Pruning is fine, but daffodils and tulips are bulbs (not annuals) and should ideally be transplanted later, once their foliage has mostly browned. The leaves provide the bulb with the nutrients it will need to flower next spring. You could move them now, but you won't get many flowers next year.

Closer to being too late :-) These tasks are best done while the plants in question are fully dormant. The exceptions are most BLE's, which are best pruned in spring when they begin pushing new growth.

If the plants are fully hardy for your zone, current temps are not really a factor.....except for your comfort or the soil being suitably workable.

"You could move them now, but you won't get many flowers next year."

I'm not sure I'd agree with that :-) I tend to plant bulbs like tulips, daffs and hyacinths now, either because I've grown them in containers or purchased them already in bud or flower. As long as you leave any foliage intact and take care to not damage the bulbs when digging, they can be transplanted any time the soil is workable and should bloom on schedule next spring.

The reason I ask about bulbs is that we got a puppy and I’d like to get them out of his area :) I couldn’t remember where they were until they started popping up

What is a BLE?

Broad Leaved Evergreen....like boxwood, rhododendrons, some hollies, etc. Anything that holds its leaves all year that is not a needled conifer :-)

I've transplanted daffodils right after they were done blooming with no problems the next spring.

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I have a garden in a neighbor's field. Part is my pumpkin patch and the other is perennials and daffodils. A developer is interested in the property and I have a feeling he is going to sell. So I have to get the plants out in case it happens. I'm in zone 6 and am going to wait until it is routinely in the mid 50s and the spring rains permit.

Not only have I moved daffodils in flower, I have dug them up, tossed them over my shoulder and forgotten about them until they bloomed the next year. They are like hostas, I just dig and toss the whole clump and they do just fine.

I have a huge 'compost pile' out in my woods where we drag tree limbs and dump all the yard debris that is not leaves and there have to be five clumps of daffodils out there blooming right now. They were never planted or holes dug- they got tossed out with trash and survived just fine.

I'm all for doing things when it is the correct time to do them but very often life gets in the way and we have to do things when we can find the time to do them. I'd move them now and not worry.

it snowed in my z5 last night ... and im basically due east of you ...

do whatever you want.. and suffer the consequences .. who cares ... odds are.. it will all work out ...

stay out of the garden if its real soggy.. we dont want your big whompin feet making cement in your garden soil ...

you do.. what you gotta do.. when you have time to do it ...

as to large stuff.. i try to get it all done 6 to 8 weeks before the heat of summer hits ... which is roughly july first ... so you in my EXPERIENCE .. you have all of april to move things ... and most of may ... but lets try to be done by the first week of may or so ...

tulips.. youre on your own with those ...just do it.. whatever ..

try to ignore the warmer zone peeps who are almost in summer now ... crikey.. we have frost or freeze potential thru the 3rd week of may and its spring until then ... IMHO

ken

The proper time to prune shrubs has very little to do with being a "warm" zone or somewhere colder. Leaving aside the question of flowering time (which could impact when), hardy deciduous shrubs should be pruned while still dormant and evergreen shrubs as they begin to push new growth. The ambient air temperature is not really a factor at all.

As to transplanting, anything that is fully hardy should be transplanted as soon as the ground/soil is workable. The later you wait, the greater the risk the plant has not had sufficient time to reestablish before the heat and dryness of summer sets in. That is when transplanting failures occur.

Now is great time to prune dormant shrubs. What type of shrubs are they, though? If they're spring bloomers, you're sacrificing the spring show. Same with summer bloomers if they're ones that set buds on last year's growth, so best to trim right after flowering if you don't want to sacrifice the flowers. If that's not a concern to you, then have at it, it's a good time. Best times aside, though -- if you have to move things you have to move things. I've broken pretty much every planting, transplanting, and pruning best practices and have found that things usually turn out just fine; I have to garden on my timetable, I don't have the luxury of an abundance of free time to do things when they "should" be done -- stuff gets done when it gets done.

That said, unless you must move the spring bulbs, I'd wait -- I so look forward to the spring bulb show it'd be a shame to miss out on that. But, if you have to you have to...