When Should I Transplant My Garden Plant?

The rule of thumb for transplanting any sort of plant is:

The best time to transplant a plant is when it is most dormant.

That rule seems simple enough, and for most plants, dormancy is in spring before the leaves appear, or in late summer or early fall when they are getting ready for their winter sleep. For those of us in cold climates, we are taking chances when planting any later than the beginning of November.

But as simple as that general rule is, there are caveats and exceptions with particular plants.

Take a tree like the magnolia, for example. These flowering trees are very popular for their fragrant large flowers and beautiful leaves. Northern gardens usually have to settle for some of the smaller varieties like the M. stellata or the Magnolia x soulangiana instead of the stately M. Grandiflora. For the Northern gardens, such as in Ohio, springtime is the best time to plant these trees with their shallow, fleshy roots. It gives sufficient time for the tree to settle in before the ground freezes.

Early spring Magnolia stellata

Horticultural advice for magnolias

Some plants go dormant in the summer, such as German Iris, and they are best divided and transplanted in mid to late July.

Horticultural advice for German Iris

Peonies are long lived plants and they don’t like transplanting, but one of the better times to move them into a new place in the garden is in August. Tehy have fleshy roots with growing points called “eyes” and this trasnplant schedule gives the roots time to settle in and to grow through the early winter and late winter to establish well. You still won’t see good bloom until the following year or two, but after their sulking period, peonies give you the bloom they are famous for… and lasting beauty for many years.

Horticultural advice for peonies

Photo credit: katmystiry from morguefile.com