Plants on the Move
By Susan Gifford
It was nearly Spring, so why not ….
There is plenty of advice around which tells us when and how to move a plant, which for whatever reason, is in the wrong place. For trees, the big ones – well, best left to experts. But as I’ve discovered, smaller trees/shrubs are fair game for a gardener like me, who struggles ‘placing’ a plant. In other words, for a gardener like me who prevaricates.
I’m establishing a new garden ‘up the coast’. This is mostly a joyful challenge. The growing conditions are somewhat different to those in my hometown in Wellington where temperatures are cooler and the rainfall slightly higher. It’s unnecessary to mention wind. However, the new garden is welcoming many plants lifted from the Wellington garden, including an entire hedge of sizeable 5 year old Griselinia Littoralis.
Mostly, plants can handle one move, but a second or third move is testing a plant’s tolerance. The astonishing discovery I’ve made is that the plants taking rides in a wheelbarrow, haven’t minded at all.
I’ve tried to be slightly sensible with this activity, by follow planting by the moon guides. It has helped that most of the planting/removal/ replanting has been done in the cooler winter months when the plants are mostly dormant. However, even now in early spring, the little cuttings which I’ve propagated, and which have already been moved sometimes 3-4 times, have settled back into their new spots quite happily. I usually speak encouragingly to the plants when I lift them out of spot one, to settle into spot two (or three). I’ve also offered a feeble explanation as to why the move is necessary. For example, you were too close to the neighbouring plant, your flower colour wont blend in the mix, you require water and your neighbour doesn’t. I’ve even moved bare-rooted fruit trees which had been in the ground a few weeks but were not at quite the right place for my vision of how their soon-to-be pleached branches would sit, so they were carefully lifted (spoken to kindly) and moved a few centimetres. So far so good.
One existing plum tree already on site (but, in my view in the wrong place) was given sterner marching orders. My husband was called in to help with the digging (he dug, I instructed). I said that he need not be careful about the root ball or snapping off the roots if they were stopping the lift, as the plum, although about 3-4 years old, was one of several on the property and I didn’t mind if the move meant a failed tree. So with rather a gung-ho effort, the plum was dug out and shifted to an insignificant place on a steep bank. It got a big hole, a modest watering-in and lots of mulch and left to ponder and/or acclimatise. I expected sudden death but, I’ m happy to report that it has since blossomed profusely. I’m ignoring the annoying nag pushed far back in the mind that some plants will do a final showy flourish before death.
Overall, I can say that plants I’ve moved several times have been very obliging. I am determined to keep a proper gardening diary at the new garden (something I’ve not managed for my Wellington garden over the last 33 years, despite good intentions). I intend to make an honest appraisal about the plants I’ve moved and will report back in a year’s time about their success or otherwise. In the meantime, I’ve had a lot of fun and given that so many of the plants in the new garden have been relocated from my existing garden, or taken (with permission) from friends’ gardens, what is not to like about moving plants.
Editor’s note: Sue Gifford’s Wellington Garden was featured in The New Zealand Gardener’s June 2024 issue.