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Moving plants at wrong time of year advice

honeybeanhoneybean Posts: 50
in Problem solving
Hi
I am losing a flower bed next week due to decking taking its place. I want to keep the plants, which are mainly foxgloves and lady’s mantle. 

I know it’s completely the wrong time to move them, but I’d like to keep them if possible. Is it worth trying to take some cuttings first? If so how?

Also, how do I move the plants without potentially killing them?

thanks 🌻
Thanks 🌻
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Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Hello @honeybean!   :)

    Lady's mantle and foxgloves are tough plants.  Water them well and dig them up with a ball of soil around the roots, having first decided where you want to put them.  Keeping them watered until they look happy, and thereafter if the weather is dry, is the key - I think you'll get away with it...

    Any foxgloves which have already flowered might have produced seed, which you can collect and sow for hundreds of baby plants in the future.  They are biennials - they grow leaves only for the first year, and flower & seed the next.   Alchemilla is a perennial, also growing very easily (too easily for some gardeners!) from seed.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Foxgloves which are in flower may suffer a bit aesthetically, but I would have thought would still go to seed as per Liri's comment. If they aren't flowering they'll move quite well, take them with a good spadeful of soil. I move Alchemilla around all the time, at any time of year. Cut back the foliage completely and water in well, and they'll spring back looking fresher than ever.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286
    Water and give a foliar feed with a general plant food like seaweed or miracle grow. I've always found it helps them not to be shocked when they are moved and they are far less likely to go into a sulk. I do it about an hour before moving something. Pick the day and time too, cooler overcast, rather than hot and sunny, I normally do it in the evening.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I move things frequently at the 'wrong time'. If conditions are suitable you can move almost anything. I've moved conifers and shrubs in the middle of summer, because it's cool and damp here. Never a problem.

    If you're unsure, do it on a damp cool day, as suggested, to make it easier. Alchemilla is almost indestructible anyway, and just cut the foxgloves back if they're struggling after planting.
    Alchemilla is actually quite difficult to get out without leaving roots too. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Treeface said:
    Great topic. Could really help others make decisions about moving (or dividing) plants when they'd rather not wait until the prescribed times of Autumn or Spring. One of the recent episodes of Gardener's Question time had Chris Beardshaw talking about moving plants at the "wrong" time of year. People are too quick to "scold" us for doing so. 
    Coincidentally I had moved a Deschampsia cespitosa just before that episode of GGT, I hadn't thought anything of it! It did look a bit 'bleh' after being moved though (the wind battering the flower stalks didn't help), so I ended up popping it in a pot out of the way. 
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    Another one forever moving plants at "the wrong time" as l have no patience.  I would say l've had a 99% success rate over the years. The main things are to keep an eye on watering to alleviate the shock of transplanting , and try and keep as much of the rootball as you can. 
  • honeybeanhoneybean Posts: 50
    Thanks everyone for your advice. I’m going to move them tonight!

    I am also going to be brave and move a valerian that’s in the wrong place too! 

    Thanks again 🌻
    Thanks 🌻
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,351
    I move perennials anytime unless it's too hot and too dry (which rarely is). I've never had any major problem.
  • Joy*Joy* Posts: 571
    I moved a rose tree a few weeks ago, which had lots of new growth and the first signs of buds. I dug a hole, filled it with water and added the rose tree. Even though I  kept it watered, all the new shoots wilted and started to dry up on the ends. I pruned them back to about 3 cm and waited to see what happened. Today they have changed from being twigs into a nicely shaped rose bush complete with new flower buds. I didn't expect it to survive but it looks as though it has never been disturbed. Perhaps there is no 'wrong time'.
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    I'm always taking things out and plopping them in somewhere else, did it just today with a penstemon. 

    Just make sure you get a big root ball and keep them really moist. 

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