Hello everyone, I am renting a place in southern California and need some gardening tips for a beginner. Everything is very overgrown and we are receiving quotes of 1500 dollars for the work so I figured its time to get my hands dirty and start learning! My main concerns is cutting anything back too much and causing harm, how the plants are even supposed to look when properly cared for, and recommendations on weed control and prevention. Thanks for your help in advanced!
New garden need help
- Thread starter nbryant1
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Welcome nbryant1. 
There's a lovely variety of shrubs in the garden. A few suggestions to get you started.
It's best to leave pruning of those shrubs that are currently in bloom until they've finished. Those that aren't flowering can be tidied up. Some I can see have a rounded shape that can be trimmed lightly if you feel they need it. Ideally pruning of deciduous plants (those that drop their leaves over winter) should be done during the winter months when they are dormant. But pruning now will do little harm, if any.
Image 4488 - I suggest trimming the branches back level with the front of the border. You can use that as your guide to tidy up the rest of the shrub. Stand back as if you were looking at a work of art and study the shape and how you think it should look to make it more pleasing to the eye.
I can't work out what's happening in image 4490. Is the long sprawling branch coming from a tree or from the plant at the front of the border/bed? Either way I think I'd remove it, taking it back to where it meets the main stem.
I think there are some ornamental grasses amongst the plants, they look very brown as if they're dead. If you can see any new green shoots amongst them near the base then I'd advise cutting off all the top growth to allow the new shoots to grow.
Image 4493 has a mixture of plants. If you can work out each individual plant then prune each one separately, again trimming just enough to make them look tidy.
Cutting back will help plants produce new stems and foliage which in turn will fill them out. Don't worry too much about over pruning, most plants are resilient and will put out new growth to replace what's been taken away. You can also remove any stems that look dead, cutting them back to the stem they are joined too .Once you've finished pruning leave them until the end of the year to see how they look then, and perhaps do a little more pruning over the winter months if necessary. Meanwhile any damage that may occur can be dealt with straight away.
Living on the other side of the 'pond' to you I can't really give you suggestions on weed control and prevention. For example if you'd like to use chemical control. Products here in Britain can be quite different to what is available there in America.
There's a lovely variety of shrubs in the garden. A few suggestions to get you started.It's best to leave pruning of those shrubs that are currently in bloom until they've finished. Those that aren't flowering can be tidied up. Some I can see have a rounded shape that can be trimmed lightly if you feel they need it. Ideally pruning of deciduous plants (those that drop their leaves over winter) should be done during the winter months when they are dormant. But pruning now will do little harm, if any.
Image 4488 - I suggest trimming the branches back level with the front of the border. You can use that as your guide to tidy up the rest of the shrub. Stand back as if you were looking at a work of art and study the shape and how you think it should look to make it more pleasing to the eye.
I can't work out what's happening in image 4490. Is the long sprawling branch coming from a tree or from the plant at the front of the border/bed? Either way I think I'd remove it, taking it back to where it meets the main stem.
I think there are some ornamental grasses amongst the plants, they look very brown as if they're dead. If you can see any new green shoots amongst them near the base then I'd advise cutting off all the top growth to allow the new shoots to grow.
Image 4493 has a mixture of plants. If you can work out each individual plant then prune each one separately, again trimming just enough to make them look tidy.
Cutting back will help plants produce new stems and foliage which in turn will fill them out. Don't worry too much about over pruning, most plants are resilient and will put out new growth to replace what's been taken away. You can also remove any stems that look dead, cutting them back to the stem they are joined too .Once you've finished pruning leave them until the end of the year to see how they look then, and perhaps do a little more pruning over the winter months if necessary. Meanwhile any damage that may occur can be dealt with straight away.
Living on the other side of the 'pond' to you I can't really give you suggestions on weed control and prevention. For example if you'd like to use chemical control. Products here in Britain can be quite different to what is available there in America.