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April Showers

Rhododendron 'Blue Baron' Greetings from a wet, wet garden. In between rains, I've managed to get a few photos... (And sorry for the erratic quality of these. I have a new phone and still learning how to use it. Some of these are from the phone and others from my camera). Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' ('Dancing Peacock') Flowering Currant ( Ribes sanguineum ) 'King Edward VII' Clematis 'Stolwijk Gold' is beautiful for the first time after languishing in the garden for five years. Turns out, it is all my fault. This is a clematis that should not be cut to the ground in early spring. You live and learn, and I know that I will never understand the rules of pruning clematis.  Clematis 'Stolwijk Gold'  Aucuba japonica 'Rozannie' - the aucuba that doesn't really look like the others.  But what a fine shrub this is, especially for shady situations. This was planted in 2019 and didn't grow much for the first few years but n...

Transplanting & Pruning



First - I finally have some blooms (crocus) to share. Winter lingers and we've only seen a few days lately with temperatures above 50. Hopefully, next week it will be warmer but more heavy rain is on the way.



I've started pruning roses and transplanting. I'm not finished with the roses but I got one of the largest finished - 'Lady of Shalott'. When I looked it up on my inventory list, I was flabbergasted to see that it is seven years old. That doesn't seem right but there it, planted in February of 2016. The growth has become quite dense so I thinned it out. I also made a video for my YouTube channel of how I prune it. This is the final result -


There are several plants that I want to move this year. The first is Hypericum 'Pumpkin' (St. Johns Wort) that has attained massive proportions and much too large next to the pathway in front. The problem, of course, is where to move it to. I then got the idea of moving the buddleia, residing about six feet away, and putting the hypericum in its spot. The buddleia ("Buzz Hot Raspberry") is another plant that got much larger than it was supposed to so I'm moving it to the back garden.

If you haven't moved a mature buddleia before, I have news for you - it isn't easy. The roots go very deep and it took me a while to get this out of the ground. First I pruned it all the way down, to about 2 feet tall.


This job took two shovels, including my trench digging spade -



The new home for the buddleia was very easy to dig. Most of the dirt in this location has been added by myself and built up over the years. Of course the hole was much larger than this -



The St. John's Wort wasn't nearly as bad. You can see in the photo that the root ball is much smaller and the roots are finer.



Planted in a new home -



There is much more to do in this department and hopefully the weather will clear up soon and I can get it done. 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. Moving plants is the scariest job in my garden, which is probably why I don't do as much of it as I should. Kudos to you!

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    Replies
    1. Kris, it is one of my least favorite activities. I bet though in your climate, plants fare rather well (with watering of course).

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  2. Moving woody plants or digging out a stump--they are an ordeal that usually requires some plant-based retail therapy afterwards. ;^)

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