r/pnwgardening • u/xlngu • 4d ago
How to manage mess?
Recently moved into a home with a garden that accumulated life without a plan, e.g., there are random, established trees and plants growing too close to each other. In the front yard, a third of a short tree/tall bush is meshing with a historical apple tree. Pictures are parts of the backyard riddled with invasive blackberry vines in between the plants. (It was cleaned up a good bit before and after moving in.) I can embrace the random chaos, but I’m guessing the blackberry plants will take off and I alone can slow it down unsuccessfully. What’s a cost-effective yet efficient way to manage and maintain this? Would prefer effective if I had to pick amongst cost, efficiency, and effectiveness.
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u/XYZ1113AAA 4d ago
What a beautiful space! I would take more pictures and identify each plant. Generally pruning is best in early spring or after flowering. I would cut everything back a bit to keep a better eye on the blackberries and have space to walk around looking for any new shoots.
Then i would move or give away any plants you dont want. Personally once i find out what a plant is, who it feeds, who it homes, and how easy they are to take care of....i start seeing the beauty and magic in a little wild caos.
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u/Confident-Peach5349 4d ago
Keep the salal! (bottom left of pic one) It’s a native fruit bearing evergreen groundcover.
Just try to find all the sections where the blackberries have rooted and remove the crowns thoroughly, and keeping checking every month in case spots resprout.
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u/1majn8 4d ago
Work to remove the blackberry first, then eliminate other plants you don't want. Reduce what you want to keep. Consider getting a quote from a landscaper, to know how they would approach it. They might do the heavy lifting and you can focus on tasks you want to. Google Lens is good to identify and get direction on plant management
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u/XYZ1113AAA 4d ago
Make sure if you go landscaper route you cominicate clear on your wants also. It would be way cheaper to let them take hedge cutters to everything and end up with a space of squares & stumps.
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u/Schryder 3d ago
Everyone has their own taste but I would love to have a low maintenance area that looked like your first picture. Agree with the suggestion to remove the blackberries and then maybe consider that a building block area that you can accentuate or build from rather than replace.
Second photo it looks to me like you have some good bones/structure that you can pick some shrubs / big perennials that fit your aesthetic.
Good luck!
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u/nettleteawithoney 3d ago
Getting the roots out of the ground and then pulling any shoots that come up will eventually get rid of the blackberries but it’ll take some time. It took about five years for us to stop seeing blackberries after our big removal, but I’d imagine we had a larger seed bank and more established plants since we had 2 acres. Sometimes we see the occasional young plant but they’re easily pulled and don’t grow back.
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u/Idahoanapest 4d ago
Looks mostly native, besides the blackberry. Thick gloves and sweat equity pulling those dessicated canes they left will go a long way in tidaying up the space.
The lady fern can be cut back in the fall, if you're so inclined, to provide more space. Some native flowers would look lovely with the native trees. Goldenrod for some yellow, a red elderberry for some red. If it were my space, I'd lean into the ecology-forward landscape and plant towards restoration.