Hey folks,
I have no gardening experience and looking to improve the garden that was planted by the previous owners. I am unsure how to maintain these plants and what is best for them, as well i don't know what is intended to grow and what might be a weed out of control.
I have linked an album of photos I have taken of various plants. A lot of them seem to be growing out of what looked like previously dead stems or growing over them. I am just not sure if I should be getting rid of the dried out old stems or if i am supposed to leave them as the new plant might need it, it also looks like it depends on the plant.
I tried tugging out the dead stems from some of them but there was a lot of resistance so i stopped for fear up uprooting the whole plant. Maybe I should trim those stems instead?
I am going into this blind so pardon my ignorance about it all.
I see some hostas coming up, and a bunch of other perennials.
The dry woody/dead things can probably be trimmed back with sharp scissors or garden shears.
Pick up any leaves/sticks on the garden bed, and you should be pretty okay to start.
It's hard to tell if some of the stuff coming up are weeds or "good" plants (I personally think some traditionally considered weeds can be quite pleasant - looking at you tickweed).
Let it grow out and don't do much this year. If you don't like what's there, next year you can start ripping things out.
Find an app like Seek by iNaturalist or some other plant identifying app to help with figuring out what things are, and when things have grown a bit more, take additional pictures and take them to your local garden center/nursery for help with specific plant care/identification.