I've been working on creating raised beds all summer long, and decided to do a little experimenting with planting things out late in the season... The notion has always been, at least from the gardening wisdom I've been exposed to over the years, that Spring and Fall are the times to plant something like an Acer. I've had landscape professionals tell me that anything planted after mid-June is doomed, and indeed some of these guys won't do ANY landscaping between June and September. The exception to this thinking was my grandmother, who always said you could plant anything at any time (in the summer) as long as you gave it shade and water. She proved that to me a number of times by transplanting perennials, shrubs, etc. in the middle of the hottest weather. She would make little tents out of newspaper to cover them, and water the heck out of them. Sure enough, in a couple of weeks they would settle in, the newspaper would come off, and the plants would be fine. With that in mind, and encouraged by a milder and wetter than normal summer, I have been planting things out literally all summer long. I've planted both conifers and maples during every month since March, and I'm amazed at how well the plants have managed. True to my grandmother's montra, I've tried to plant them where they get a little shade, and I have set up automatic sprinklers to keep things moist. To my utter delight, not only have the plants survived, they have literally thrived! The same goes for potting up plants in pots. I've heard some people say never to pot up in hot weather, yet I seem to pull it off with no signs of stress at all. I got an order from Topiary in July, which came in semi-bare root. I slapped all 6 trees in 3 gallon pots, watered them well, and they have showed NO signs of stress. Many of them now have roots that have penetrated the potting mixture all the way to the side of the pot. They're growing like weeds! All this has me wondering where all these dire warnings come from about planting things during the summer. Yes, it can be a stressful period for plants because of the heat, and I doubt I would try what I've done in 100 degree weather, but I can't see anything but benefits from planting during the warmer months. The trees have a longer growing season in which to stretch their roots out in their permanent home, as opposed to Fall planting, which really doesn't leave much time at all before the cold hits. Plus, I get to enjoy the maples in the garden where I intended them to be! Has anyone else tried this, and what results have you seen? I say the taboo on summer planting is a misguided myth!
Hi K4, Conventional wisdom is that you can plant container grown plants, even trees, anytime. This makes plenty of sense since given adequate watering you're really not doing anything different than keeping it going in a pot. Any bare root trees, even little ones, are best planted in fall or early spring, depending on local conditions. Personally I find that A. palmatum does better here when planted in the spring, because they tend to really resent the wet otherwise. Most other maples (or other genus) I try and plant in fall, they require less watering the following year that way. I generally try to keep a tree watered for the first year, after that it's on its own unless there's a real drought. But the garden is just too big to water everything, or anything every day (outside the pots and auges) so I avoid planting after early spring. cheers, -E
I planted a lot of maples last year in late summer, early fall. For years I planted various things in summer or transplanted them, not knowing I wasn't supposed to do so (even in Phoenix). My experience has been that if I'm careless the plants don't do well and if I'm careful they generally thrive. That begs the question what things have I been careful of and careless of... Um, common sense things, really. Pick a cooler time of the day to do the work, morning or evening and avoid the hottest part of the day. Although I've transplanted then, too. Minimize the amount of time those roots are exposed by digging the hole before pulling out the plant. If you've got a root bound mass to work on that requires time out of ground, use a spray bottle or mist setting on your hose to keep the roots from drying out. Afterwords water frequently but don't drown what you planted.
Whilst I have always been happy to plant out herbaceous perennials at any time during the summer, as long as they are watered adequately, I have in the past felt guilty whenever I repotted (or planted out) a Japanese maple during June and July, fearing the worst. To my surprise they always did as well as, and usually did better than, plants repotted in early spring. This year I read "The Cultivation of Japanese Maples" by the late George Lamble and was very interested to see what he had written regarding the subject of potting on: Please note he was talking about growing in the British climate, but I am sure it applies equally to much of Europe and North America.
I would guess that these warnings come from the long-term experience of nurserymen and garden writers that most people with a "garden" are not, in fact, serious and dedicated gardeners. They are not likely to erect little newspaper tents or water obsessively or monitor their plants' well-being two or three times a day. So the only advice that can be safely given is to plant, or transplant, or repot, at the relatively foolproof times in the particular climate zone in question. For most of us, that means spring or fall. I still follow this advice for the most part. But I cheerfully disregard it when inspiration strikes, because that can happen anytime, and it can also happen (and usually does) that at the "right" times of year I'm just too busy or lazy or distracted to be fussing about in the garden.
Christopher Lloyd (the Great Dixter one, not the actor) writes that the right time to do something in the garden is "when you remember". Up to a point, I think.
Here in zone 5 we usually figure it's better to plant trees/shrubs in the spring. Having said that, I planted a couple of maples mid-August this year, just to see. As far as potted maples, there was a really good post about a year ago that recommended changing soil/transplanting container maples in the fall for the same reason mentioned above (growth during spring vs. fall). Another reason given was that in spring you are so busy, it's is really convenient to transplant potted maples in fall. I must admit (my potted maples stay in the garage all winter) that the ones I transplanted in fall did much better in the spring than those I transplanted in spring. I plan on continuing to do this. I have done quite a few already and plan to finish up in September. But back to planting maples in ground in fall, I will be curious to see how the two I planted in mid-August will do. Kay Dye
Great quote! I always forget there is an actor named Christopher Lloyd, too. Another favorite quotation along these lines comes from the late Henry Mitchell, longtime garden writer for the Washington Post: "Our garden is the result of doing things we could not afford at the wrong time of year."
I love those quotes!!! Otherwise what is possible in one climate may not be in another: British summer is what Romans normally endure in winter and what we get in the fall over here ;-)). My automatic watering has been working without interruption since early May and if I were to dig a hole in the ground in an area not watered, I would need a pneumatic drill. Thus this summer I have avoided ground planting and have only do some repotting. I am waiting for the first fall rains to soak the soil a bit to start working in the ground. Gomero
planted maple in late summer in Italy is bad idea(in zone 9 b like mine)however 4 summer ago i planted acer japonicum Vitifolium and acer davidii subsp.davidii with bad result (maples in pot)no good result!3 summer ago i try again with acer palmatum Seryu good result !this summer i planted acer crataegifolium Meri...the result is good ..but in total shade and with many pine bark around the trunk...
