Simply Mad about Gardening

I'm finding myself slowly turning into a yard-obsessed middle-aged man. Unfortunately, I know nothing of yard work and gardening. My biggest accomplishment thus far is to remember to cut back the lilacs last summer ater they finished blooming, but before the new blooms had begun to sprout. My reward is a huge, lush purple monster waiting outside the front door to kill me.



I am learning about weeds, and that it is generally a good idea to pull them before they reach this size:

This be a fucking root.

The one thing that vexes me the most is trying to figure out what certain plants are. I'm reluctant to pull some things I think are probably weeds, because what if they will turn into lovely flowering specimens, attractive to hummingbirds and bees?




This one in particular has me flummoxed. I went ahead and cut it down, and soon after it sprouted a large, curious looking flower:





There's just always something new to learn when working with nature. Welp, off to plant some more crops.