Wonbyherwits, judging from the photo you posted i would say you have a very keen eye as well. I think the trick for me is useing plants that do well in my conditions and understanding there growing habits and mature size. I think experience is the best teacher in my case. I have no special talents as a gardener other than a deep love of plants. I've been useing the same plants (10 yrs.) and understand what thay do. Thanks for your kind words. I googled herbaceus borders "images", there are a lot of inspirational border pics. This is the 1st year i've started back working on my borders. I took the last 7yrs building and understanding my antique and shrub rose collection. Its good to be home again. Perhaps we should start another thread discussing combination and heights etc.........mark

Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not sure why one would want to transplant or move "dead" perennials....... Regardless, depending on the timing of your move, I'd be inclined to wait and do any digging/potting/transplanting in early spring rather than now. The plants will be safest and best protected in place through the winter and you can start the process as soon as the soil is workable in early spring. If you think you may have difficulty locating specific plants that early while they are still mostly underground or not visible, mark them now. I do agree that you can do it now if you prefer or if timing is critical but you will need to take extra care over the winter, either heeling in the containers or otherwise protecting and attending to them over winter. Personally, I prefer to let nature do this work in winter and leave the transplanting issues until spring.

Salman, Can I ask where in Toronto you are located? It would help me narrow down what kinds of zonal needs you will require. There are several microclimates in the GTA. I'm very excited for you and I'm reminded of my own excitement and I started to garden a couple of decades ago. Anyway here are my 'modus operandi' when it comes to trying to figure out if the day will work for planting. When the weather is very harsh - don't plant. Very hot sun, dry weather - not a good time to do any planting. Don't do any planting between 12 - 3:00 p.m. when the sun is above and the temps are close to 30s. In fact if worse comes to worse and I have to do any form of planting in such an environment, I would water the plant well, plant it either early morning or evening (when the sun is gentle) - and I would put up a shade cloth/netting over the plant. I would also top mulch to help keep moisture levels even. And once planted, continue to water well until the plants are established. So right now, we are still just beginning to get heated up. It probably is still good to do some planting but keep in mind the weather which has been erratic. The best kind of time do to any planting is when the sky is overcast. Prepare your grounds before planting. So break up the soil, add your compost (NO CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS YET. IN FACT NO FERTILIZING WHEN THE SUN IS HARSH, HENCE TRY TO SKIP ANY FERTILIZING DURING WORSE OF THE SUMMER) royal purple smokebush - SUNNY LOCATION summer snowflake (viburnum) - SUNNY LOCATION. It tends to be sensitive to mildew so keep it in areas that have a good airflow. french lilac - SUNNY LOCATION. dappled willow - Willows are aggressive plants and some can be rather huge and invasive. But this is something that I suspect is the Hakuro Nikishi willow which is small and fairly well behave. You'd need to prune it back each year to keep it small. Willows love good watering. bleeding hearts (dicentra formosa) - wet shade planting. Probably of all the plants you listed down this one that is sensitive to any harsh sun. pink lilly of the valley - wet shade garden. Same as the bleeding heart. anyway, like the bleeding hearts, these grow from the roots up every year so the idea is to keep the roots healthy despite if the foliage starts look bad. serviceberry -- you can still put this in the ground if you follow the above. bowman's root - sorry, I'm not familar with this plant. green and white euonymus - sun and partshade garden. same as the other shrubs. For me, if I cannot stand being outside in the heat, it's probably not too good for new plants to be put in the ground yet. If it's too harsh, set them aside in their pots and wait till the weather improves. -- say by end of August or early Sept.

Joe1980: I have to disagree here. Just keep in mind that Chile Freak and Josh both have probably 30 years of combined pepper growing to my one. I don't think they are taking your growing zone into account. I am not sure where Chile Freak is from but Josh is from an area with a much more temperate and longer growing season. I have tons of fruit on my plants already and a lot of smaller pods getting there. However, I have started to wonder if any new pods will ever make it to maturity at this point in the season. I have started to contemplate even snipping any new and existing buds and blooms to allow the plant to concentrate on growing the existing fruit. That being said, I would leave your plants alone for two (make that three) reasons. First, if you disturb the plant while transplanting (basically inevitable), there is a good chance it will slow its growth for a period. This is not good when we will be routinely dipping into the 40's in September and can expect our first frost by the end of that month. Second, if you leave them in pots, you can move them to shelter when the cold nights begin and extend their growing season considerably. If they are in a garden, you would have to cover them somehow. Third, I am sure you have heard the weather forecast for this week. Heat warnings for the next five days or so. Not a good situation for stressed plants. So if you do transplant them, I would wait until next weekend. =========== THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LA CROSSE HAS ISSUED AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON SUNDAY TO 9 PM CDT * DANGEROUS HEAT INDEX VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ON SUNDAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES IN THE 90S AND HIGH HUMIDITIES WILL RESULT IN AFTERNOON HEAT INDEX VALUES IN THE 105 TO 115 RANGE. OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES WILL BE IN THE MID 70S TO NEAR 80. ============== But I really respect both Josh and Chile Freak. I just dont think they took your growing zone and weather conditions into account. Let us know what you decide and keep us posted of the result.