I've been a gardener for 2 months now (!!) and have been trying to answer my many questions about gardening with google (it's conflicting and confusing) so I really hope you guys can help me! My Q concerns an ill-placed lilac that is possibly 3 years old. The developers stuck the lilac in a shady spot (gets morning sun til noon) and the deer dined extravagantly on it last summer. It's never given me any more than 2 or 3 blooms so I've decided to move it to a location with more sun, less deer (unfortunately, this new spot has alot of clay.. is this a problem?) This spring I decided also to completely re-landscape the front and back yards and unfortunately, because some things had to happen before others, the new site for the lilac is only now ready. I know lilacs are tough but are they tough enough to handle a mid-July transplant? Many thanks in advance for your advice!
Welcome to the forum! I share your frustration with Google! Unfortunately, a lot of information on the internet is based on opinion or published without being verified. I love lilacs but don't know much about them, but as someone here once told me, there are no plant police. If something just must be moved, what can you do? Some general transplant tips: Try to choose to do it on a day when it isn't too hot and water it really well first. At 3 years young, it likely isn't very big, so it should be fairly easy to handle without having to prune it first. Dig the new hole before you dig it up...you might want to prepare the hole for the transplant...others here will have some advise on what to add in the way of compost or fertilizer. After transplanting you'll want to mulch and keep watered. Good luck and I hope you're successful in keeping the darn deer away from it in the future!
Hi TLM, welcome to gardening. What lainyg said +1 Lilacs are pretty hardy, so your clay soil should be okay. Most of us have soil that's less than ideal, and we do the best we can. If you could possibly wait until it's a little cooler in Sep or Oct, it would be easier on the lilac, but if you have to move it now, then dig up the biggest root ball you can manage (have some help), and pick a cool day, maybe when there's a forecast of rainy overcast weather for a few days. Water it lots after transplant, and make sure it gets plenty of water the rest of the summer.
