TRANSPLANTING 35 



not been done before, it may still be safely accomplished. This is during 

 soft or showery weather, when the buds are bursting. The roots have by 

 now become active again, and if the plants can be kept moist for a few 

 days (natural rain showers, of course, are best, but watering and spraying 

 are a great help), they start growing again immediately. The deciduous 

 magnolias can be shifted best at this time, usually mid-May with them. 

 In trade nurseries much transplanting has perforce to be deferred until the 

 end of the selling season. 



Evergreens. These are much more difficult to transplant safely than 

 deciduous plants are. The reason of this is that the leaf-bearing part of 

 the plant is never so independent of the root-system. Even in midwinter 

 the leaves both breathe and transpire, so that a cessation in the supply 

 of moisture from the root, however partial, is felt much more than it is 

 by a leafless plant. 



In the case of rhododendrons and many other evergreen members of 

 the heath family, the fine roots are so numerous, and get so complete a 

 grip of the soil, that the whole root-system can be removed practically 

 intact. But in their case the problems of transplanting scarcely arise; 

 with ordinary care it can be done at almost any season of the year. It 

 is with such evergreens as hollies, evergreen oaks, cherry laurels and 

 Portugal laurels, arbutuses, and all those with a more or less rambling 

 root-system that difficulties appear. They can, of course, be moved 

 with safety if the " balls " of earth in which they grow are taken with 

 them, but that cannot always be done, as in the case of plants that have 

 to be sent long distances, or those growing close together, as in a holly 

 hedge. Consequently, they have to be removed with little or no soil 

 attached to the roots. It is in such cases that it becomes very important 

 that the right time be chosen. 



It is essential with such evergreens as those just named that the 

 plants, although not in the full vigour of their growth, should nevertheless 

 not be in their most inactive state. The best times, therefore, are autumn 

 before growth ceases, or in late spring after growth commences. With 

 regard to autumn planting, warm moist days in late September and early 

 October are particularly advantageous in the south of England. In the 

 cooler, moister north a few weeks earlier are better. Spring planting 

 should be deferred till the drying east winds are over. Showery, warm 

 days in May are best. 



Many discussions have been held as to whether the autumn or the 

 spring planting of evergreens is preferable. With suitable weather and 

 smart workmanship at the time, and with due attention to watering the 

 following summer, success, I think, is about equally probable at either 

 season. Just as a hard winter setting in very early might prejudice one 

 against autumn planting, so might a long dry time in May and June 



