I'm a bit confused by ken's statements. I developed a container nursery in the Lowcountry of SC, where we fostered thousands of healthy plants in black plastic pots under the blazing SC sun. I also sold those plants all year 'round, truckloads at a time, to busy successful landscapers who were going to plant them....even in the middle of summer. The landscaping businesses all over the country would shut down if planting containerized plants in the heat of the summer was much of a problem for plants. It's just not really an issue, with proper after care. I've also done big commercial landscaping projects myself in the middle of the summer and I do not expect a plant to suffer one bit for the experience. I've got plants ( roses, crapes, and day lilies) in 3 gallon black plastic pots, OMG) sitting on our driveway (which faces west) and our patio (faces east) right now. They've all been there for over a year, in the harsh Alabama sun, sitting on hot concrete. None of the plants have flagged at all, or fainted due to the heat, or missed a bloom cycle. The exceptions to this would be for field grown plants, which are not dug in the heat of the summer. So, Jenny, I honestly think that your plants will suffer more if you suddenly put them in the shade. Locate them where it will be convenient to water them once (or even twice) a day...thoroughly. That shouldn't take any more than a minute! IF the plants truly appear to be root bound, repot them into a substance similar to what they are growing in. NO garden soil, please, nor compost. Most woody ornamentals today are grown in a medium that is composed mostly of bark fines. Perhaps you can get some from that nursery. But I would only repot if truly necessary. I strongly suspect that your plants will do just fine for a month or two without being transplanted. There's a big difference between 3 gallon nursery containers and a 5 gallon bucket. If a bad potting medium is chosen, the plants could truly suffer for it. Also, most nursery plants are fertilized with slow release products and your might not need anything for quite some time. You can see the colored fert. prills if you look. Sometimes they will be yellowish, sometimes green. If you are worried that the plants are suffering for lack of fertilizer, just mix up a dilute batch of any soluble product (such as for houseplants, etc.) and water it in. I sure hope that I've offered the more reasonable side to you situation. Honestly and truly, I don't think you have a thing to worry about as long as you don't forget about your plants.

Hi, Matt. Very touching story. Thanksd for bringing it here. I think sometimes we are chided in the kindest way, don't you? I never heard of the fragrant herbs being brought in August, but a wonderful custom, for sure.

Hey... crepe myrtle can serve as nature's "orange (crash) barrel" in this sort of location. We have a mid-stature cultivar at the corner of our drive where it warns/slows vehicles cutting the corner towards our fence post. While the trunks don't get big enough to actually stop a car or truck, hitting one will get the driver's attention and the tree will grow back as long as ANY roots are left in the ground. Ours was knocked over by a wide-swinging front loader and was back to full size within a few years. It has actually turned out to be a very nice tree for a location less than 2 ft off the drive . That said, seems knowing the hardiness and stature/cultivar of your plants would help with the decision. If yours are only reliably root hardy in your zone, you'll be cutting them to the ground every few years anyway. Stature matters because it needs a mature height of at least ~10 ft to get the branches above vehicles in tree form and crowns of the big (20+ ft) ones will cover a large portion of the drive dropping bunches of stuff into the small openings of anything parked beneath them.

MarenAl, ok i see. I have pruned many trees on my property in a healthy, natural way. In fact, my husband and I do this every winter when we can see the overall form and entire branch structure of the trees (crapes, ornamental pears, redbud, maple). for your crape, I would suggest that you could easily remove one entire trunk w/o harming the tree, nor the overall appearance of it. Looking at the first picture you sent, I count 4 main trunks (crapes are best as multi-trunked trees). I am counting from left to right at ground level. Look carefully before you make any cuts, but I think you could remove trunk #4 the one nearest the deck, furthest from the white arbor/pergola. Make the cut at ground level. You could remove the upper parts of that trunk first, to make the final "timber!" fall more manageable! Then you should remove any smaller branches of the other trunks, that cross or rub with another, or that go inward and not in the nice fountain shape of the mature crape. In my opinion, your tree could stand an overall "thinning out." To do that you remove some of the smaller branches all the way to where it meets a larger trunk, don't lop if off halfway. To drop the overall height of the tree, as well, which would help with the drooping of heavy flower clusters, you could remove maybe the top 1/4 of the tree, keeping the nice rounded shape, don't square it off. Do one cut at a time, carefully stepping back and looking at the overall picture, each time you cut. Hope this was helpful! Laurie