Here are the facts
this is a lousy time to try to transplant shrubs.
Even worse time to move big shrubs.
If the landscapers dig up properly - It will take them extra time, and time means money. Either they charge you extra or they do a not so great job of digging for you. ( like they use a backhoe and just place them in the back yard)
It can be done, but is it worth the extra cost to you to save and transplant a big yew? And the extra care, lots of extra water and your labor - and then move again to a final spot. And then the extra cost to get rid of the big dead shrub if it does not make it.

Whenever you move a big shrub in the summer during growing season there is stress to the shrub. It is better to move in spring and fall - when it is dormant
Pick the smaller ones to save and allow them to remove the rest. Just make sure you have not already paid to have them dug and moved to the back yard.

Mike

Thanks for the insight! There's no cost to removal of the shrubs, and I'd be planting them myself. I don't mind the sweat equity, and my view on these plants is that I'm using them as guinea pigs, anyway - beats just tossing them and murdering some new ones I actually pay for. I don't mind the care, and my water is well water and so not part of my monthly water bill...I dunno, I guess I don't mind maybe-doomed tasks. I'm slightly sentimental about the shrubs, as when I bought the house they were pretty much dead sticks, and with no knowledge and lots of fear on my part, they're looking quite nice now...so they are sort of my first non-murderous experience with plants. I realize that is crosswise with my comment about using them as guinea pigs, but the bottom line is, I'm game for it, and if they do manage to live, I would like to add some more interesting companions...more over time, but some as soon as next year as well. Or whenever would be a good time to plant new ones with them. Just looking for some depth of color and some intensity, given the conditions.

Well the spirea japonica are hard to kill...I'd sure give it a go! Water water and then water more. Don't prune much before they start to show some new growth..just enough so you can handle the shrub...or not at all.You will likely get some serious needle loss on the yews...but again they are tough as nails....water water and water again. Then next spring, before they shoot out new growth, cut the yews way back...to alittlesmaller than youw ant them to be....and they will put out new green from bare stems when you get some sun light on them.The Pee Geewill likely suffer themost set back....cut it backand water water water....and don't add any fertilizer but compost for a year.As for what to do to add "spice"? Different texture leaves and color. How about Rhodos or azelia? There are a few that will grow in zone 4...and rugosa rose...Linda Campbell is a lovely robust red...and there are others.
I would move them....can't be too much to lose!
Linda C

I just moved a small japanese spiraea (Anthony Waterer, 3 years old), and it's looking happy - the new place is sunnier. The root ball was as big as the branches. I have to say I acted fast, and tried not to lose soil around the roots.
Another variety that I've found more shade tolerant is Golden Princess. More winter-hardy too - no dead branch tips in spring.
It's hard to suggest plants for z4 - I've seen purple smokebush and jap.maples growing in Mpls, but aren't they z5?
From your previous posts, I gather you're into warm colours, so a few other things that come to mind are macleaya, fritillaria, corydalis, filipendula "Aurea", mountain ash, potentilla, aclepias... and for leaf texture, who says you can't use culinary rhubarb for ornamental purposes? Ornamental rhubarb is cool, but also z5.

My Mom was at my house the weekend before last(when it was 0ver 90F degrees all weekend) helping to move a bunch of shrubs around for me and I have to say that she did a great job!!!
I admit they are not as old as the yew must be but she had the new hole ready to go, dug out the shrub, threw burlap or plastic over the roots so they didn't get the air and tossed transplant fertilizer right into the hole as she set the shrub in its new place. Not a sign of wilt, not a dropped leaf, nothing. I watered religiously, of course and now it is cooler and rainy so they are doing fine. I have moved spirea in mid-July in the past and it survived.
Our zones are a bit more forgiving perhaps than others since we seem to still have coolish nights at the moment.

I would wait on purchasing the new things until you have a chance to look at the space and decide what you want to do with it. Then buy the new ones in fall when on sale and easier to establish.
However, if you have weeds, it can't hurt to put down some landscape fabric and lots of mulch. The transplants will love it and the weeds won't! It will help you keep your sanity too.

Best of luck!!!

I think it is worth a try if you don't mind spending the time on something that may not work out exactly as planned.

Thank you so much for the ideas and encouragement! This has become my de-facto exercise program for the summer, so might as well pile on the work. :-) Sounds as though I should make sure to do the prep (now I know what I will be doing the July 4 weekend - landscaping starts 7/7) in advance and try to be home when they dig out the existing shrubs so that I can get them moved over immediately. On the upside, while I am not activating the irrigation in the rear of the house this year (pipes will be run but no sprinklers installed yet in that part), I am having a freestanding faucet put in, where before there was nothing! So I can actually do the watering. No wonder the prior owners complained nothing would grow back there. Who the heck builds a rambling house on an acre and includes only a single spigot?

Enjoy, that's a good point about waiting on adding anything to these...I'd rather wait until a better time, and this project alone will likely be ambitious enough. Timbu, thanks so for the suggestions - I'll be looking into those!

Linda, your comments about cutting back bring a general question, too. I've been timid about pruning in general. On a yearly basis, how far back should I really be cutting all these guys? Maybe I'd have revived the spirea more quickly if I'd been more aggressive!

A related question: as I think I mentioned, the daylilies, while leafier and healthier than they've ever been, really don't flower. I've been in this house 7 years and am just learning about dividing; the prior owners got too old to tend to the place, so these things are quite dated and certainly have had nothing more than water and the prior year's dead leaves pulled off of them for some time, plus a bit of fertilizer last year and this. Should I be dividing when I move them - and now or in the fall? Or are they likely just too old to be doing anything at this point? Poor things deserve better treatment going forward, not to mention medals for surviving as they have.

I also move things whenever I want - my gardening time is too precious to always be waiting for the "perfect" time to do things. I just water, water, water, and try to take as much soil with the roots as I can manage.

Daylilies will stop blooming well when they need dividing. I have moved them mid-summer and sometimes they do okay and sometimes they get a little floppy and sad looking. They may or may not bloom for you this year. But next year, they should be just fine.

You said the daylilies were in a good bit of shade. That could affect their bloom too. They really like at least six hours of full sun per day. I agree that they probably need dividing, though. Do you have any idea what color they are? If they are just the old orange ditch lilies, I don't think I would slave out in the hot sun preparing good soil for those. I'd pitch them and buy some of the new hybrid rebloomers. (Just a thought.)

Although they say that fall is the best time to divide daylilies, I have done it in the hottest of summers, even here. And, the longer they're in the ground THIS year, the better bloom you'll have on them NEXT year. The trick is to have their new homes ready and prepared before you dig them. Dig the whole clump up, divide them, and put two or three fans into each new hole. (If, on the other hand, you are going to lift them, then prep soil, and plant them back where they were; dig them with as much soil around the roots as possible, lay them in the shade and keep them moist. Don't divide them till you're ready to plant them. They will be alright.)

You may know this, but just in case you don't, here's the planting technique. Dig out a nice hole about six inches deep and wide in well prepared soil. THEN pull soil out of the sides of the hole to form a mound in the bottom of the hole. Make it high enough that you can place the daylily fans on top of the mound, with the roots laying over the top of the mound, and the base of the plant even with the surrounding ground level. Then pull the soil you removed back into the hole, filling in around the mound and up over the roots. Firm it in.

Mulch.

Water well and immediately.

Cut back the foliage by about half.

If you do a good job of soil prep, and a good job of mulching, they shouldn't need water more than once a week. Water deeply at that point, though, unless, of course, there is rain.

A faucet as free standing as this?
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