Complete Novice!

Hi all

I am new to this forum and most certainly new to gardening. I lived in a flat and all I wanted was a garden. Now I've got one, all I want is a gardener ;-)

My garden is long and narrow and has some beautiful plants, however, I have no idea what most of them are and no idea how to look after them. The problem is they have grown quite a lot in the last year or so and as my garden is narrow I feel like they're begining to take over and I want to cut a lot of them right back. However, I am worried I will do more harm than good.

I have attached a couple of pictures with the first I want to tackle. It's a lovely tree/bush/plant (told you I was clueless!) and just wondering:

1) What it is?
2) Can I just cut it right back? (If I cut a lot of it away, I will lose the leaves and leave just the branches (as it's quite sparse 'inside'), but I assume that they will grow back?)
3) Can I reduce its height?

Any help for a novice and aspiring gardener would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Ballboy

 

Hello and welcome. I can't ID your plants, but someone knowledgeable will no doubt be along soon.

 

Welcome Ballboy.
It is a Pittosporum sp.
Possibly Pittosporum Garnettii.
It looks a very fine specimen.

See 2nd link. Pruning group 1.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pittosporum+tenuifolium+garnettii&um=1&hl=en&biw=960&bih=485&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=CKIKUOCUIufP0QXRsoHtCg#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=pittosporum+garnettii&oq=pittosporum+garnettii&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i24.224900.226767.0.228729.12.12.0.0.0.0.78.771.12.12.0...0.0...1c.fB-dhcGMWgY&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=2428a692397e163c&biw=960&bih=485


http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=3840

 

That most definitely looks the one. Light pruning in the autumn it seems. bugger! Want to tame the beast now.......

Thanks so much Silver surfer! I suspect there'll be a few more pics coming this forum's way from me.

 

Pittosporum tenuifolium.