Time for a Move

This summer I had several shrubs that were in need of moving or relocation. Although my Hosta growing along the walkway between the house and garage had been doing well and had grown to significant size, I was never really happy with them. They were great for cutting back in the winter and having somewhere to dump snow, but they never really hid the foundation wall the way I would have liked. 

Given that I have had better luck with planting Spirea at the far end of the walkway, I decided to move an existing Spirea from the front of my property to the location along the pathway wall. This Spirea was a once dying plant who I save as a small and sick fellow. He too was being crowded out elsewhere, so this seemed like the best course of action - he survives and thrives, I get to cover the foundation.

 

In a couple of years he will fill in and I will be able to shape him and he will look as good as all the other nearby Spirea. For now, he looks a little sick from the transplant.

Additionally, the plants along the back wall of the garage were starting to crowd each other out. I decided to move two of the plants, the Mugo Pine and the Rheingold Arborvitea (Thuja occidentalis ‘Rheingold’). If you look at the background of the picture below (behind the lilies), you will see how crowded they had become:

The Pine had become a bit too large for this area and was constantly under attack from insects in the early spring. His time had come and he was donated to a neighbor, along with the original Hosta that had been located along the pathway. The Arborvitae had been moved once before and a large section of its rear had died off. Moving it to its new location would allow me to re-arrange it and give it space to grow.

Goodbye Hosta

Hello Arborvitae

Overall, the area looks good. In a year or two it will fill in very nicely and I will be able to shape and control all of these shrubs on an annual basis.

In the meantime, I have to rethink what to do with the space along the back wall. The Spiraea thunbergil 'Mt Fuji' on the left will now have more room to expand now that the Pine is gone. The Forest Grass on the right will also have room to expand. The Gaunyin statue is now visible once again. While I am waiting for the existing plants to fill in (could take a year), I will plant some smaller temporary plants, most likely ferns, to fill in the gaps.