What garden forum are you finding mean? Some are not the friendliest but you really do need advice coming from someone in your zone. Have you tried the Far North forum?

"I think it stinks and is a huge bee attractor...

You want to attract bees because without bees there would be...nothing. Seriously, bees polinate, which means the difference between a healthy ecosystem and an unhealthy one. Please reconsider the lovely lavendar and anything else that might attract our natural polinators. Unless you're planning on going around with an eyedropper ;o)

Oh I should have mentioned, this is a garden in western washington, not alaska :) No one here has extensive gardens LOL The moose eat them (not quite true but close...gardening here is a fight between nature and the gardeners).

LOL MrsMarv...the first part...it stinks? I don't like the smell of lavendar and it's all over the garden. They're lovely, but not my thing. And I do think they attract a massive amount of bees. Never fear, there are still several plants that will attract bees all over the yard as well as in the neighbor's garden. I just don't want bushes full of bees in my garden. I've had pretty gardens without lavendar for years :) I'll actually add other fragrent flowers like antique roses and defiantely snowballs and hydrenga (I don't know what snowball trees are actually called). Hydrenga isn't fragrent but it's appropriate to the age of the house the garden is adjacent to.

I'm not a chemical girl to a great extent so never fear...the eye dropper will stay in the medicine cabinet!

First of all, I have to say that I am jealous. Second, when you pull stuff, can you send it to me?

My advice first would be to see what you have next spring to come up with a game plan. I would also get in touch with a master gardener for your area to help with the distribution of the plants you hope to dispose of and it may be a good idea to hire a professional to help design the garden into a maintenance schedule that suits your lifestyle better. (I'd love to go shopping your garden though!)

What a shame! I've seen your newly-inherited gardens. I mentioned on your other thread how beautiful they were. Maybe you need to talk to Carol and ask her advice. Find out exactly how much upkeep is involved. Most perennials need spring care to clean up the beds, but then it's more an issue of providing adequate water and occasional weeding. And I WISH I could grow lavender down here. You don't know how lucky you are!

Don't pull bulbs unless you're sure they are non-hardy summer bulbs. For the rest, see what comes up.

You may get away with a landscape company that will weed in the spring and put weed covering and mulch down. If you will have people mowing, anyway, that company could do the rest of the upkeep, also.

You could see which gardens look like they'd take the most work, have your sale in those plots, and then seed over for a play area for DS. (The sound you hear is my heart breaking) :)

Good luck!

Natal!!!! How do you know the owner's name?

I promise you! The gardens won't be ripped out wholesale!!! They have to remain for the greater part to maintain the beauty of the overall grounds! I'd never be able to face Carol again if I just ripped them out willy nilly and it would actually probably damage property value. But some has to go because we're going to put up the original fence around the property (it's about 2' high and has the most beautiful fretwork I've ever seen on a fence) and we would like a larger outdoor entertainment space as well as a play area. The second area of grass will remain but it will have a play set in it (victorian appropriate!) and I'd like it to be fenced in (pretty fence not chain link LOL) so I know the kids and dog are safe when playing outside as well as the million friend's I'd like him to have playing in there as well. But the back area beneeth the fig tree we'd like to use for an outdoor dining area. We'd use antique pavers for the grounds cover and then have three or four pretty round tables on it, then surround it with raised herb gardens (I can't wait).

I want to be sensative to the "scene" as well as the beauty of the landscape (I know I'm lucky) but I'd feel like crap if it weren't maintained properly and some of those lovely plants were lost forever because I didn't give them the time they need.

No bulldozer and sod replacement I promise!!! Just an edit for the future fence line (I'm going to need to do boxtrees along that area to help fill in the fence gaps).

The current owner and her partner are always working on the garden, plus they have a gardener as well a landscape man so it's a labor intensive beautiful space. I just want to be good to the space :) And to the plants.

Another great example of an edit is the enterance from the basement to the play lawn. You now would have to trample over a bunch of beautiful plants to get out to the yard from that door. I'll do big stone pavers like she's done in the back path there. But I'm sure in doing so that many plants have to go (which you'll never see from the road because the path will be under the lilac trees).

My advice is just not to do much for 1 year. Really, the weeds might not be that much. In a well mulched, established garden often the weeds are minimal. Go through one full year of seasons and then decide. Tulips are easy. Let them come up and then when the leaves begin to yellow cut them to the ground. You may be suprised on how little work this is. Also, you may find that a few hours with a landscaper 2 times or 3 times a year keep you plodding along. After you "know" your garden you can reorganize or minimize, but you will at least know what your are really dealing with.

I'm with you Igloo. I love the look of lavender but I just can't stand the fragrance. To me it smells like black licorice or anisette which I do not like.

I like the Master Gardener suggestion. Can you get photos from the previous owner of the beds in full bloom? That way you'll know where the spring flowering bulbs are. All their foliage should be gone by now. Plus it might be a nice keepsake for you too.

We've lived in this house for 26 years and my flower beds have grown to the point where I can't keep them looking as nice as I used to because my knees are worn out. Even after my knees are replaced I won't be able to maintain them the same way. So the last few years I've planted more hydrangeas, lilac and crepe myrtles because they're provide color when they bloom and they take up lots of space. Underneath them I spread mulch or plant ground cover so I don't need to weed them as much.

Igloo, it's on the website. I watched the video she made.

If you are on good terms with the former owner I'd see if she wanted to help out with editing out the more labor intensive stuff. She may have just really loved gardening and putted around out there for no reason. Depending on where she moved, she might like to take some of the plants with her. I know I'd love it if the buyers of my house had offered me any of the plants in my former yard.

Igloo - I am in a very similar situation. I moved into a house owned by a, shall we say, exuberant gardener. Lovely beyond words, but there is no way I could or want to maintain it. And there was no room for my dog to play.

I have been here since spring, which really helped to let me see what was in the yard. First, I got rid of what I really didn't like. In my case, it was ivy (tons of it) and a plant whose leaves had the potential to injure my dog.

Then I made heavy use of the Name That Plant forum, posting photos to figure out what I had. My plan is to make the space appropriate for me without feeling guilty. As beautiful a garden as this once was, now it is mine and it will be more yard that garden. If there is something special about a plant, I will keep it and possibly move it.

I doubt that I will try to find homes for my plants. If you want to do it, it is not hard. And you don't have to dig them up. The people coming to get them will do it. GardenWeb has regional forums where you can post something like this. Or use your local craigslist.

If I purchased a home with a garden like this, I'd first make sure I knew what was there - either from photographs, from the previous owner, or waiting a year maybe and logging what was there.

Then I'd find a good landscape architect to advise me on what to do. I love to garden, and a really beautiful landscape is hard to pull off. Bloom times, water needs, maintenance, plant heights - there's just so much to consider. A good landscape architect is worth his or her weight in gold. Some of them will give you ideas and draw you a sketch, and you can do the work yourself as you have time. Although we have always owned modest ranch homes, we've gotten a landscape architect for every yard we've owned, and that's been a good investment for us.

Do you think the previous owner would want some of the plants you don't want? If not, I'd contact a local garden club to come pick up the unwanted plants.

Enjoy your new home and your lovely garden!

Igloo - I am a garden designer and this happened to my boss when he sold his place. The new owner loved it but just could not keep it up. He offered the plants to my boss/the former owner. He gladly took them to his new home. What could not be used there he had our crews dig up to use at other jobs (paid the new homeowner some for the larger species). It ended up being a win-win.

I would offer to the homeowner first, then call the Coop Extension/Master Gardner program and offer them there or perhaps a local garden open to the public.

I've always worried about the resale on my home. I too have an extensive garden that is lovely but could actually be a turn-off to some buyers.

I offer plants on my local freecycle all the time when I'm splitting things that take over or just want to try something new and need space. Some lovely people have come to take plants, many offer things to me from their gardens. The former owner might love to have first dibs or might be horrified that you are digging things up - that's a tough call. But I do think waiting till next year if you can is best so you really know what you have.

Slightly off topic- after seeing the photos you posted of this absolutely lovely home I'm curious- where are the previous owners going?

Since they're selling it with all the furniture I wonder what type of place they'll live in next? A minimalist high rise condo with walls of glass? a houseboat like Tom Hanks had in Sleepless in Seattle? A cute little 50's rancher complete with Formica table in the kitchen and Danish modern living room? (oh wait- that's what I grew up in), a farmhous?

I wonder....

My parents just got rid of a lot of their plants and landscaping. It was really beautiful, but, too much for them to take care of. They had someone take care of it this summer, and then when fall hit, we dug so much of it up and my sister and myself took all of it. We just built a house on 3 acres and put in a pool, etc. so we put it to good use.

I probably didn't word my first post post right...without a doubt we'll let the garden do it's thing this year. IDEA that there was a "name this plant" site here LOL I'll be using it a lot! Then I can research it's needs before making a decision on it.

I assume that the previous owner has gardens just as lovely, but that's a silly assumption given she spent most of her day at this house. She may very well want some of the plants so I'll chat with her about it. She won't be offended about the changes...she's really excited about the house becoming a private home and knows we'll need to make changes but that our heart is in doing what's right for the house and garden so I don't fear offending.

She has another house and as far as I know, never lived in this one. It's been a B&B for over 35 years and she's owned it 20 years of that time. I'm sure she has a house full of gorgeous pieces because it's obvious she has an eye for decor and quality.

Ya'll are a big help :) I know many would just say "too much work" and rotoe it over but that I jusy can't do! We are hoping we'll be having a baby this June so I plan on being able to sort out what's what in the garden during the summer, but this is truely going to be our winter house most years so I have to be sure it's a maintable space as well.

On the advice here I put in a call to my friend the Master Gardener here :) She said she'd swap a weekend in the house for a day's time in the garden a few times this year :)

packing gardening tools now. I think you have a good plan for your house and gardens.

Yep - wait a yr. better yet 2yrs for those biennials. Mark as they come up.

When I inherited my garden I waited for 2yrs before digging anything out unless I knew exactly what it was and if it didn't fit into my grand scheme of things.

For the things that I just wasn't sure about I moved them around back to a new bed while I contemplated they're outcome.

Things that were in overabundance or that I could immediately identify as they started to come up and didn't want I bagged or boxed the root systems, wrote up an info sheet about what it was and it's care and set it all out on my front lawn w/ a sign that said free. I did this for a few yrs. until my garden was all situated.

By far this was one of the most rewarding experiences that I ever had! People would wait yearly for my annual give away. I often have a hard time striking up conversation w/ strangers (I'm def. stranger shy - not much of a small talker - people think I'm just B!@#$% and stand offish - I'm really just conversationally challenged and live in my head) but man cuold I go on talking w/ all of the folks who would stop by - telling them all about the plants and the possibilities. It was wonderful!

Often people would come get stuff when I wasn't home and I would come home to the most lovely notes. 2 stand out in my mind:

1. An older couple who planted some of my coneflower in their back yard and how that night they sat outside having tea and enjoying it.

2. The lady that sold her house and was moving out of the country. She'd dumped all of her money into the move at the end of the Summer and couldn't afford her annual garden plantings. She left me a note to 'The Generous Gardner' and I still have it yrs. later in my bedside table drawer. If I ever had a store that's what I decided I'd call it.

Kids would come around while I gardened and ripped stuff out to give away. Little girls would go away happy and elementary school aged boys would take clumps of coneflower for their mom's.

There's nothing more beautiful then a Friendship Garden!

Wow tt what a sweet idea! I love that!

Igloo, I live in the Pacific Northwest (in Portland), and I have to say that I love the GW Northwestern Gardening forum. The folks there are very nice. I wouldn't hesitate to start posting there if I was you. I've posted some pretty dumb questions and never been struck down for it. If nothing else, you would probably find some buddies who would be willing to take away your extra plants.

The meanies seem to hang out in Landscape Design from what I've seen.

I love Port Townsend. In fact, it's my favorite small town in America. Congrats!

I can't believe I missed this post. I would love to have a big garden to work in everyday (and I would need to be a rich retiree.) You got great advice here.

ttodd, I love your post. I try to give away flowers, too. (Mostly cut flowers.) It does put a smile on people's faces.

igloochic, cut me some of them there flowers and send them to me so I have a smile on my face. (Not the same when I give them to myself.)

Here in TX, people give away plants on CL~"bring shovel and containers and they're yours for free, just dig 'em out." I actually did just that, but mine didn't survive(only the "Wandering Jew")because of the severe drought we had this summer.
Try CL. ;o)

Mrsmarv, nothing wrong with bees but Lavender attracts all stinging insects of every species, just like my Crepe Myrtle does, and that can be dangerous. Yellow jackets, hornets, everything! And butterflies.

It's just too dangerous a situation if you have little one's around, or if you have to mow by it.

I love Lavender, but I'll never grow it again.

Igloo send the lavendar your DM doesnt want to me! as if she wouldnt want it all! I love giving away plants to my neighbors when I divide stuff. One day the woman across the street was fussing with her husband saying, no I think that is the pink primrose Sue gave us and he said nah thats a weed. She called me over and yup it was the oenethera I had given her. He said he had pulled a lot of it up. He left the rest and it was lovely this summer! It is fun to look across the street and see plants that have come from my garden.
Also igloo the cottage garden is a wonderful plact to visit and post no snarkies over there at all. They even have a seed exchange which I did one year! and beautiful gardens there too.

I agree about the Cottage Garden Forum. I lurk there all the time. They are lovely ladies (and gents?)

I havent lurked there since my rheumatiz started bothering me. cant garden much so I buy stuff to decorate. LOL Hey KK forgot to pick you up to take you to igloos. oops