I am no expert, I tend to learn by trial and error, but I divide my creeping phlox in the spring and in my experience it's just plain old luck if you get good blooms or not. Usually if it's done early enough it will still get going but sometimes it just fizzles out and looks yucky for me for about a year, then comes back full force the following spring. When dividing or even adding plants I tend to plan for next years blooms. In all honesty even though the suggestion is generally to move and divide things in the spring or fall, I have moved things whenever I pleased and at the very worst the outcome has usually been a sorry looking plant for the remainder of the summer, only to recover over winter and come back nice and healthy as if nothing happened the following year. Of course I have killed a plant or two, but not by moving at the wrong time of year. If I get the urge to move something in August I just try to do it early in the morning before the heat sets in! LOL* ;) Good luck with your phlox, I'm sure as long as you get a good hunk of its roots it will establish just fine. :)

pippi21 - what is the compass orientation of the affected bed & its sun exposure/shade cover? A number of perennials can survive the seasons in a container but there are others (i.e, lavender) that suffer from too much winter moisture such as snow and/or rain. I was a bit surprised but happy when WS Heuchera/coral bells, delphinium, Astilbe, Agastache, Alchemilla mollis/Lady's Mantle, Platycodon/balloon flower, Siberian iris & Spirea all came through the winter in gallon pots/larger containers on my breezeway. Phlox sublata/Creeping phlox is a spring-blooming perennial and as long as it gets moved in the fall when it isn't blooming or too stressed due to dry conditions, should transplant in good shape. That's only my own general understanding of perennials speaking--not the voice of experience since I don't particularly like creeping phlox. My spring preference is P. divaricata/woodland phlox which is just as lovely but blooms for a much longer period than P. sublata. Again, it's only my own observation & what I read in my perennial guide but Papaver orientale/oriental poppies grow from seeds, not bulbs, and spread via rhizomes/traveling roots in much the same way as Missouri evening primrose (whose botanical name escapes me at the moment). It's my understanding they're best moved when very young plants as they don't like to be disturbed. You may or may not already know this but laying down a layer (or two) of corrugated cardboard under your mulch will be a huge help in discouraging weeds. I've found the cardboard is free & readily available at my local grocery store, package store or else the recycle bin at the town landfill. A judicious application of ordinary vinegar at the edges early in the season tends to discourage most weeds.

There are places in every garden where it is impossible to spray weeds. When I was growing up hoeing was the job assigned to the kids, both because it needed to be done and to give them something to do. I still remember how and have a long handled Japanese weeder that makes the job a lot easier. Al

I've found that rabbit damage isn't permanent unless they eat down into the crown of the plant--which they did to some of my hardy geraniums and killed 3 of 6. Foliage and flowers come back the next year if it's just the growth that they are eating. Although the deer don't bother my garden, the rabbits like a few things, especially in early spring. I use the I Must Garden Rabbit Repellent in the large jug with spray. It lasts at least a month, even through the rain. I spend about $25 a year on it. It doesn't smell as bad as some things! Cameron