I moved into a new house in October 2004, and I was really surprised last year to find that some areas I assumed would be in full sun were in full or partial shade, etc.

It will probably be hard, but I would seriously consider riding out the rest of the summer without buying or planting a bunch of shrubs and perennials--or waiting until the cooler temperatures and sales in the fall, anyway.

If you clean up what you have there (edge beds, keep things neat and weeded, etc.) and just put in some colorful annuals (it's about time when they go on sale so you could put lots in those raised beds) it will make it easier to live with. In the meantime, you can work on a plan for next spring! :)

Thanks for the response!
LOL, I was afraid you'd say that ;-)
I hadn't really even thought about annuals, so I will have to do what I can with those for now. Should I just plant around the fallen daylilies, or could I dig them up and dry them out, to be replanted next year?
And what about moving shrubs? Should that wait as well? I think whoever planted ours was drunk at the time because they are so randomly spaced they look odd.

Hey mamma, we are having a swap in Lou. Saturday morning June 3rd. We would love to have you even if you have nothing to trade. I am sure you would come back home with some nice things to get you started. If you see this soon enough email me or go to other threads about swap and email Marciagaye. Hope we can help. Vicci

oh yes Mamma- do come by our swap!

I have tons of baby plants that need good homes :))
I sow seeds by the 'winter sowing' method (as do many others here on GW) -*there is a whole forum for w/s- the FAQ is great!*

come along for the fun, and take home some babies to try..

best wishes,
Linda *by the airport*

Mamma, it's getting about time for me to get in the shower and get everything loaded for the swap. I guess it was pretty short notice for you. Linda (by the airport) and I will talk to the others and we will put together a new house care package for you. Please email one of us when you can and we will be sure it gets to you. I love looking at my yard and the tags for my plants and knowing the person who gave me that plant or those seeds cared enough to share a bit of their garden with me and my family. If you get the chance before 10:00 to join us please email marciagaye. Hope to hear from you soon. Vicci

Mamma...the plant swap was great and we are planning another in the fall. Where in louisville are you? I have some things I could give you for shade. Do you have a picture of these areas you could post, so we know what we are looking at and thinking about to help you?

Hi Ladies,
Sorry I didn't get back here in time to know about the swap. I wish I had known, that would have been great. Like I said, I'm very inexperienced and the only person I know who has a clue about this stuff is my boyfriend's mother, who is a great gardener but lives in MN :-( It would be great to have some local "experts" to give me some guidance! My lack of experience has not dampened my enthusiam and I look forward to getting to know everyone and educating myself enough to be able to really enjoy this beautiful yard and home!
By the way, I'm in Springfield neighborhood, basically surrounded by Indian Hills. And as soon as I figure out how to download pics to this computer I will post some.
Thanks again!!

I look forward to seeing your pictures. Then we can get some ideas. Yesterday at the swap...including the seedlings, I'll bet that we had close to 300 plants here and they all found new homes. We all have plants to share with you.

Wow! Sounds like a great time at the swap yesterday - sorry I missed it!
I have my pics in the computer now but am not sure what the best way is to make them available to everyone to view. Any suggestions?

Angela

P.S. I just read the posts about what a great time everyone had at the swap and I'm really bummed that I missed it! Should have paid more attention last week but I've had so much going on with the new house that I'm completely scatter-brained right now. Although, I'm encouraged to know that if others are planting right now, there may be hope for me yet ;-)
And I will certainly be glad to get any plants you might think will work for me!
Angela

well mine isnt so mucha new house as the fact i moved into my new husbands house. hes not really been that much of a gardener (i think thats changing now).
since it was hes grandparents houe theres a lot of things planted her and there but also a lot of years of neglect to deal with. (mainlly way to much honeysuckle and poisen ivy) We are making progress on the honeysuckle but not much with the ivy that keeps poping up everywhere including the middle of the yard. any ideas on how to ACTUALLy kill the stuff.
so ive been adding several new rose bushes and other bulbs in, dug up and gave away a whole box of yellow iris bulbs last fall. that was only about a third of the overgrown bed. ( my mother thinks she killed the bulbs so she wants more this fall) the bulbs are so overcrowded they are growning into and on top of each other and so packed i cant deal with the ivy growing into them.
we are building a bed out on the corner where some of the bulbs will end up. of course we have to build a strong wall to it since the corner has been driven into on multiple occasions and several trees wiped out over the years from what i have been told.

Angela, I'm not too far from you - near Brownsboro and Zorn. Hi, neighbor!

The advice you have been given here is great. I am in a similar situation. I let my yard/gardens go and didn't work in them at all for 3-4 years due to some personal issues that made it so I couldn't (and my family didn't want to work out there if I wasn't going to). Now this year I am able to do something about it, and we are trying to bring this poor thing back to life and something that looks halfway decent.

The advice about annuals is absolutely right on - that's what I am doing. Nothing fancy, just enough to give a little color and interest to the beds we have cleaned out. We have a lot of roses but many of them died from the neglect so we are putting annuals here and there in the rose beds to fill in the empty spaces until we get new roses in the spring.

My mom took me to a place this morning on Outer Loop near Shepherdsville Road that had nice annuals at a very good price. They are all BOGO so it's really a bargain.

This will give you time to plan out what you want your yard to look like, and take your time choosing the more permanent plants for fall planting and spring next year.

Best wishes to you!