I have dug up and removed a lot of my Daylilies just because they take so much effort to protect from the deer. I have saved a few of my favorites. I saved four of these "Big Smile" daylilies up near the house. They are one of the last varieties to bloom and they are right along the driveway so the protection season for them is long and strenuous. But they are worth it.
The easiest way to protect them is to keep a couple of these "Pest Guard" mesh plant covers on them. In the evening I go out and cover the plants, securing the cover with an Earth Staple or two. In the morning I collect them up and stack them in a dark corner nearby. Easy peasy.
But one of the Daylilies was too close to this Bird's Nest Alberta shrub. I had a note in my spring to-do-list to shift it over. This is an easy job when the plant is dormant and the ground is soft.
I just dig out the soil where I want the clump slid to, dumping the soil in a trug.
Then I cut the roots around in a large circle to avoid disturbing them too much and use the spade to leverage the whole thing to the right tight against the edge of the new hole. If your plant has any deep tap roots it may even move over without breaking them. Then I dump the soil out of the trug and firm it in. Done. Plant shifted. And if you do this on a rainy day, you don't even have to go get any water to water them in. We had almost an inch of rain the evening after I moved this.
The wet spring is also a great time to pull grass or weeds out of your ground cover. Dandelions and grass are always weeks ahead of most perennials. Its the perfect time to spot them and remove them before they get lost in the plants. If you accidentally pull up any of your ground cover you just replant it right there.
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| Rye grass was starting to take over the Snow on the Mountain. |
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| Soon the Snow on the Mountain will fill in and the grass would have been inaccessible. |
Here is a look at some of my spring flowers.
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