[lhart24]

Ok so as many of you know I bought a house in october from a lady who was an avid gardener... Well I have had the thought just let it all grow all year long and see what blooms.. So far since may I have pretty much had constant flowering in the back of the house and it looks really nice. I KNOW there are a couple weeds, and some things that I dont know either way (weed or flower)... Is there anything I can do beside pulling weeds to kill off what isnt good... The reason I dont want to pull.... welllllll some of them I honestly dont know what it is ...

Any suggestions would be good..

Here is a list of flower that I KNOW I have..

Clematis - magenta and a lavendar color...
Lillies (of some sort..).. Bright orange, yellow, and reddish orange
irises - purple
sunflowers - just a couple and I think I actually planted these with my birdseed.. haha
Lilacs - purple - lots of it
there are a couple other vining blooming thing... not a clue what it is .. but I know I aint pulling that..

There is some mosslike/fern stuff that is purplish/pink flowers of sorts.. i am fine with this and wont pull it either..

Another moss like fern stuff with all kinds of colorful flowers coming off of it.. not pulling this either as I know it isnt a weed..

Now I have others that I still am not sure what it is.. and dont want to pull in case it is something good.. sooo anything I can put on it so weeds dont go out of control..

[SLance68]

The best place to start is your local County Agricultural Extension office. That is what they do - they should be able to tell you what is and what isn't a weed and what is the best thing to kill them with. I know that I have always considered Lantana to be a weed but they sell it at Home Depot as a plant. So sometimes it is up for interpretation.

[marbear]

Well, the only thing I would know to do short of getting a good gardener in your yard is to browse around at a local nursery. Lots of times people tend to use the same plants due to the climate you are living in and what is popular and easy to grow. After that, I really love this website called davesgarden.com which has descriptions of the plant, growing tips, and even remarks from people all over the country about hwo they get it to grow, if it is invasive there, etc. I bet if you go to home depot or something you may find some familiar things...but if she was a really avid gardener you might want to try a hometown nursery...they tend to sell much better plants so if she is a real green thumb she might prefer nurseries.

[SoccerMama]

I use Preen in my flower beds-it kills the weeds but doesn't kill my plants or flowers.

Preen Garden Weed Preventer - FAQ