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Prune or Transplant?
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Date Posted: Sat, Sep 12 - 1:12 am
- We have several shrubs that we planted about 3 years ago that have been thriving. I thought we had spaced everything well but they've really exploded in growth. They're all beautiful and seem healthy. We've let them get pretty wild but I am worried now that we're at the point of overcrowding. We have a Spice Girl Viburnum, a Sweet Talker Viburnum, and a Crimson Fire Loropetalum together and the Loropetalum is closest to our Flame Thrower Redbud tree. (In the pictures you'll also see Radiance Abelias but if possible, we don't want to move those as they are right along the border with our garden path). How do I decide if I just need some more intentional pruning or if it's time to move one of the plants? Which would you recommend moving? The Sweet Talker Viburnum is the one closest to the fence and there is some room to move it but is it feasible to try to shift it over if it's only a shift 6-18"? Would it be better to move the Lorapetalum? I appreciate your advice!
- Thank you for reaching out! It sounds like your shrubs are very happy in their location, which is a great problem to have! After only three years, however, they may still have quite a bit of growing to do, so this is a good time to think about their mature sizes rather than just their current sizes. Some overlap between shrubs isn't necessarily a problem, particularly if you're going for a full, layered garden. The concern is when plants become crowded enough that they are competing for light and space, developing an uneven shape, rubbing against structures or neighboring plants, or requiring frequent pruning just to keep them within their allotted area. Virginia Cooperative Extension recommends spacing shrubs according to their mature size; overcrowding can eventually reduce flowering and air circulation and create competition for resources. I would start by looking up the expected mature width of each of your specific cultivars and measuring from the center of each plant to its neighbors. This will give you a better idea of whether you're dealing with vigorous young growth that can be managed with selective pruning or plants that ultimately don't have enough room. For your viburnums, I would wait until immediately after they finish blooming next spring to do any significant pruning. Spring-flowering shrubs generally form their flower buds on the previous year's growth, so pruning them now, over the winter, or early next spring would remove many of next year's flowers. When you do prune, I would favor selective thinning and removal of individual branches rather than shearing the outside of the shrub. The goal is to preserve the plant's natural shape rather than continually making it smaller. If your measurements show that the shrubs will still substantially overlap at maturity, I would consider transplanting rather than committing to increasingly heavy pruning every year. Fall, after deciduous plants enter dormancy, is a good time to move established shrubs in Virginia. I probably would not dig up an established viburnum simply to move it 6–18 inches. For a three-year-old shrub, that's quite a bit of root disturbance for relatively little additional growing room. If 6–18 inches truly resolves the mature-spacing issue, it can be done, but I would first see whether thoughtful pruning accomplishes what you need. Of the plants you mentioned, I would pay particular attention to the Crimson Fire loropetalum's relationship with the Flame Thrower redbud. The redbud will continue developing a much larger canopy and root system, so if the loropetalum is positioned where the two will increasingly interfere with one another, moving the loropetalum to a location where it has adequate room at maturity may provide a better long-term solution than repeatedly pruning it away from the tree. Since all of the plants currently look healthy, you don't necessarily need to make an immediate change. You could use this fall and winter to measure the bed and compare those measurements with the cultivars' mature sizes, then enjoy the viburnums' flowers next spring and make your pruning or transplanting decisions from there. Also, here's a great resource for pruning: https://ext.vt.edu/lawn-garden/pruning.html