A Good Time to Move Shrubs Around
-
- April
- 27
I often change my mind about where things, especially shrubs, should go.
Or suddenly everything grows faster than you thought it would, and something has to come out.
Fortunately, this is a good time of year to correct past mistakes and move your shrubs or even very small trees to a better location. Spring is very forgiving — everything wants to grow and do well. And there’s usually lots of rain, like today, to help them adjust to a new spot.
After years of incremental gardening, I finally hired a landscape architect last year to come up with a master plan for the property. We call it our 10-year plan, because that’s how long it will take to find the money to do everything we want.
Anyway, this potentilla shrub is now in the way of another grand scheme. It’s still mostly dormant, just beginning to green up, so I thought it was a good time to move it.
Then I found a spot for it in another bed and dug a hole just slightly bigger than the root ball.
and dropped in the potentilla and surrounded it with dirt from the hole. Great plant, btw – totally deer proof and drought tolerant, with little white blooms all summer. (I’ll show you later, when the blooms begin to pop out.)
And a good watering from the hose and we’re done. I like to dig a little lip around the transplanted bush so that water lingers there.
This entry was posted
on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 12:48 pm by Bill Cary.
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Bill Cary grew up in Louisville, Ky. His gardening was limited to growing parsley and impatiens on the windowsill of Manhattan walkups until the mid-1990s when he bought a rundown old chicken farm on 8 acres in the Hudson Valley. Now he spends his weekends chasing deer, hacking away at invasive shrubs and vines and wondering why he doesn`t have more meadow and less lawn.
Bill,
I was inspired by this and moved (or shall I say my husband moved) four fairly large gray dogwood shrubs that have been growing too large for their spot. I just needed a push to decide to do it! They should thrive in a wilder area.
Brooke
That’s the spirit! And isn’t it great to have a strong second set of hands in the garden?
When I look around my garden, it sometimes seems as if almost everything needs to be moved. Let’s see, so far I’ve moved peonies, roses, and at least a half dozen perennials. It’s my second year in a new house, and I’m finally getting an idea of where I’d like things to be. Also digging up large swaths of lawn to make room for more and bigger beds & borders. Phew!