Hello! from Dublin, California

[Swaroop Shere]

Hello everyone!
Becoming first time home owners changes a lot of things - one of the things it did was we inherited a beautiful garden from the previous home owners. Now, we are absolute novices in gardening but have a large appetite for learning about it and also, we would hate to let the previous homeowners hard work on the garden go waste. We both know its going to be a daunting task but looking forward to it

To start with, im going to share pictures (publicly on google plus) of the plants and flowers in my garden, simply because i would like to know what kind of flowers are these, how much watering should i be doing and what kind of care should i be giving to these plants.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114167715826153182148/albums/5892385042126805793
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114167715826153182148/albums/5892385174169456289

I know one of them is a hydrangea, but no idea about the rest of them. Please help

Swaroop and Radhika

 

[zigs]

Welcome to Gardening Forums

 

[Jed]

Hi Swaroop Shere. Welcome to the forum.
At first glance, in the first link some of those flowers are fuchsias, hydrangeas and lavender.
Hydrangeas flowers are well known for changing from blue to pink because of the ph of the soil they grow in.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the group! I had no idea there was a Dublin in California, I bet it has a far nicer climate than the Dublin in Ireland!

The first picture is a fuchsia, not sure about the second and third, fourth is lavender and fifth is hydrangea. Some fuchsias need protection against frost in the winter, but I'm guessing that frost isn't a problem where you are! Both fuchsias and hydrangeas should be pruned back in early spring, and with the hydrangea leave the old flower heads where they are over winter. With the lavender, you should also prune it in April but be careful not to cut into the woody bit.

Make sure you keep them well fed and watered, and I'm sure you'll be fine!

 

[DonnaIReilly]

Hello and welcome

 

[Swaroop Shere]

thank you everyone for your responses! they are certainly helpful! @Becky, yes there is a Dublin in California, and its very unlike the Dublin in Ireland. Its hot here, with summer temperatures reaching upto 105 F.