Free landscaping stock, transplanting

One of the best things about growing plants that are native to and very hardy in the area where you live is that they tend to reproduce. This gives you free landscape stock to use elsewhere on your property. A short list of cold-hardy perennials, shrubs, and trees for northern climates can be found here.

I just finished digging up three brand new forsythia bushes from around the one big one that we had in our yard. Forsythias reproduce mainly by a form of self cloning. The tips of the long braches that extend out along the plant's perimeter will eventually droop down to the ground and take root. In just one year of growth after these new rots begin to take hold, new shoots as much as two to three feet tall will mark a new plant that can be separated from the parent plant and transplanted.

Simple Tips for Eco-Friendly Landscaping

Our big forsythia has a diameter of perhaps twenty feet from branch tip to branch tip. Around its perimeter are perhaps 15 small plants. Each one is made up of many individual shoots coming out of the ground from a common root ball. When you dig them up, you should keep the clusters together to avoid damaging the roots too much trying to separate them. This will also help the young plants to look fuller and more colorful while they are still small.

The proper time to transplant varies by the type of plant. Generally, I like to do it in the spring. The ground is moist and not likely to dry out or require too much extra watering and many plants here in New England are already in the "re-establishing mode." That means they are actively sending out new feeder roots to fuel the development of new spring leaves and flowers as well as the year's new growth. If you dig them up without damaging too many of the roots that have laready begun growing, you can take advantage of this spring activity and the transplants can get off to a strong start in their new locations. Depending upon the plant species, this may differ a bit from conventional advice, but it works well for me as long as I provide the TLC needed after transplanting.

As with any newly transplanted landscape stock, keep a close eye on it for a few weeks to make sure it stays healthy. If roots are damaged or if, as with a forsythis you have to cut around a root ball to keep it manageable, you need to watch for signs that the plant isn't getting enough water through its remaining root system. If it starts wilting or loosing leaves, that's a sure sign of dehydration and the plant should be thoroughly watered until it no longer wilts between waterings.

As eco-friendly gardners, using collected rainwater for this purpose is a good idea, especially for those who live in areas where clean water sources are overtaxed by increasing human demand.

OK, now I'm off to separate some irises that have multiplied to the point of overcrowding.

Happy Gardening!