Wow thanks for the info...im going to see how things go over the next few weeks in regards to the shrubs on the LHS...ive also noticed just to the right of these shrubs is another bush...i remember seeing one fleeting pinkish rose last summer. But i wasnt sure if the flower i saw was from the garden at the back...looking now i can see the bottom of this bush through the gaps in the ivy...so my thoughts are that the ivy could strangle the bush? am i correct? if so then i need to do something about that..although to be honest i know nothing about rose bushes and think im far too inexperienced.

Im going to take the advice on here about the ivy...i have just nipped to B&Q to get myself started...iv bought some Glyphosate but im not going to use it on the ivy now as suggested it would be better to cut it down and rip up the roots so im going to go with that advice and get my other half to do that bit.

Im going to get started in a minute...while im out there i will take more photos so you can get a better look at the shrub with funny brown petals as we've come to know it!

oh and someone said it might be an idea to mention where about's i am...i try not to bragg about it but here go's...viva la rochdale. ha. so far its grim but once we get to april it should warm up nicely.

thanks again

Well I lasted a whole 30 minutes. good effort eh! i decided to stop when i started getting bitten off ants!!!! ive got one of those bait things so hopefully they will be gone soon but we're gonna leave it till next saturday now when my other half can help me out as to be bluntly honest..im too piggin slow on my own, some of the weeds are so deep and the worst part is that when we gave the green house away..it was still full of tomatoes - the guy who took it emptied it all out into the beds which at the time were actually looking alright. never mind though we will get there in the end, slowly but surely.

now ive had a nosey round and taken some more photos that you might like to have a nosey at...? ive pin pointed what i think are the ivy's hairy disgusting roots so far ive found 3 roots..not meaning to offend but it makes my skin crawl! ive also taken some more close ups of the funny brown petal shrub :S errrm and some other plants that i haven't noticed until today that im not sure about...sage and hyacinth come to my mind but then god what do i know ha!

what shall i do with the rhubarb? just rip it out...? oh also ive bought some miracle gro..should i use some on the shrubs to revive them a little? probably obvious answers but i like to check first before hand so i dont make any silly mistakes.

thanks again for all your help everyone, il get the hang of this soon

bloody sage...nothing like an attractive Deadnettle ha ha honestly i do have more than 4 brain cells! still i think i need shooting for that one!

Apols if someone else has answered, but I'm posting from GB which tends to get its threading muddled.

Yes, the brown petal shrub is definitely hydrangea. Prune each branch back to a pair of fat buds - go lightly rather heavily so as not to destroy this years flowers. Get rid of it if you don't like hydrangeas. I'd probably get rid of it as they can get quite large and there are better ways of filling the space in a small garden, but for the moment it might be worth leaving as they produce a good display of flowers in the second half of summer followed, if you are lucky, by attractive colours on the dying bracts.

Next pic is a variegated Lamium - may have either pink or yellow flowers. leave it as useful ground cover, but be prepared to yank some of it out if you want to plant something else there instead. The lacy leaves are Herb Robert, a british native with pink flowers (there is a white flowered garden variety) - it's too aggressive a seeder, so I'd get rid.

Final pic has grape hyacinths, again a matter of personal preference. Nice flowers, but rather a lot of floppy leaves. And the other leaves in the pic (below the dead stems) look like the yellow poppy - keep them and see what comes up.