Thank you so much esh_ga for the help in ID'ing those bushes. I'm assuming that the Ninebark isn't supposed to be so overgrown and weeping to the ground the way it is? A good pruning necessary to get it back under control? The same with the others I presume. After you've told me what I have, I have changed my mind about getting rid of them! :-)) I think I'll just prune them all real well and hope for the best. BTW, do you happen to have any suggestions on just how much pruning each can withstand? I will be searching for care instructions on google as well but I figured I should ask seeing as you know what they are... LOL P.S. Those are NOT Tree of Heaven... but in my mind they are more annoying. They are Black Walnut seedlings, you can actually see part of one we have growing up beside the house which I would just love to cut down but the landlord wants it to stay... along with the other 8 or so we have growing around here. They might be nice trees to some people but to me and my hubby they are a PITA! Once the seeds drop to the ground they sure make a mess to clean up before we can mow... once again the landlord likes to collect the nuts/seeds but he didn't do it last year which left us to clean up after these messy trees... grrr. Thanks again for your help with my questions! ttfn Mystic.

No I just saw it the other day and my first reaction was "oh man you better get all that Poison Ivy off of your fence." She has two small kids and is clueless about anything gardening related and was asking me for some advice as to what to plant along her new deck. The leaves do not look like trumpet vine, they are more oval shaped. At first I thought maybe there were two different vines growing together but I did see the same leaves on one of the hairy vines.

Actually, the fruit of Passion Vine is highly edible -- you've just picked it too soon. Another common name for the vine is Wild Apricot, which should give you some idea of the general taste of the ripe fruit. When it's ripe the skin pales to a soft yellow green and the flesh will be quite soft. The ripe seeds inside will be dark. The black bug might be a leaf footed bug. They suck sap, but don't seem to do too much damage in my garden, unlike their relative the squash bug, which pretty much destroys my squash plantings every year. Marty Here is a link that might be useful: Leaf Footed Bug

Blue flowers on the right in the top photo and in the second are Vinca minor...they belong to the shiny oval leaves. The blue daisy-like flower looks like Anemone blanda...and it is being overrun by the vinca. The thinner, bright green rosettes of foliage are a Galium but can't see enough of it to determine which one. If they are kind of sticky to the touch, then Galium aparine or bedstraws - a weed. If not, they could be Galium odoratum, sweet woodruff, a shade loving groundcover.