Have I goofed badly???

My neighbor lady is planning to move and she told me to dig any or all of her perennials out and take them. So I did yesterday. Some of the plants look nearly dead... terribly wilted and pale.

As for what they all are... I am fairly new to perennials, so I don't know the names of everything I got, but I do know a few.

I have purple coneflowers, yarrow, blanket flower, black-eyed susans, lavender and butterfly bushes.

The butterfly bushes look the worst.

The Question:

Did I just kill everything by transplanting them? They've been watered deeply, but will they come out of it soon? Will they come back next Spring?

Thanks in advance,
Flowerlady

 

Water them really well everyday, to help them out, I would have waited for cooler weather. Hindsight won't help at this point. As long as you had really good root balls they'll probably survive, they won't do much this year at this point though, they'll just look a bit shabby till winter.

 

Butterfly bush (Buddleja sp.) are notorious for seeding, and may not be the wisest choice where invasiveness is an issue.

 

Although cooler weather would have been better, keep them shaded - if necessary make a little lean-too out of cloth to keep them out of the sun. Water at least once a day..Water with liquid bone meal or add a little bit of bone meal to the top of the soil. Cut down the superstructure of the top of the plant to about one foot, if you don't want to do this, at least cut off any flowers or buds, or the plant will put its energy into flowering.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies! It is pretty cool here, well, like fall generally is... in the 50's and 60's at night/morning and warms up to upper 70's, low 80's in the afternoon.

Some of the plants are actually looking perkier today! The butterfly bushes look terrible still. I was wondering about cutting them back to a foot tall, so I was glad to hear one of you suggest that. I'll do that right away.

Thanks again for your help!
Flowerlady

 

I didn't know that~ Do you mean that Butterfly bushes actually will spread?

Flowerlady

 

Butterfly bush escaping from cultivation is a concern but becomes less of one the colder the climate. If your Buddleia dies back to the ground every winter, it's unlikely to be able to compete in the wild as a seedling. Buddleia invasiveness could be a concern where dieback (due to cold) does not occur regularly.

Simon

 

Ah, thanks for the clarification, Simon!