Sorry for the bloggus interuptus.....so much to do and so little time to do it! But I am back!!
So now that it is nearing fall and you want to get your landscaping ready for the winter months by trimming everything back and replanting various things........hold on until you finish reading this!!
I have had some friends and family asking advise about redistributing the plants in their yard. They wanted to dig up a few things and place them elsewhere.....I told them to STOP!!!
Let me say this first, if you have some perennial plants in pots and would like to transfer them to a more permanent home for the winter.....this is a good thing....do it as soon as possible so the roots can get reestablished before cold weather sets in!!
HOWEVER.......If you are wanting to separate or dig out any bushes or plants STOP!!!!
Why you ask????
Because plants have natural growth cycles. They produce certain growth hormones at certain times of the year. For most plants this is in the spring....not the fall!!! ( there are some that do well in the fall like mums, but for most plants it is the spring)
For instance a family member wanted to uproot a lovely rose bush to move it to a different location to make room for some fig tree cuttings......I told them wait until the spring....for two reasons......the rose bush will bounce back better if replanted in the spring because it will be producing it's growth hormones and the fig tree cuttings will not have time to establish themselves before the cold weather sets in!
I know it is very tempting to go out into the yard and trim back all the trees and bushed so they look neat through the upcoming winter but.......when we do this we are actually making "wounds" in the plants where pests and disease can enter before the plant has time to "heal" itself because it is not producing the growth hormones this time of year.
I know it may be hard to do but just put down those pruning shears till spring,but just step back relax and enjoy not having to do so much yard work for a change!!
But do make sure to clean up what is left over in the garden and put it in your compost bin so you can use it for fertilizer next year!!!
Let me know if you have any questions about any specific plants you may be wondering about!!
A friend offered blackberry bushes he intended to thin, but we were at odds over the appropriate time to transplant. For some reason, I THINK, berries are movable in fall..after they fruit, before dormant stage..I am not positive, and will gladly stand corrected. Lol, I was excited to see your topic, this is one of those things I keep forgetting to see about, the things that escape me while online, recalled at inopportune times only, for example, while knee deep in brambles...oh yeah, blackberries....:) Thank you in advance for your knowledge!
ReplyDeleteI did some reading on blackberries and what I have come up with is..... most people that have them say they are hard to get rid of no matter how hard they try. If I were you I would try to transplant some this fall, and if they don't work try again in the spring. Not real helpful ! But the opinions I read were nearly half fall and half spring for transplanting. If the plants are more than a few years old with a good root system I think transplanting them this time of year would be a fine idea!
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