digging and moving

plants on a rainy day again- first the bugleweed from around doomed a maple on the shady sideyard.

I put them all around the skirts of the lilac instead- where none of those planted last year survived. Not sure if I smothered them with the wood chip mulch or they just didn't make it through the cold.

Next I dug- or rather just scooped up from the ground in patches- the sweet william, and replanted it between stepping stones that circle behind the rear perennial bed.

If 'planted' is the right word! I really just pulled/dug weeds, scraped off an inch of mud, set the mat of woodruff in place, and pressed some globs of mud over some of the exposed stem to hold them down. Already it looks much neater back here. Except oops- I just looked it up and realized it can grow up to eight, ten inches tall. Maybe not the best for between the stepping stones! However it's safe back here for now and easy to relocate.

Then dug and moved my smaller oakleaf hydrangea. To pair with the other, across the path from it on the backyard slope. Once again, pleasantly surprised how easy it was to dig up a favored plant! Shovel just sank into the soil where it had been fed mulch of leaves and broken twigs for a year. Root mass heavy with wet soil though, so I needed the help of a wheel to move it.

Settled in place, gave it a blanket of scattered half-done compost and some wood chip mulch. Hope it settles in okay. Will need to remember to water it frequently all summer I think. Not the best time to transplant but I really don't want it to get damaged by the tree crew (unlikely) or the stump-grinder (more likely) or suffer from sun exposure when the maples are out (very probable).

Later in the day I went and bought a young rose-of-sharon (hardy hibiscus) from someone. It's supposed to be one of the ones I wanted because they're less invasive- pink 'Minerva', but the lady said they make tons of gorgeous flowers so there's seedlings aplenty crop up in her yard. Hm. Am I going to regret this? Looks like just a narrow stick w/leaves so far, at two years old. They grow fast, should get eight to ten feet tall. I'm looking forward to that.