Leave it dry and protected from cold and excess water. Once you see some new growth popping out, you can start watering. You can also trim back but you must INCREASE THE LIGHT. If you trim back and grow in the same conditions, it will continue to look the same at the end of next year. These will take full sun every day in So Cal. I've kept one alive through four Winters (see 'don't water while dormant', above by previous posters). A newly purchased plant bloomed this year and I am officially 'hooked'! I've been watching closely a Cactus & Succulent Guru who trims them down to stumps willy nilly and pots up as bonsai! I recently asked him about cutting my lanky bloomer back and his recommendation was to wait until spring and full growing season. I find with mine after winter dormancy is broken, plenty of water and some fertilizer will pop out those blooms! This adenium is four years old and has never been cut. It is in full sun all year, except for Winter (known as Rainy Season in SoCal) when I move it in and water about three times during it's indoor stay. (Still hasn't bloomed, but I only started working on that this year.) I am getting ready to 'raise' the plant so the fat root (caudex)is exposed, part of the allure to C&S growers for this plant. DISCLAIMER: None of the plants shown in the following are MY plants! They are examples of local-to-my-area C&S enthusiasts and their art. This plant, in 2008 took four men to lift up to the table. This pic was taken in 2006. The proud grower and plant in 2007.

My problem is the forsythia. I do not like it. I hate the look of it, ===>>>> start digging .... what more do you want us to say ... there should be no guilt in removing the prior owners mistakes ... sounds like too many ground covers also ... just start by getting rid of what you dont want.. then step back.. and decide what is next ... then try to begin to determine what you DO want ... until you can do that.. its hard for us to tell you what direction to go in .. perhaps a new pic once the removal is done ... with the forsythia there.. i can not understand about the neighbor situation ... i think i see a house back there ... but its hard to analyze the situation ken

At this point I would only remove what you KNOW is bad: the honeysuckle, multiflora rose, any ligustrums, etc. Try to identify the rest (you may have to wait for it to leaf out again) before you remove what you don't know. There could be some good things there (native shrubs). Garden Web has an excellent "Name that Plant" forum. You can post pictures there and get help identifying stuff. Although for best results, post your pictures on a web hosting site like photobucket.com so that you don't have to reduce them. Then provide a link to your pictures. I certainly would not plant grass back in place of what you clear out. That seems very unnatural for a woods setting. Plus, then you have the maintenance of mowing it and the potential damage to trees as you mow around them. My in-laws did that and now spend a lot of time and money mowing it and having other people mow it. Just add mulch (leaves, wood chips, even some grass clippings) back to the area to allow it to be a wooded setting. I lay old logs throughout my woods to create informal paths for the kids. Some native plants buried under all that invasive stuff will return, and you can add more. Ferns, spring wildflowers, native shrubs are all appropriate for the area. Good luck. I would certainly put my first efforts into getting rid of any invasive plants that have berries on them so that you can prevent the spread of new plants. Put those berries in the TRASH. Then go for the ones without berries (but which are still invasive).

Hi Oath5, I have a 1.25 acre lot that was farmland 50 years ago, growing corn and asparagus and such. The previous and only owner of the property planted many trees and shrubs and about .75 acre in the back (plus some abutting property) was left to "go wild". Some of the plants are native and many are exotic and unfortunately much of the lot was colonized by some of the worst woody invasives in the Northeast US. I too have Bittersweet vines that are at least 3 inches in diameter. It has taken years, but it was a process of identifying what was growing here, targeting the non-native invasives, and then prioritizing them for control. I've been removing invasives from the gardens and borders in front and side of the house all along. Then this year I aggressively starting attacking them in the wilder area. A friend with chainsaw came several times to cut the smaller Norways maples (9" diameter or less). For about six weeks during the late summer/early fall I crawled around in the bushes and cut by hand and carefully applied herbicide to the cut stems of mature Oriental Bittersweet and Glossy & Common Buckthorn. I also purchased a Weed Wrench this past Spring and it has been invaluable for the smaller sized shrubs and saplings! I highly recommend purchasing one if you are serious about this project. I could have used one YEARS ago! Additional invasives (shrub Honeysuckle, Multiflora rose, Autumn olive, etc) will continue to be removed on an ongoing basis. I expect to be working on eliminating seedlings for several more years at least as there is no doubt an impressive seedbank out there. I've also identified natives and planted many more. I've got nursery beds where about 80 native shrub and small tree seedlings are growing. I'm planning to start growing native vines up some of the snags next year. I've created lasagne beds where the clearing has been taking place in the backyard and started planting native grasses and perennials in them (the oldest lasagne bed was started last fall). This winter I am going to try winter sowing for the first time, more native grasses and perennials. And I fill in with lots of beautiful annuals, mostly non-native, but with lots of wildlife value, such as Cleome, Cosmos, Tithonia, etc. These are much loved by the pollinators. I happen to have the tree service coming tomorrow morning bright and early to remove two large Norway maples! One has a 30" diameter and about a 75 foot canopy spread. Looking forward to it! PS sorry this is so long, but I love to talk about this subject and have pictures galore too.