Moving Plants during the summer?

As mentioned elsewhere, we are planning to fence in about a third of our garden for the cats! Part of the area to be fenced in is laid in bark chips right now, but there'a also a strip of flower bed in it! Since we only created these flower beds this spring and used this year mainly for trying out what works and what doesn't, there's not a lot of plants in there right now. And since buddleja and dahlia are not amongst the plants toxic to cats, I was even going to leave them! However, we also have a pair of rabbits which we have now decided we could move into the enclosure as well (they get on great with the cats, no rabbit stew for dinner there!), but in that case the plants other than grass and cat mint will have to go obviously.
Can I dig up the buddleja, the dahlias, a couple of hostas and a fern in the height of summer and re-plant elsewhere in the garden or will they die on me? I am most concerned about the buddleja as it was a gift from my in-laws - it has only been in the ground since early june but it has grown considerably, especially in the past couple of weeks. I would not want to kill it!
There's also some Liatris Spicata in there which will be in bloom soon by the looks of them - probably best to lift the bulbs next spring, right? Well I guess I can fence those in until then with a little bit of mesh wire - not pretty, but better than losing them, as they are doing great!

 

I would never recommend moving any shrub during the summer particularly one that is as hot as this one is. So I would certainly not move the Buddleja until the Autumn when it will have a chance to re-establish itself before the Spring. I have moved smaller plants in the Summer before but you will have to make sure that all they get a good drenching of water everyday and if it is anything like as hot up in Glasgow as it is down here I would wait for cooler weather! I also think you are right to wait with the Liatris if you want any flowers this year.

 

Hi Wishaw - my experience with moving plants in the summer has been mixed. With buddleja however, I can't seem to kill the damn stuff! I threw out some branches into an unused part of the garden last summer and they all grew into bushes (!!)

Stuff I've moved before seems to hate it for the first year, withers and looks rubbish and comes back again the next - depends how much patience you have? Oh yeh, and water!

 

There was a 'City Gardiner' program some time ago in which it was said that the two most indestructible plants were the bramble and buddleja. But there is no point in taking a risk.

 

I too would reccomend waiting for the autumn - but if you really must move them now - then may I suggest that a) give them a good soak before lifting, b) take as much rootball intact as you can, and c)ensure the area you have identified for them has been soaked, well dug, and has fertiliser added. You will need to keep them watered daily until they settle, and they will certainly check their growth.