Moving Established Plants

Hi

I am new to this site and am hoping for some advice. I have a small garden that was planted up a couple of years ago, when we moved here the only plant in the garden was a Forsythia. We kept the Forsythia and planted the beds using a plan a gardener had done for me.

Now everything has had a chance to grow the Forsythia looks wrong where it is. It's the largest and tallest plant in the garden and it is right at the front of an area of planting. This means all the plants behind become hidden. Ideally we should have thought about moving it before we planted up the garden and I wonder if it's too late to move it now? It's quite large and I have just cut it right back after it flowered in Spring. It would mean moving a couple of plants around which I don't want to do if there is a chance they would die off.

I will try and get a photo posted if I can.

Just wondered if it was more hassle than it's worth. i know some plants move better than other. Was also wondering if there is a time of year best for moving plants around.

Many thanks
dinks (in hertfordshire)

 

Hi Dinks,

I have a forsythia in my garden which needed cutting back last year as we needed to put a new fence in. We hacked it back right to the ground in the late autumn and this year it is back up to about 4 ft already! One thing to note is that we only got a smattering of the yellow flowers, and they were right near the base, but I'm confident it will be back next year.

In terms of moving I would have thought sooner in the winter, rather than later, as they are pretty early flowerers :D

 

Thank you for the reply. I think I will probably have a move around later in the year then. I think the Forsythia will be much better in the back corner with the smaller plants in front.

Many thanks
dinks

 

If its just an ordinary forythia then consider just chopping it down. Sometimes its better to be ruthless. A new forsythia would do better than moving an established shrub. No matter how carefully you do it you would lose roots, get dieback and it might well sulk for a number of years with dieback before finally succumbing.

 

Dinks cut it back in autumn dig it up with as much soil and as little root disturbance as you can transplant to its new location, make sure it doesn't dry out over winter, it will come back in spring.

 

Many thanks for your replies.

Knwing my luck it would definitely sulk for a number of years

I will have a think and then decide it's fate in autumn. If I move it to the back I will need to bring an Acanthus Mollis forward. Will this move OK? It's quite a big established plant now but is currently hidden by the Forsythia. I think if I swap them around it will improve the look of the garden.

Many thanks again.
dinks

 

Moving the Acanthus should be OK. Do it in spring or autumn. But if you leave any root behind it will grow into a new plant. So expect it to reappear in the old spot as well! :D

 

Acanthus mollis acording to my book detest root disturbance and will not usually survive being dug up and moved elsewhere.( collins, Architectural Plants)great book!!

 

Hi Tropical - that was my original thought. I know that Acanthus is deep rooted. So I Googled a couple of sites but they said propagate by division in spring or autumn. I have since looked at over a dozen sources.

But you have put your finger on a point that I have observed many times. If you Google a number of sites you will get conflicting information. Unfortunately my Richard bird 'The cultivation of hardy perennials' doesn't even mention propagation or lifting. But the RHS book does say propagate by division.

The only good (?) thing is that once you have had it you can't get rid of it.

 

Having had Acanthus in my garden for a few years have now vowed never to plant again. Mine will seed itself every year and if you do not get the young plants out immediately the roots are well away. They can also suffer from mildeew and in real terms although they are wonderful architectural plants you need a very large space to accomodthe Acanthus...
Roots down in excess of 3/4 feet!