A common observation in gardens that have been tended by the same individual or group is that the best ones never stay the same. Gardeners with a deep passion for their plots rearrange elements all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those restless interior design lovers who swap out their drapes twice a year with the seasonal time shifts.
The most extended period I've managed a plot is five years, but even in that span it seems as though I made several different gardens. The trial-and-error method of lifting something that isn’t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started container gardening on a tiny balcony.
Yes, there’s a chance that relocating a plant may stress or test it, but it’s also a costless and quite simple way of playing with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, regardless of its dimensions. And I’d argue that right now, this peaceful, tranquil period between the holidays and the new year, between one year and the next, as the days slowly begin to lengthen again, is a symbolically lovely time to do it.
If you’d rather be more formal, sketch your beds, whether existing or planned, to help position specimens in their fresh location.
If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or completely iced over, then postpone it until a quiet weekend in January instead. But if things are simply chilly, moist, and dormant out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for shuffling some plants around, because many perennials will be dormant. I recommend you start with the things that are bothering you a bit – whether it’s because you hope for more vigorous growth, they’re cramped in an undersized container or looking deathly – because the likelihood is that a different position will only enhance their situation.
One of my most cherished aspects about gardening is the remarkably fluid process of how plans unfurl once I’m in the garden. But if you’d rather be more formal, create a diagram of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help place items in their new place. Ready the new planting hole before you lift anything: dig a hole that’s amply deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the base of the specimen for a good guide), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down securely and provide a thorough watering to mark the plant’s fresh abode.
Depending on the plant, you won’t see the results of your work for a couple of weeks, but there’s a satisfaction in this, too. While you wait, you can appreciate the revised layout through its skeletal structure; and if it’s not working for you, have a second rearrangement before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the new year.
