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Oklahoma Gardening

prune and transplant spirea

18 years ago

You folks are great! I've been lurking and looking for the last 2 or 3 weeks since stumbling across this site, and have learned so much. I use a number of different forums across the web for many different subjects partially because I'm too cheap to pay for advice, and partly because this way I get soooooo many different ideas to sort through. This is the only group of forums I utilize that doesn't seem to have resident flamers lying in wait, looking for a chance to prove their superiority...

We have two spirea bushes that need to be trimmed back and moved. I searched for answers, but didn't find one about transplanting. From what I've read, I think I'll need to prune them this fall. Do I need to wait until then to move them also?

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

TulsaRose
18 years ago
Hi Otis...Glad to see a neighbor posting. :-) This is a great forum and really nice people participate. Regarding your Spirea, maybe this website will give you some pointers.

Have a super day...

Rosie

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Creek Forest
OKC1
18 years ago
Hi!
I think you could probably transplant them now if you could get a big enough root ball when you dig them up. You don't say how big they are, though. If they are very big, it might be better to wait until late fall, when they go dormant, to both prune and transplant them just so you don't stress them out with the pruning and transplanting and then have them croak in the heat. Then you'd need to be sure they didn't dry out during the winter when the new roots were forming.
They need all the root system they have to gather enough food and water to bloom and survive. Have they bloomed yet? I'd definately wait until after they bloom.
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Ken, the new enemy of plantkind on The Neighbor's Plot side is the punk 20ish son (or illegal tenant?) of the Chinese upstairs next door neighbor. Of the Friday night knock-down drag-out fights with his significant other. Of the chintzy 99 cent store signs he stuck all over the garden I had just created. He is a pig, leaving cigarette butts all over their side of the lawn and some in my garden. The first time I saw a filthy disgusting cigarette butt in my garden, my ears laid back, my claws came out and my howls could be heard for blocks. But I decided to take the kindness route. What do you do with "lost" objects? You return them, of course! I meticulously picked up the 20+ butts this pig left all over the lawn and garden and "returned" them onto the porch. There is now a growing and disgusting collection of cigarette butts all around the ground on their side of the porch---you don't think the father (or illegal landlord?) of this punk could bother to stoop down, gather the butts and toss 'em into the garbage can right there, do you? Naw. He just kicks them off the porch onto the ground all around the porch and on the ground leading up from the hill to the side of the porch. What a comforting and soothing sight upon one's return home, I tell ya. It is indescribably disgusting. Now, about my little spirea shrub--which happens to be planted in The Neighbor's Plot garden. You can see where the heavier canes end and newer, slighter growth began last fall. The newer growth is what it accomplished before our first freeze last fall. I was thinking of trimming it down to a bit below where last year's new growth begins, to stimulate some heavy new growth this year. THIS is the shrub I planted to act as a sunscreen for the delicate Midas Touch heuchie I planted there. It seemed to work, as the Midas Touch began to send up nicer looking leaves which were not sunburned after I planted Ms. Spirea. The heavy snows actually removed some of the soil around one of the hostas' roots. The roots are now partially exposed, along with what should imminently be pips. Can hardly wait to see my little guys spring into action! Patience, after all that snow, is a rare commodity.
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first they are cheap plants .... i would do the old cost/benefit ratio .. and decide if 2 or 3 hours per plant is worth the 5 or 10 bucks it would cost to buy replacements.. if in fact you need that many spirea ... presuming you do .... after bloom ... as mine just are in zone 5 ... i would prune them back hard ... to make it easy to dig around them... in the alternative, at moving time .. take a rope... and wind it around the plant.. and tighten it all up so as to be able to work at the trunk area ....then move it and release the plant ... and i would move them in october .... around the time that the trees start turning in zone 5 .... when it is just going into dormancy .... or as soon as the ground is diggable in spring ..... i literally ripped two big plants from the front of the house... dragged them to a new hole.. threw them in .. and watered them once or twice.. and they never looked back.. some dieback from the rough handling.. but otherwise.. they didnt care.. they are not a foo foo plant... so if you do it.. dont worry about them too much ... if you need .... learn how to dig and care for them after.. if you dont have that experience ... good luck ken
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There shouldn't be a problem. They are pretty tough. I don't think I would water them 3x per day but perhaps a couple times a week (when hot) - but with slow deep soakings until they start sprouting new growth.
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I wouldn't worry too much where you are. If you can dig a hole you can plant a Spiraea in it. Are they dormant yet? Not too important, if they aren't dormant now they will be soon. You can always throw on an inch or two of mulch if you get an unexpected hard freeze, but then you were going to do that anyway weren't you ;)
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plaidthumb
Original Author
18 years ago
OKC 1--Unfortunately, I have no idea if they have bloomed. They're at the opposite end of the house, and I never really pay any attention to them. LW wanted them 'cause she grew up with them; they were end-of-season cheap a couple years ago, and filled a hole, so we got them.

They're a 2-3 feet high and across. I think I better wait until fall, based on what I've been reading. that'll also give me time to enlarge and amend the area they're going to. They will handle almost full sun in OK, right?

Tulsarose, thanks for the link. It answered some questions and raised others.
OKC1
18 years ago
Good work researching and thinking about them, Plaidthumb. It doesn't matter how much you spend on a plant, it's the pits to have them die on you because you didn't do something the right way. And, it's a thrill when you can find out about a plant and do what it takes to make it live, too!
Chilpolte_Pepper
18 years ago
Some more information about the spirea would be helpful. There are so many different kinds now, I would be afraid to offer any advice about trimming. It's okay (actually a good idea) to trim the spring blooming spireas. The summer blooming varieties will not bloom if you trim them now.

I would also be careful about transplanting, because we are getting into the stressful time of year for plants. If you do move them, plan to give them a lot of water. The plants are used to more roots than they are about to have.
beerhog
18 years ago
What kind are they? Are they the weeping bridal veil type or a more hybrid bush type. What color do they bloom? Either are about bullet-proof. The old bridal ones sucker so much it is hard to get rid of them and the new ones, me and a friend shovel pruned his wifes in the middle of summer and both are nice bushes now. it is not the moving that really will get them but the after care they get.
plaidthumb
Original Author
18 years ago
Here is a picture (I hope). Does this tell anyone what kind I have? It's blooming away this evening. Sorta lavenderish blooms all over the thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: spirea in bloom

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