Do you move plants in your garden?

[Gr3atC1rcle]

We finally got round to starting work in our garden. Due to lock down, time of year and my impatience we’ve done it back to front ie worked out where trees, climbers will go later and put a lot of perennials in a couple of months ago.All quite small to start which are now quite big. Thinking when trees are in and we’ve seen the full potential of what we’ve planted we’ll need to move some around. Actually I can see the temptation to do that anyway.

Is that something seasoned gardeners do or should it be avoided?

I do - though I normally do it, not for aesthetic sakes, but for the plants' wellbeing (ie. if I've realised that their not getting the right amount of sunlight or are becoming overcrowded). Just make sure you get most of the roots (both wide and deep) and water well, and you should be fine.

I used to, and it worked well for a few years. BUT the small patch of ground elder I had in one area is now deeply embedded in every area of the garden as a result.

My SIL , who is a very experienced gardener, does it all the time.

Yep I do. I move stuff if I think it will do better elsewhere. I usually just add loads of good compost into the new hole and make sure I give whatever it is a lot of TLC and things are usually fine.

Yes, it’s a good thing to do for many perennials. Gives them a new burst of life/frightens the buggers into flowering, I’m not sure which.

All the time, but not when it's either very hot or very cold. Or very wet since I have heavy clay soil! I also tend to give it a little clip before digging it up, if it's in full growth, so that it's not having to worry too much about flowering etc.

When I realise a plant needs to move, I whack a cane in the ground next to it to remind me later.

I'm always doing this

Never had anything die on me!

I don't, not because it would upset the plants, but because it seems a lot of faff. Probably influenced by moving a mature lilac and a fig tree - both involved unfeasibly large holes, tarpaulins, systems of rollers, and roping in not only teenage sons but their friends as well. But both survived and are flourishing. Fig didn't miss a season and is now reliably giving around 200 figs a year.

So if we can move a fig and a lilac, perennials should not be a problem

My DM (age 79) does it all the time. It seems to be one of the pleasures of gardening for her. It nearly kills her to do it but she can't bear to see a plant struggle. She has a beautiful (cottage style /crazy) garden.

Yes, and there’s one border which is bugging me at the moment because things aren’t in the right place, so it will be musical chairs there in the autumn.