Gardening & Landscaping
onceuponadisaster
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
HELP- I just received an 8 foot tall shrub
So I just picked up an 8-foot-tall shrub from craigslist from a family redoing their landscaping.
I just dug in 2 new flower beds, so I have a location for this new shrub (I think it may be a burning bush, not 100% sure).
What do I need to do to give it the best chance at living? I know transplanting trees/shrubs/bushes of this size have a high failure rate.
The flower beds are filled in with miracle grow garden soil from Home Depot, if that makes a difference in your recommendation. I also have root starter on hand.
Sorry for the first time post with no intro, I promise pictures will follow this week! This landscaping has been a long time coming, and I forgot how much I enjoy spending time in the dirt!
Re: HELP- I just received an 8 foot tall shrub
What type of shrub? Location is key - is it it a sun or shade plant? For example, Arborvitae tolerates anything but shade. Next, what type of soil does it need? Is it an acid loving Spruce or Rhodie? Add acid fertilizer to the soil and don't plant it next to something that hates acid.
You need to give me more to go on
The prior owners just moved into their house and didn't know what it was either. All I know is it came out of a south-facing, full sun yard and it's 8 feet tall an appears to be healthy/thriving.
Are you sure you even want it? Unless you need privacy or it's some beautiful flowering shrub I wouldn't want an 8' tall shrub that's just OK. Something that size will be the focus of a garden and should be a real specimen piece.
If you do want it. Try putting it in the exact same type of location it was in originally. Do not put it in Miracle Grow soil. That will only encourage it's roots to be shallow (which means excessive watering, might not make it through harsh winters, it could tip over in high winds, and possibly death). Do dig the hole larger than the root ball and add some root stimulator per the directions...how do you plan to dig out and transport this thing anyway? We had a 30 year old lilac bush moved from a location where pine trees were shading it out to a new sunnier location. It was about 8' tall also. We had a friend who owns one of those tree scoop machines (can't think of the technical term, LOL) dig the hole and move it.
The shrub people dug it out of their yard (root ball intact) and had it to the curb. A friend and I were able to wrangle it into my car (honda element) and got it back to my place.
A few friends stopped by my place yesterday and dug out a hole for it, and we managed to get it in the ground. I'm fairly happy with how it looks... just have to hope that it takes root here. If not, it can always be torn out- that's the great thing about gardening... it doesn't have to be permanent!
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Thinking of doing cosmetic updates to a dated home? These were our costs.
I would reeeaaaallly not plant anything that you aren't sure you want in your yard. How big will it get? Will it interfere with overhead lines/gutters/underground drainage? Will it poop berries all over your walkway? You say you can always take it out, but some plants root way too easily and spread underground - you take out the original plant but are forever uprooting its offspring. Or it may seed like crazy. Rose of Sharon (a hibiscus) is notorious for this and people are always offering up free starts (and it is pretty, but, ya gotta know what you are getting yourself in for.) This is the voice of experience here - free plants have gotten me in a lot of trouble. Post a picture :-)
With all of the other work this house needs (including a new master bath, new kitchen, and brand new electrical) I'm willing to do the "free" thing for awhile.
I've had 30 or so people stop as they walk/drive/bike by and tell me how nice it all looks, so I *think* I'm doing something right.