ViburnumValley, I really know very little of these shrubs, other that I was surprised to see A. spinosa thriving at my nearby botanical gardens of zone 3. A few years later I obtained a plant and can confidently say it would manage zone 2 just fine! Yes, plant with caution the stems are mean thorny and the thing suckers, a lawn setting would be good that the suckers are kept sheared off. Also, wise to set out of the full brunt of the wind to help prevent leaf burn, the foliage is absolutely massive 3 ft long x 2 wide, looks like a tree fern! I had presumed elata to be less hardy, 'Silver Umbrella' is hardy is zone 5 and have read of success in zone 4 and even worthy of trial in a protected zone 3 site, now that's encouraging, but who knows! I was unable to find Aralia elata 'Hope Springs Eternal' in any searches and neither for 'Fool's Errand' ... real problem is coming across any desirable variegated selection in Canada! Prairiemoon, mine was labeled as Aralia spinosa, it's planted in a full sun hot dry position, I'm surprised it has done so well and getting to be good sized, though will attempt to dig and relocate to location that better shows it off. I did have other better photos, though can't seem to locate them now.

Deanna your ASK is beautiful. This summer has been kind of weird, it was hot/cold/hot/cold with humidity, many of my plants got some kind of moldy fungus including my coleus and autumn joy sedum. Anyway, I am thinking of transplanting a mature one to another spot of my shade garden this weekend, has anyone tried transplanting in September? Will there be enough time for the roots to settle before frost hit? I prefer to do it now because temp is cool so easier on my body, doing it in spring is cold and wet :) I remember FrozeBudd has done dividing a mature ASK before but I can’t remember if it was spring or summer or fall…how much root did you have per division, like 1 - 1.5 feet long? I remember you mentioned the roots were woody and difficult to cut, how are your 2 ASK doing now?

leaves, I am not exactly sure where you are located, but when I visted Minnesota this summer I went to a place called Venero Gardens. I believe this is the place I picked up my Aralia. This place is STUNNING. If any of you are close to this place please go visit them. They have beautiful, unusual plants and gardens you can stroll through. They are located at: 5985 Seamans Drive Shorewood, Minnesota 55331 I believe they like for you to call ahead (952) 474-8550. We did not call but they did say they prefer to have people call for appointments. They were wonderful people with great plants. I would like to know if any of you have visited them before?

I'll second what Viburnumvalley wrote about starting your own thicket of Aralia spinosa - all you have to do is pull up a small stem or two from an existing thicket, taking at least a few roots along with it, or even just the tissue along the stem where roots emerged before you pulled it. If you get only a few roots - and you probably will if you just yank one out of the ground - remove most of the leaves from the stem, leaving only a few small or partial leaves, or perhaps no leaves, then plant it where you want it, water, and keep the soil moist for a month or two. Eventually the stem will grow new roots and new leaves, and you've got a plant. I've done this a few times, sometimes failing to keep the soil consistently moist, and have had perhaps 75% success. If I was planting this again, I'd pull a bunch of stems and plant more than I think I want. This is a rather gaunt plant that looks better with multiple stems, so plant 4 where you want one, and if your success is the same as mine you have a very good chance that at least one will take root, and probably you'll end up with two or three which will make an attractive stand of Aralia. now is a good time of year to transplant aralia spinosa because there should be small (perhaps 1 or 2 foot), new shoots emerging from the ground that lend themselves to transplanting. I think older shoots would work too, but they're larger and harder to handle. If you see this plant along a roadside, powerline, or edge you may be able to find new shoots emerging from the ground in a place where they will eventually be cut, mowed, or sprayed. These are good candidates for transplanting without having any impact at all on the parent clump of plants. Of course I wouldn't worry too much about pulling up a few shoots from any healthy clump - a healthy plant produces enough new growth that it can easily afford to lose a few shoots. Wear thick gloves.