Community Writer: Sara, Waste Not, Want Not – Transplanting Volunteers

Like Lili, and many of you, our family is currently working on some outdoor chores and improvements. Ours include both moving and improving some of the traffic patterns around our home, which have been the same since 1970. We also recently removed some large trees for fire/storm safety, which have left a full-shade part of the yard suddenly full-sun, as well as quite a bit trampled and squashed. All of this means that some currently nicely-naturalized areas must be disturbed, while some previously nicely-naturalized ones must be rehabilitated. 

To further complicate matters, part of the overall project is completing some deer fencing; so, although we're anxious to get new plants started during our short growing season, it's unwise to invest much in plants for parts of the yard that might be immediately decimated by our local deer. 

I have been trying to make the best of the situation by transplanting as many of the removed plants as possible into the barer areas. Some of these plants have major imperfections and idiosyncrasies from their original growing conditions, and I'm “late” in moving some of them, according to traditional gardening calendar wisdom. However, I figure that the possible benefits are worth the time and effort of transplanting, even if some don't survive. 

After all, these plants are already used to our soil and climate conditions, and the time between digging up and replanting is short, so hopefully any shock will be limited. They are plants I'm familiar with, so I already know the conditions they need and their eventual size/growth patterns. They have a number of year's growth already. They're free, which everyone here would agree is always good. Last, the alternative would be to discard them, which goes against my “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” Yankee upbringing, as well as a general preference not to kill a healthy living thing.

In the past, I have had good results with transplanting volunteer lilacs (with up to 1” thick trunks), and moving bulbs, even after they have leafed out, which I'm not sure is “recommended”. I have also divided and moved daylilies and iris anytime from early spring to late fall. Here is a volunteer grape hyacinth which I moved last year from the front yard to the raspberry bed in the back. 

This year, I've transplanted more lilacs, bulbs, and iris, as well as trying to move one very old rose, some trillium and violets, some native maples, an ornamental maple, Oregon grape, snowberry, and mixed yarrow/English daisy/grass “sod” pieces. It's too soon to evaluate all of them, but the trillium and violets both bloomed. One individual yarrow is budding up now, and the patches of yarrow/grass “sod” are also growing well in the background.

The native maple is leafing out, next to another small lilac.

The biggest lilac is looking fabulous, although we accidentally cut off a lot of its main root while digging it up.

We didn't do anything unusual to help any of these make the transition. As I said, my main goal was to keep the absolute minimum of time out of the ground. However, because our soil is very heavy clay, I did mix a little bit of compost we had on hand into the soil from the hole, and as you can see, I also dressed the top with a little mulch. As with all transplants, I have tried to keep them well-watered these first couple of weeks, to settle the soil, stimulate and support new growth, and compensate for recent hot weather. I'm excited and pleased by the positive results, especially because I'm not an especially gifted gardener. 

Moving irises 

There were a bunch of irises around the original shed/"cabin" the original owners lived in while they built. They were under the eaves, so didn't get a lot of natural water or enough sunlight. They grow every year, but even after we tore down the shed, they don't always bloom at all. This year some of them are going to bloom (two opened today), and it's great timing, because I was hoping I'd know what colors/heights they were before I transplanted them to the backyard, so I can plan/arrange them, rather than just doing a grab-bag. 

However, since I won't be able to move them for a while, I got the idea to loosely tie surveyor flagging around them, with Sharpie notations. Then if I move them when they're all so far past I can't tell what they were, I'll still know.

Last tip – If you don't have existing plants to move, we've also had good luck buying trees and shrubs (like the forsythia below) from other homeowners on Craigslist. The prices we've paid have been maybe 20% to 35% less than a box store nursery, and we've met (and put a few dollars in the pockets of) some nice local people.

Sara has enjoyed being a part of the creative savv community for many years . She lives with her husband and a grown son in rural Idaho, where they continually plan and work to improve their 1970 home and acreage. Sara enjoys a variety of activities, including cooking, photography, sewing, crochet, weaving, interior and landscape design, hiking, fishing, doing anything at all with her husband and sons, and taking long drives around the beautiful Inland Northwest.