Spring is naturally the time of year we think about reworking our gardens—we have had all winter long to design our dream garden and each spring is bursting with potential. But Fall is also a great time of year to evaluate your garden and make some changes; you will have witnessed how it grew over the summer, and any problem areas are fresh in your mind. Over the years I’ve made a number of mistakes in my garden, and I’m slowly correcting them. Two problems I’ve created for myself is 1) overcrowding and 2) choosing the wrong plant for a given area.
I am embarking on significant plant relocation projects this fall, paying particular attention to one side of our house that is unfortunately neglected. For whatever reason we don’t spend much time in this part of our yard—is it because of how it looks? Maybe. We had some pretty ambitious plans for this side of the house when we moved in 11 years ago, planting raspberries and blackberries as part of the landscaping. But I went “a bit” overboard in the years since and added 20 cultivars of thyme, at least 3 cultivars of lavender, 5 different tea roses, a climbing rose, a daylily, a few different spring bulbs, and a hydrangea.
Honestly, I did well keeping everything in check while the plants were still fairly small, until I didn’t have as much time to devote to gardening when I became a mom three years ago. That’s when things got out of control to say the least. The weeds, particularly grasses, took a firm hold on that side of the house. And everything we had planted grew unchecked.
My husband and I decided we had to do something, even if it meant wiping out that whole side of the house and starting over. Anyone that knows me knows it had to be a desperate situation for me to agree to deliberately killing plants!
My saintly husband waded into the 4-foot-high weeds one Saturday and slowly what was left of the garden emerged. Much of the thyme was removed along with the weeds; it was just too tedious to sort it all out. There was still some thyme left, and I’m sure it will recover. The markers delineating the 20 cultivars were pointless to keep since the plants had grown together long ago.
What was left of the tea roses were pretty sad except for one or two. Since they had survived our neglect to date those two got replanted. The new plan for this garden was to make a stepping stone path for easier access to the raspberries and blackberries My husband repositioned the lavender plants on either side of the path a couple of weeks ago, and they seem to be doing quite well.
When relocating perennials in the garden, dig the plant out with a large root ball trying not to damage adjacent plants. Keeping as many roots intact as possible will help the plant re-establish itself in its new location faster. If you are dividing plants, try to keep as much roots with each division as possible. Again, more roots will help the divisions establish themselves quicker in their new homes in the garden.
The plant that we are a bit worried about moving is the hydrangea, a cultivar called ‘Quick Fire’. I bought this shrub from a friend that ran a greenhouse, and he had sold me a teeny tiny shrub that typically would be planted by a nursery owner to grow into something of some size to sell to a homeowner. I read on the tag that the mature size of ‘Quick Fire’ was 6-8 feet tall. I neglected to factor in its mature width, which is also 6-8 feet. As a result, it is now way too close to the house, and obstructs our access to the water spigot on that side of the house.
One way to lessen the shock when moving established plants in the garden is to root prune a season or two before moving the plant. To root prune, insert a sharp spade into the ground forming a circle around the plant, severing long roots and outlining as large a root ball as you can reasonably handle. We did this to our hydrangea soon after deciding it needed to be moved. The plant has some time to recover and adjust to a smaller rootball before being transplanted this fall. Everything we’ve read suggests transplanting hydrangea while they are dormant either in fall or early spring.
The key in getting fall planted perennials to survive the winter is timing and mulch. The plant’s roots need to grow and establish sufficiently before winter sets in. Though the ground doesn’t typically freeze in this area until December or January, the cold temperatures slow plant growth, including roots. A little extra mulch for the winter, applied in late October or November will help protect brand new or relocated plants. Just be sure to remove any mulch covering new shoots in the spring.
My very conservative rule of thumb in our area is to plant perennials no later than September. That way, temperatures are still warm enough to promote good root growth before cold weather hits. I have violated my own advice on more than one occasion, and have planted perennials well into October, with mixed results.
Two plants that didn’t seem to mind being transplanted late in the year, at least in my garden, were bearded (German) iris and daylilies. Most experienced gardeners would agree that bearded iris and daylilies are some of the hardiest plants for gardens. These are plants that seem to thrive on neglect and abuse in many cases.
Plants that are particularly delicate or difficult to transplant are better left for transplanting in the spring before new growth is fully expanded. One example is false indigo, Baptisia australis. It has a deep tap root and so is difficult to transplant. Although I was desperate to transplant mine one fall, I waited until the following spring and had great results. Within 2 years the plant had fully recovered, and today it’s bigger than ever in its new location.
It’s really not necessary to fertilize fall planted perennials. But if adding fertilizer will make you feel better, stick to fertilizers containing only phosphorus and potassium, to encourage good root growth. Nitrogen fertilizers will encourage leaf growth, and what is more important in the fall is good root growth to sustain the plant through the winter. Frosts will come all too soon and nip those leaves anyway.
Take some pictures of your garden this fall. You will be glad you did in January when the first spring garden catalogs fill your mailbox. It will be easy to decide if you really have the room you think you do for new plants. The space I think I have always seems to grow over the cold winter months, and having pictures on hand does provide a reality check.
A gardener’s work is never done, but try and find a moment or two to sit back and enjoy your hard work this fall before the snow flies. Far too often we are so absorbed in what we need to do that we fail to see what we have done.
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Thank you for the tips to move large plants/shrubs. It’s nice to know there are others who do not always heed the size of the plant when fully grown!! Lol!!!
You’re welcome Karen! Great to hear from you! I finally figured out the bug in the website that kept me from replying earlier!