First for those who have offered their suggestions input and advice and taking time to post on this thread and help me, thank you. I very much appreciate it and you have my gratitude. People have told me numerous things regarding what does transplant well. However I do have some questions still because I'm a little unclear on some stuff that has been said regarding transplanting. According to what some have said most of the time anything that is leafy and green (any kind of lettuce, spinach, and collards) is normally direct sown. However are the reasons that these crops are normally direct sown is because they don't make good candidates for seedling transplantation, or are they able to be started from seed ahead of time indoors and will they transplant well? Is it recommended that they're direct sown (as with root veggies) because they just don't transplant well or can you do either or with leafy green stuff (start them as seedling transplants indoors and then transplant them outdoors or is it recommended you direct sow them where they're to grow). Another question I have is that people have strongly recommended that I plant scallions, onions, and chives indoors then transplant them outdoors. However I thought as a rule-of-thumb that root veggies are to be direct sown because they don't transplant well. Are members of the onion family (chives, onion, and scallions) considered root vegetables? Another thing I have a question about is people who have responded to this thread said they normally direct sow peas. Is this because peas don't transplant well or does it make any difference whether or not they're direct sown or can they be started in peat pots indoors and the seedling transplants transplanted at outdoors at a later date? Also what is a root ball? I know that the root systems of seedlings that are started indoors have to be well developed before they're transplanted or when you go to transplant your seedling transplants they will just die. Justaguy2 something I don't understand is that you told me the secret to successful transplantation is starting seedlings quickly and having them transplanted 2-3 weeks after germination. What I don't understand is wouldn't that be transplanting the seedlings too soon? I don't really know anything about seedling transplanting but what I do know is that if the root systems of the plants you're transplanting aren't sufficiently developed when you go to transplant you're seedling transplants they will not transplant well at all. The other questions I have that people failed to answer that I asked are these: *I'd like to use the method of emulating a breeze for the seedlings via using a fan. When should I introduce this to the seedlings (how old should they be)? How many times a day should I use the fan to emulate a breeze for the seedlings and what is the length of time I should keep the fan on when I do this for the seedlings? The reason I'd like to do this is because it will overall make the seedlings stronger. I know that with seedlings when you transplant seedling transplants you are supposed to follow certain guidelines with temperature, time of day, and weather conditions. What are as a rule of thumb, these guidelines? When during the day should you transplant them? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? What should the weather be like? Also this is going to seem like a very dumb question but how do you carefully transplant seedlings well? I've never done seedling transplants so I don't know how to carefully transplant a seedling. I could use advice with this.

Thank you so much for the breadth of wisdom. I guess I'm a bit nervous and feel really bad about the one I killed. Situation is so desperate I've allowed saplings, pecan, slippery elm and even walnut to tear up my fence line. They want to grow there not because of the fence line but because of ditches that act as swales keeping them watered through the drought. A 3 story pecan keeps our house cool. It's base is about 3 foot in diameter that sits about 5 feet from the side of the house. It's dying. Sad. Sad. Sad! I would imagine, by now, its taproot extends near or at the aquifer, but even the acquifer is very low on water. But part of the problem is insects capitalizing on the trees as they are weakened by drought. I'm not proficient. It's been a while since I looked it up. One type drops twigs from the trees. Haven't seen those in a while. But the other is persistent and that's the one where the insect buries its eggs and they form galls in the twigs and leaves and burst out in spring. These with extended drought and a couple of very harsh winters has decimated the population. As most of you know for trees such as pecans it takes a decade of harshness to kill. That elder pecan just might make it. Wish I had a bucket truck so I could help it by pruning. For now, I can only dig swales at its drinking line. Thanks, everyone. I hope I can make these work.

Most know, but white alyssum is not a perennial although it behaves like one because it self-seeds so readily. I saw a perennial version of yellow alyssum in Bluestone catalog. The problem with alyssum is that if you heavily mulch (which I should have been doing all along, it's hard work for me and costly if I don't have enough leaves saved), I might not have gotten the proliferation of it because I doubt it will self seed well with anything but a light cover of it. I'm guessing many other perennial border plants will push through mulch. Pansies are a nice idea, haven't successfully grown any yet but plan to try to edge with those as well as grow in containers. I love them but suspect, again, alyssum is easier for me. I don't know if any, I think some, will self seed in my zone, again not with heavy mulch. Anything grown as annuals unless it self-seeds well, you have to replant your borders every year. Johnny jump ups and some violas will self seed. I don't know yet if any bloom all season, think not when it gets too hot. It boils down to what are most reliable and easy for me, also what is eye-appealing, and alyssums are easy and multiply fast enough to do hundreds of feet of border and some to spare by the second or third year once you have them going well and transplanted. You don't have to plant them too close together as they will blend together forming a contiguous, uniform border. They don't mound much even if they are way too thick. Oh, they also tolerate part shade but I haven't discovered just how much because most get at least 4 hours of sun. Sometimes it seems longer for blooming to kick in where it's not as sunny, but they catch up and bloom just as well as the ones in more sun. I'm not trying to twist anyone's arm to do it my way, just that it has been a positive experience in contrast to the many, many disappointments with other plants getting ratty during the season and my soil situation. My soil is ok but there are problems with it as with everything else, too much rain and little to no mulch, it all dries out fast. Mulching would help some for sure but the trees and shrubs compete for available moisture and nutrients so it doesn't make that big of a difference for me, at least this year when it rained so much. That darn alyssum earlier on I thought would dry up and die in a couple difficult spots, looked like it would die the first couple weeks, watered it a little when I could get to it, and it just took off, then needs little water at all. We had such a crazy summer, read the stats on rain, it was over 21.99 inches in June-August; average normal is 13.07; record is 26.79 in 1993. I know to some that would be a real blessing, and it did ease my load for hauling water, but it caused lots of other problems with my other plants I didn't have in prior summers. The excessive rain combined with lower-than-average cool temps all summer have negatively impacted our farmers' crops but not too severely overall. We had a drought several years back that practically wiped out whole fields. If that didn't, the flooding in subsequent years nearly did or had to be replanted if there was time. In the overall scheme of things, that matters more than my flowers.

Mary, Thanks. I had seen that site previously but you prompted me to do another search on Google so that I could list the sites I found previously that said that this type of yucca has the longest taproot and is the most difficult to transplant. None said how long to expect the taproot to be or what needs to be done to be successful in transplanting. However, this time I found a site I had not found previously which gave me some useful information. I need to try to get all of the tap root, the taproot could be as long as 5 feet on a mature yucca (I am guessing 1 to 2 feet on the ones I am trying to move), I need to water after transplanting, and I will be doing well if one out of four survive. Since the lateral roots are up to 10 inches long, I am going to try digging a circular trench that starts about a foot away from the center of the plant and is at least a foot deep before checking inside for roots. I do not know what is the biggest root ball possible for me to move. I still do not know the best time of year, but I think I will try to wait until it gets a bit warmer. I am curious to hear if anyone has successfully moved a soaptree yucca. The site I found this time was http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/yucela/all.html where I found the following two paragraphs helpful: "Soaptree yucca is difficult to transplant. Campbell and Keller [8] reported that only 25% of soaptree yucca transplants survived due to taproot breakage. Soaptree yucca has been transplanted to revegetate highway rights-of way, but there was great expense in removing entire roots, as is required for successful planting. Successful transplanting of yuccas (an unspecified amount of which were soaptree yucca) has been done; plants were removed with as little root damage as possible and immediately watered when replanted [48]." "GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Soaptree yucca has woody, succulent stems often 9-12 feet (3-4 m) high (occasionally up to 30 feet (9 m) [24]. Utah yucca is smaller, with stems up to approximately 4.5 feet (1.3 m) [49]. Growth form of soaptree yucca varies from a single, erect, trunklike stem to several stems in clumps of 1.6 to 8.2 feet (0.5-2.5 m) in diameter [48]. Like all yucca species with dehiscent fruits, soaptree yucca is rhizomatous. The species is unique in that the rhizome develops downward and later begins lateral root extensions. The "vertical rhizome" as described by Webber [48] commonly grows to 3-5 feet (1-1.5 m) deep, and 3-6 inches (8-15 cm) in diameter. Lateral roots are 6-10 inches (15-20 cm) long and 1-3 inches (2.5-8 cm) in diameter [48]. Leaves are slender, sharply pointed, 2-3 feet (0.6-1 m) in length, and grow in variably loose to densely crowded clumps [8]. Stems are often clumped because they are derived from common rhizome systems [48]. Leaves grow in a tuft at the top of the stem [24]. The stem can be either upright or procumbent [25]. The inflorescence is an open, branching panicle [8], producing a capsular, fleshy, and dehiscent fruit. The fruit commonly contains about 150 viable ovoid seeds [2]." This had root depth, root diameter, and requirements for success! Thanks for prompting me to search again, Anna