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smoke bush: transplant now?

11 years ago

Hi guys,

I've finally found someone who wants my smoke bush and can't wait to be rid of the thing. The darned thing was pretty small last year and is now not only about 8' tall but getting fatter. It's time. Besides, the ground is hard enough that my pickup won't leave marks in the yard when I pull it out. ;) However, it'd be nice if it survived, since she wants it. Can I transplant it now, or do I need to just deal for awhile and do it in the fall?

Thanks!

Now to find a home for the burning bush...

Chris

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
the burning bush is invasive in many area.. why dont you just pull it out.. AND BURN IT ...

if you are transplanting thru the use of a 4 wheeled gasoline powered vee-hickle.. of what difference is it.. if this is the right time.. ????

personally.. i dont move anything in august.. as night temps have the potential to be high ...

so i would recommend waiting 30 days or so ... when more predictable cooler fall nights will help ...

i think.. on some level.. they sucker.. if you can find a nice small .. already rooted sucker.. why dont you just give that to the friend.. and burn the big one while burning the other ...

the odds of a small sucker living.. is probably much higher than using the truck

but i am sure farmboy could chime in and give you all kinds of pointers regarding the use of a truck in the garden/transplanting .. lol ..

ken
rigelcaj
Original Author
11 years ago
Ha - Ken, you're overlooking one adventure. Burning it is what happens if moving it unceremoniously doesn't work. And it's FUN to transplant by truck. (My current success rate is 50%, but I've only moved 2 shrubs.) True, it's best not to do to a thing you care deeply about.

Your comment on the burning bush, though, prompted me to investigate whether it's invasive here, though I spend a lot of time in the woods and have never seen it there. Sure enough, it's listed. The burn pile will profit by that one, and good riddance. Thanks.
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welcome to the forums dave.. if you are going to hang around.. add your location on your member's page ... and if you dont think that is important.. i cant really tell you when its going to resprout .... e.g compare sara's z9 to my z5MI .... anyway ... i am pretty sure you could run this over with a cement truck and not kill it.. so stop worrying about that ... and with no insult to the root mass ... i would expect it to be back to the size you cut down.. in a year or 3... depending on location ... you might want to think about removal.. next time it tries to take over the yard ...unlike children.. you dont have to keep problem plants ... lol... unfortunately.. i dont remember if they bloom on new or old wood.. someone else will have to tell us if it will bloom this year .... so.. at worse.. you lose this years bloom ... ken
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There are always "better" practices and preferred approaches, but here in NW Oregon, my Cotinus Grace has been very nearly bulletproof — you might even rename her Lazarus. She lived for her first year in a nursery pot with no protection, then after our house was finished, I gave her a starring role in our front garden bed. Our Great Pyrenees thinks that her livestock guardian duties include beating up new plant arrivals, and one morning I looked out the window to see Grace lying in our driveway, dirt strewn every which way. I replanted her, hoping she would recover. A day later, I looked out to see Norah, the GP, lying on the lawn chewing on our once-again unearthed Grace. I put her in a large pot in a spot where I could baby her and hopefully resuscitate her. She didn't miss a beat. She has now been back in the ground for two years and evidently smells familiar enough that Norah has left her alone. She is enormous. This spring, probably much later than is optimal, I cut back three awkward branches. She has filled out Gracefully (pun intended) and looks quite gorgeous. YMMV, but I would say Cotinus are quite forgiving.
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greenhavenrdgarden
11 years ago
Ummmm, ok. I'm confused. The op is asking about a SMOKE bush. What does a BURNING bush's invasiveness have anything to do with Cotinus? Two different things right?
Ken, I love your posts but sometimes I think I need a little bit of what you're burning ;)
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
right above his name.. in the OP..

now i have to find a home for the burning bush ...

ken
botann
11 years ago
I have wandered around in the woods in the Berkshires near Stockbridge and Pittsfield, Massachusetts and saw a lot of Burning Bush growing as an understory shrub. Definitly invasive there and not too far from you.
It self seeds here also, but as far as I know, isn't listed as invasive...yet.
The Smoke tree or bush takes to pruning well. Here's one of mine. Pruned hard on the bottom, not so hard in the middle and none on top. It's in tight quarters and will be moved this Fall.
If I were you, I'd try to dig yours up before yanking it out with a truck. And I'd wait until it's dormant.
Mike
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