Takoma Gardener

How to Move a #@!*%* Large Shrub

Why the cursing in the title?  Because to move this full-grown spirea took many back-breaking hours, that's why.   So DON'T do what I did unless you really, really have to.

In this case, the rhododendron in back of this spirea died, a victim of our recent drought, and the best solution clearly was to move the spirea back into the corner to fill the empty spot. (The dead rhodo ready to be recycled is captured in the photo below.)  All this work to move a plant less than 2 feet?  Yeah, that's gardening - when you're persnickety about combining your plants so they'll look their best.

STAGING THE MOVE
And yes, staging is what's required.

• For 3 days before the big dig I soaked the soil around both the dead rhodo and the spirea.
• The rhodo is easily removed - mainly because I didn't have to keep it alive. Death is liberating that way.
• Next, to save the groundcover around the to-be-moved shrub. It's vinca minor and I know it's terribly invasive in some locations but for some reason in my neighborhood it's actually hard to keep alive. So I carefully lifted the clumps that would be destroyed in the shub removal and placed them in my trusty cement-mixing pans for safekeeping in shady spots til they're ready to be replanted.
• I began the spirea dig by creating a trench outside the root zone of the spirea through which I can slice under the root ball to free it. But boy, what a surprise the sheer mass of the shrub's root zone was - probably 5 feet across in every direction. So this baby wasn't going to be loosened easily.
• More soaking, waiting for the water to drain from the mostly clay soil and trying to dig again.  You realize what all this soaking means, right?  That it's much easier to dig up the plant but you're digging in MUD.  Getting your clogs stuck in it.  Getting filthy, in a wet way.  Try it - you may like it!
• Panic set in as I began to wonder if I even CAN dig up a root mass this huge, no matter what clever tool I employ. I consulted (male) neighbors about the correct tool to use, none of whom were moved to volunteer to help me.
• Finally, seemingly against all odds, the root ball was severed sufficiently from the clay beneath it that it can be rocked loose and lifted. Aha!
• I dug the new planting hole, a mere 18 inches or so away from the original site, and slid the humongous shrub into it. With no help from neighbors, male or otherwise, I might add.
• I replaced the periwinkle around the spirea in its new position.
• I watered deeply once, then again in 2 days. Deeply in this case meant hand-watering with no nozzle, waiting while several gallons of water filled the whole root area.

THE "AFTER" PHOTO
Yes, I took a photo but honest-to-God, it looks just like the "Before" photo because the camera doesn't really highlight the crucial 18 inches by which the plant has been moved back into the corner. Nevermind. At least I know that after several hours of back-breaking labor, the damn spirea is in a better place than it was before. The real "after" will come next spring when this beauty's in full bloom, I suppose.

WHEN TO DO IT
Late spring and summer are the riskiest times of the year to move anything because summer's the big killer - not winter - and plants moved during or just before summer heat will have a hard time surviving til autumn. So fall is the best time to make the move, sometime after Labor Day but early enough for the transplant victim to have a month to settle in before the ground freezes. In my Zone 7 garden that means that September and October are the prime times to plant or move shrubs.

 

2008 Tulip Design

Conscientious gardeners no doubt already have their daffodils in the ground, or at least already purchased, right?  But not me.  I JUST remembered it's almost time to choose and plant my tulip display for the next year, so I hastened to consult this selection at my usual source, John Scheepers:  Single late tulips.   

Why the single lates?  Because they bloom after the daffodils have faded, rather than competing with them and creating too much floral excitement at once. And while I liked this year's combination of Cum Laude, Esther and Francoise, they were out of Cum Laudes and I like something new each year in any event. 

So here's a sneak preview of the Great Tulip Display of 2008:  20 of these lovely Pink Diamonds, 20 of the multi-colored Blushing Girl, and 10 Violet Beauty.  The 50 tulips will cover the front of a sunny backyard border and cost about $40, including shipping.  Remember I grow them as annuals, ripping out their hideous foliage as soon as the flowers fade because, like I say, it's the front of the border.  But for about the cost of a floral arrangement that would only last a couple of days we can have huge displays of blooming glory that last 2-3 weeks.  So to anyone who thinks ripping out tulips after one season is wasteful, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  They don't repeat worth a damn, anyway.

So readers, where do you buy your bulbs?

What, Me Water? Notes from a Drought-Stricken Suburb

I think I just wrote my first newspaper column that's pure rant.  I haven't heard from the editor yet but meanwhile, whadaya think?

Everywhere we look this fall we're seeing dead or doomed plants that didn't make it through the drought. Why?  Not because they did anything wrong.  Plants behave in pretty predictable ways.  No, what's to blame is this worst-case scenario - the climate changing and humans having to adapt.  Starting with our government, there's plenty of evidence that we humans don't DO adaptation to nature very well, but it's obvious that too many homeowners think the drought doesn't affect them.  It's just those farmers out in the hinterlands that have to pay attention, right?  For us suburbanites this summer has meant great beach weather and no bothersome rains to spoil our parties and baseball games.  It hasn't even been intolerably hot, so to most Americans, the summer was just grand.

Blooms Up for Tardiva Hydrangea, Caryopteris, Knockouts, Hardy Begonia, and Rudbeckia

Over on GardenRant this Caryopteris is being shown off, along with whatever my ranting partners have blooming today.  In this photo five caryopteris are massed for a nice late-season pow.  And here's lots more about them.

On the right are two pink

'Knockout'  roses, newly planted in the process of my backyard make-over.  With no fertilizer at all, I think they've performed very well in their first season in the garden.

Next up on the left is the Hydrangea paniculata 'Tardiva,' a favorite of mine.  Here's more about them.

On the right are some hardy begonia or Begonia grandis.  Here's more about them.

Finally, some rudbeckia, which I'm told is R. triloba, next to some sedum 'Autumn Joy' that the deer missed, and with an Arbovitae 'Green Giant' in the background.

Click to enlarge.

Will Nurseries Get into Coaching?

Open Register is taking on the Coaching Challenge with some great ideas for their members, the indie nurseries.

And here in the DC area, writer/editor Kathy Jentz covered the coaching phenomenon in her gardening column in the Washington Examiner Newspaper.  Great article, Kath!  (But who are those people in the photos, anyway??)

Here it is in PDF: Download GardenCoach9-14-07.pdf

Global Warming in the Garden

This overview of current thinking on the subject was published in my local paper and prompted a nice thumb's up from Mike Tidwell, a well known enviro leader locally and even nationally - whew!- so I'm passing it on for readers here.

There’s been lots of news lately about the effects of climate change on our gardens and oddly, it’s usually presented as good news to gardeners. They’re shown rejoicing over the warm-climate plants they can now grow, like crape myrtles in Upstate New York. BUT:

It's Global Weirding 

• Some plants are failing because the winter cooling period isn’t long enough. And others, like lilac, Eastern white pine, American arborvitae, Colorado blue spruce, and many junipers, suffer when summer evenings don’t cool down enough. Local garden writers are no longer recommending many of their old favorites for local gardens - like PJM rhododendrons and yews. 

• Rain events are more extreme, taking the form of longer droughts and more deluges. Not good for landscapes, for agriculture or for plants in our few remaining natural areas. 

• Longer warm periods mean more generations of some pests per year. Others, like the wooly adelgid that’s killing Canadian hemlocks throughout the East, are increasing their number because winters aren’t cold enough to keep them in check. 

• Weedy and noxious plants, like poison ivy, honeysuckle and kudzu, thrive in the presence of extra carbon dioxide, and poison ivy becomes more toxic than ever. Ragweed produces more pollen. Kudzu moves north. Some weeds, like Canadian thistle, are now resistant to herbicides.   

• Native plant populations are threatened by these changes in temperature, rainfall, pests and competitors, even the iconic ones chosen as state flowers and trees. In fact, the National Wildlife Federation predicts that 28 states will see their official plants become extinct by the end of the century. Picture Ohio without its buckeye or Kansas without its sunflower. Climate change has become a major threat to plant conservation, along with development and invasive species.  

• The East experienced a Miami-style January this year, followed by a frigid February. These alternating balmy+frigid periods take their toll on blossoms and whole plants. Fruit growers were particularly hard hit. 

• Hotter summers cause heat stress even to warm-season crops, like tomatoes, according to Cornell University. 

Tools of the Garden Coaching Trade

First there was garden coaching, and now that it's been discovered, for me it's morphed into coaching garden coaches.  Mentoring, if you will.  It means compiling information about everyone for the Directory, answering emails and even some phone calls.  One very nice gardener in Montana called and asked some great questions, including: What do you take with you to see a new client?  This was my answer.

PRUNING TOOLS
I take with me my three main pruning tools.  That would be the Felco number 2s, (on the left in this photo), some loppers, and a folding pruning saw.  SO many people need instruction in pruning, and you just never know what tools they'll have.  More often than not if they have any pruning tool it's the dreaded shearers. 

MARKING PAINT
Oh, I made fun of this product once - remember the "marking paint" that turned out to be clear?  Well, I know now to look for not just the words "marking paint" but a can top that's an actual color, preferably a bright one.  But the point is to quickly draw some suggested new borders, and this stuff does the trick.  If people need assurance that the paint won't last forever I tell 'em 2 weeks, max.

BUSINESS CARDS
I've changed my business cards so many times over the last couple of years, it's a good thing they're free at Vista Print, just $5 for shipping.  The only catch is that there's a tiny advertisement for the Vista Print Company on the back of each card, but no one's ever seemed to notice it.  (Here's the design I chose.)

THE PLANT LIST BOOK 
This is such a fabulous idea - the New York/Mid-Atlantic Gardener's Book of Lists - and it was recommended to me by a garden designer, so I ordered it.  And the plant lists may be mostly correct, but I've crossed out some that I know perform really badly in my area, like rhododendrons and leucothoes.  And missing from the list of "Problem-Free Shrubs" are spirea, weigela, aucuba and nandina, beautybush and cherry laurels - literally the 6 easiest shrubs in my whole garden.  Yet the relatively thirsty hydrangea macrophylla IS on the list.  Oh, and guess what other list those hydranageas are on - deer-resistant plants.  Uh, not hardly! Still, after I marked up the lists to reflect reality, they're actually helpful.  And I think people like the assurance of something in print, don't you?

And through the recitation of these tricks of the trade, the Montana coach hung on every word, I tell ya, and was mighty appreciative.  I encouraged her to "return the favor" by writing a little story someday about her adventures as a gardening coach.  I might even nag her for that report.