise in the way. Cut back the plants that look weedy/untidy and clear any obvious weeds that are in the wrong place. Nothing is going to grow much in the next few months, but it will look a bit tidier.
  

  Then wait till spring and show us the new growth with clearer pics and we might have a better chance of IDs

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• BenCotto Posts: 4,718

  November 2020

  The plants were presumably put there for a reason and so probably have some merit and suitability for the growing conditions so, for the time being, I would do nothing. Just tidy it up for now: cut non-woody brown stems down to the ground, trim back shrubs overhanging the paths and then spend the winter thinking about the bigger garden picture.
  
  The photos show some rather brutal concrete paths and crazy paving that has had its day and is now a trip hazard. If you have the DIY talent, or the funds to employ a landscaper, I would mull over a total overhaul. If you’re looking for advice on doing that a plan of the garden posted on here would help. Show on it the compass direction, the things you’d like to keep and that which can go. Think about seating areas, bin storage, composting areas and the balance between hard landscaping, lawn, flowers, shrubs and vegetables. Find out the nature of the soil and observe how well it drains during winter rains.
  
  If it were me, I would not look to start the big project until the end of next summer with a view to completing it by about this time next year.
  

  
  

  
  

  Rutland, England

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• Fairygirl Posts: 55,117

  November 2020

  I hate to think what that would cost in Norway @BenCotto !
  I'd agree with the others about waiting until you have spring growth - and we'd need some close ups anyway.
  It looks like you have some cotoneaster [or similar] in that 3rd pic, maybe some ferns in the 2nd, and possibly Cornus in the last, but the photos aren't clear enough. 
  Norway has many similarities to Scotland [especially northern Scotland] in terms of gardens - just a bit more extreme, so you may find that lots of plants that grow here, will grow there too. It's worth having a walk around your area to see if you recognise anything - maybe get some photos if that's possible, and talk to neighbours - if weather allows 

  It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
  
  
  
  I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...

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• jon8jackXaaIVl-q Posts: 4

  November 2020

  Thanks for all the advice everyone, much appreciated, I will start work on garden plan, which I intended to do, maybe just got a bit excited and wanted to jump right in.. so not cut away too much. Just tidy up as advised.  Have started a compost bin, that can be my autumn winter project. 😀

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