Hi and welcome! I'm a newbie too and have found the Gardenweb to be a wonderful community.

Other resources I've found useful are the various websites of university extension office , for example in Georgia, one possibility would be

http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/homegarden.html

You may already know about these, but anyway, I've found the book "Clueless in the garden" by Yvonne Cunnington to be a nice, gentle intro for newbies. She also has a website. "Well-tended perennial garden" by Tracy DiSabato-Aust is a good book on pruning and planting. It has clear, helpful pictures on how to prune. The local library might carry these titles and many other good gardening books.

Have fun gardening and if something dies on you, it's ok. I'm trying to be less hysterical about my failures myself. Someone once said--it'll be a great excuse to go get another plant!

First, dont be intimidated by plants, they are easier than you think to grow.

Second, learn this principle well, as it will serve you well. When it doubt, do nothing. Repeat this a million times to yourself because it is important. The most common cause of plant death is not too little fertilizer or too little water or too little of anything, it is too much of something. The tendency to nuture our plants is often what kills them.

The plants that the landscapers put in your yard are almost certainly hardy plants that can hold their own. The worst thing you can do is try to provide for them when you don't know what they need. Just let them be while you learn.

I would encourage you to forget about things like fertilizer and instead focus on learning how plants in the wild grow all by themselves.

There is a philosophy that says don't feed plants, feed the soil they grow in and the soil will feed the plants. I strongly encourage you to forget about the plants and think of the soil and the life forms that dwell therein. Feed them and almost everything else will take care of itself.

Compost and any other organic material (I do mean any organic material) dug into or laid on top of the soil will help. You may not be able to understand this yet, but just remember it. Plants grow in soil. If the soil is good, the plants have what they need. If the soil isn't good the plants don't have what they need and they need lots of constant help from you.

Just add lots of organic matter to soil (there is no such thing as too much), water when drought hits and forget fertilizer altogether.

Do this and your days of killing plants are over - well mostly ;-). Those that still die are your learning experiences.

I agree with Username_5 about feeding the soil. However, if you feel you really want to fertilise something, then use a slow release, all purpose fertiliser. Use the amount it says on the pack and you can't go wrong.
As for everything else...ask questions, ask questions, ask questions!! That's what these forums are for and never, ever feel silly about asking anything at all!! We all were beginners once and we all understand your diffuculties. Happy gardening!
Cheers,
Dee.

Terminology is a combination of gardener's jargon [woody, ladybugs, blackspot] and Latin. Usually it's easiest to pick up as you go along with the general words such as loam, woody, lasagna, making sense in context; and Latin being the bottom line of specific identification - if a gardener says 'daisy' we know s/he's referring to a plant or flowers that have petals rayed out from a distinct center - but if s/he says 'Rudbeckia Goldstrum' we know the exact [daisy-like] plant being spoken of. Don't let the Latin scare you, while it's kinda nice to know that you can not only grow asters, but you'll really find it handy to know that 'novi-belgii' might do better in your locale than the 'novae-angliae' species!

If you can't figure out what the term/s mean, don't hesitate to ask - that's on of the things this forum is for :)

BTW, 'Wood'is pretty literal even when talking about roses -- it refers to the section of the stem which is quite stiff and wood-like rather than being flexible and [usually] greenish. There will often be an adjective with it - "Soft wood" normally means the stem is flexible but probably not very green in color; "green wood" is green in color and somewhat flexible. Green/new wood is usually found at the tip-end with the green gradually turning brownish as the stem gets closer to the trunk or to the soil. Also, 'Bud' is that little bump or nodule on the stem which [weather permitting] will grow into a leaf or a flower or another stem. 'Facing out' as in "cut to the third bud facing out," means the bud is on the side of the stem towards the outside of the bush - oppositely, 'facing in' would mean the side of the stem nearest the center of the bush. Counting from where the stem branches off the trunk, your pruning cut would be just above the third bud facing out. One nice thing about roses -- while they generally feel that less pruning is better than more, as long as you don't prune them to ground level, they are quite forgiving and will do their best to bloom for you next year :)

I think there is also a 'Gardening for Dummies' book, and they make it very easy. Lots of good advice already on here today. Pick the brains of local nursery people because they're knowledgable (hopefully!) about things that grow well in your area. Trust your own common sense... don't stress. Don't go for things that need high maintenance til you're comfortable with it all. Don't buy everything in sight and then realize they all need care and will grow larger - look for slow growing things (tags usually give you a hint). Don't plant short things behind tall things. Consider which plants do better in some shade or at least filtered light, and which in full sun. And remember everybody loses some plants some time, but you learn by doing.

Consider joining a local garden club or other gardening-oriented society. Local gardeners can be a fount of information for what grows well in your area and how to tend it. They are often a good way to meet a gardening mentor - someone with lots of gardening experience to coach you through the learning process. Also, most better nurseries and garden centers offer seminars and classes, often free. I teach a number of classses for beginning gardeners each season and they are always well attended. Take advantage of them and attend as many different ones as you can and ask questions. I'd also second the recommendation of "Gardening for Dummies" - an unfortunate title for a very helpful text. And extension offices and Master Gardener-manned help lines are always a great resource for those spur of the moment questions you can't wait to find answers for.

One place to start is with the GA Extension Service. They know about growing stuff in GA. And there are local offices to help you. If you really decide to get into gardening, you could take the Master Gardener classes.

Did you get a plant list with your professional design? I would hope so. Many designers provide care sheets for each plant in the design. Otherwise, 'google' the botanical names from the plant list. Look for sites like NC State, or other '.edu' for plant fact sheets.

Ohio, Minnisota and Virginia have good web sites with lots of gardening help. Search 'Ohio Extension', etc. to find them.

I recommend these sites because I know my local library has not got a good selecton of gardening books.

Here is a link that might be useful: GA Extension site

Those are good sites, but h-w-momof2 is in Georgia, so add Texas A&M, and Florida U for good on-line info that's a bit more Southern.

And CLEMSON. Clemson University's HGIC site is one of the best for 'newbies'. It is exceptionally easy to navigate and the fact sheets are short, sweet, and to the point. Simply click on one of the category icons for a large list of fact sheets within that subject matter. Well worth your time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clemson HGIC

Have you been to and checked out the many forums here at GW? There is a rose forum, and I'm including a link to the FAQ there. A lot of the forums have the FAQ at the top of the first page.

Happy gardening!

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Roses FAQ

When I started out gardening, I bought books. A few very interesting and helpful English ones - look for Christopher Lloyd and Vita Sackville-West. I would also recommend Cassandra Danz - learning all that stuff is difficult enough, why not having a bit of fun while at it?

Secondly, sit and think. What do you want - as opposed to 'what does everybody else do'. Do you want an ocean of flowers and fragrance, do you want edibles, do you want low maintenance, do you want an evening garden or a morning garden, is *your* time of the year spring or fall...

While you're wondering and reading, ammend the soil: compost, mulch and green manure every inch you can see with the unarmed eye. You have all the time in the world, and a year of doing nothing but reading, ammending the soil and thinking will get you *your dream garden* actually earlier than stuffing some plants into some earth and wondering why they die instantly.

The fora at the gardenweb are an incredible source of know-how and compassion - you can find out a lot about almost everything, and sometimes all the questions that you might have are already discussed in depth and your growing zone.

Lastly a plea: since you have to learn a lot anyhow, learn the correct things: plants have botanical names, and these are the correct names. Do not, please, neverever, use common names - because common names are neither common nor correct... finding out about the needs of a special plant if all you know is some name that nobody else ever heard is a time consuming and frustrating way to kill a plant.

Besides that, botanical names are world-wide and language-independent - so you can read about gardens all over the world and know what plants they are talking about :)

Good luck!

Honey, when it comes to roses, go directly to the rose forum. There are a lot of helpful people there that have a lot of experience on the subject. I started as new as you with roses a year and a half ago and they are extremely helpful in pointing folks in the right direction. A good book to start with is Ortho's All About Roses.

But the first thing that I would do in general is to figure out exactly what the landscaper planted in your yard/beds. If you know what the flowers/shrubs/trees are, you can start with researching each thing. They are all not the same. They are not fertilized the same. Heck, some you don't even need to fertilize. You need to know what you have to know the difference.

I moved into this home last year and I still do not know all of the things that are growing here, but I'm learning. Not knowing means that I have to figure this out myself. This is a drag. Wish that I had a list (especially when it comes to trees and certain shrubs).

If you've got a list, great. If you don't, call that person and get one, with Latin AND common names, preferably.

Spend a lot of times in these forums. And don't hesitate to ask for reading recommendations.

I guess I'm too stupid to be intimidated by plants :)
After all, they are just plant matter, not physicists.
I got started with veggies and simply planned a plot
(9' x 14' x 5.5"), turned the wet soil over in the box to a depth of a spade-shovel blade depth, put on the compost to 6 inches (figuring it would settle a bit, it did), made rows at 1 foot intervals, trenched the top of the row and seeded to specified depth on packages, covered, watered and presto magic chango, I have veggies growing like crazy here right now, Nov 4th 2005 :) Garden was started Sept 28th. Pumpkin, Squash, Turnip, Radish, (chives which didn't do well and died), carrots (3 rows and varients), lettuce (2 rows and varients), parsley (slow growing for sure), tomatos (2 feet tall, condensed growing and healthy), and green peppers. I can only say, we all learn the fastest when we simply do it and pay attention to the details. I encourage you to get seeds, turn some dirt a bit, compost like no tomorrow (I have a cubic yard of compost going also started at the same time, clippings this time of year are easy to get from neighbors, just ask), and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Gardening is a blast.

1 thing I would add: when all else fails, read the instructions. Almost anything you buy to plant will have planting and care instructions with it somewhere. The people who printed those instructions, I always figure, know more about it than I do.

If you are into reading
there are some books at your library
I have found some great ones
Since you are in zone 5 look up a $18 book called perennials in Illinois
annuals in illinois- etc- and another helpful book
something specific to illinois -cant remember it's at teh library! But your library is going to have stuff from your state or zone.
you can even request books from larger libraries- like I wanted the one good book on canna by Ian Cook. And out library got if for free.

They may also have subscriptions to the two best gardener magazines- Garden Gate
and Fine Gardening or a so- so one called Garden Design

For the funniest garden book ever be sure to read the ones by Mrs. Greenthumbs!

You can learn from catalogs but be aware they are selling you something and may not be using the right color in there pictures and are not telling you the downside.

For that check it out here!

Karen

yeah, that's a very good point.

Plant descriptions from online retailers may contain very little information and sometimes it's not accurate. Make sure that you check your information regarding hardiness, etc from a number of different sources, while remembering that if someone is trying to sell you something, they spin it in the most favorable light.

An absolutely great book for you is The Georgia Gardener's Guide. You can find it in almost every bookstore in Georgia and all Pike's nurseries. It has simple instructions for the planting and care of plants that do really well in Georgia. I'm guessing your landscaper planted things that do well in Georgia, so you should find most of your plants there.
I second everyone's suggestions about UGA's web site. Invaluable for me. Your county extension agent will answer any question you have. Pop over to the Georgia Gardener forum. People there know everything about growing plants in Georgia.
As for fertilizing trees and shrubs, I don't know about trees. I've never fertilized one. Georgia clay is rich, rich, rich in nutrients, so I let the trees alone. As for shrubs, I can't think of any that don't do well with applications of slow-release 10-10-10 in the spring and midsummer or early fall. I only fertilize the first couple of years. After that, they seem to do well on their own.
This year watering has become important. If the drought continues into the winter, think about watering the trees and shrubs until the drought breaks. You don't have to worry about overwatering right now. Enjoy your landscape and feel free to ask all the questions you want on the Georgia forum.