Hi everyone, I’m new here and a total newbie at plants in gardens. I’m actually new with houseplant's too. I’m trying to kill my orchid now:(! I have planted flowers and taken care of flowers and plants in my yard after moving to a new house, it’s not been many plants and it’s been a long time. We are renting a duplex that is north facing and the front yard gets as much full sun that a north facing yard gets but our backyard has a HUGE tree in the center of the yard and it’s branches shield almost our entire little backyard. It’s not big but not super small either. I have 2 dogs and they are mainly couch potatoes but I hate that we don’t have any grass except a little bit of grass/weeds around the perimeter of the fence on one side only. The other sides are shaded by other trees or overgrown bushes that aren’t part of our yard. I tried to plant some grass that required only low light and it didn’t work. I don’t want to spend a lot of money but it causes our house to be more dusty than it should be and the dog's feet get dirty so easily. I wonder if there’s any low light ground cover plants that preferably are bug deterrents. I prefer to not use a lot of pesticides on my dogs or around them. Any suggestions? Even if they’re not bug deterrent plants. I also wondered about my front yard, I have a bay window and there’s a lone red rose bush that has been neglected by previous tenants and I didn’t do much with it but it did great for years, we’ve lived here for 15 years but it started dying. Well the numerous , ? “trunks “ ?started dying and then the whole section did. I looked up when was the right time to prune it and I tried to follow the directions but it basically got butchered. It actually grew back okay. It’s not even or full like it was but it’s blooming. I don’t have a picture right now but I’ll post one. I’m not sure what happened to the other one, well I assume there were 2 because of the placement. I don’t know how to even it out. We never planned on living here so long but lots of major events kept us from moving. There’s a strong possibility we will finally move in March of 27. My husband is retiring and we might move closer to family or just move but I have been wanting to do something with the front of the house. I like flowers. I have these huge yellow irises, I think? That’s what they look like and they sprout up every year in the early spring and get bigger every year and more. They have pretty flowers but they don’t flower for very long and then there’s all the massive plants left that kinda look like weeds. I know I need to dig some up and transplant them to another area but, we have very limited full sun areas. I could plant them at the end of the driveway? The sidewalk is super close to the front where the bay window is and the rest of the yard is just a big square/rectangle of grass/weeds.No shrubs or trees or anything that I could plant some around. I hate to throw them away but I would probably kill them anyway. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. Sorry it’s so long. Both of my parents are deceased and my husband’s parents are as well. I don’t really know anyone that knows anything about yards and gardens. My parents and grandfather were really good at it but I lost my mom last May after being very sick for 16 years so she was only able to do a few house plants for some of the time. I’m looking for mentors. Also, does anyone know of a houseplant community? Thanks so much 😊

@Manitu Okahas Thanks for answering, sorry for all the questions! That’s an indication of my significant knowledge deficit! I google and internet search stuff, but it doesn’t substitute for actual people with experience. I will do my own thread and try to get more concise and answer your questions. The greatest need is the backyard, but it might be too late in the season to do anything about it. The fun part is the front yard. I will try to tag you on my thread, but I haven’t ever done that before. I have only been using Skool for a few months. Thanks again!🙏