Verena, 3 feet is a pretty fair size bush, I'd wait till Fall (September). ItÂs starting to get pretty hot out there, well at least here it is. The Summer months can be a very hot for alot of established plants to be transplanting right now. Too much stress and they can shrivel up like King Tut ;)

But still alot of gardeners take that chance by planting or transplanting trees/shrubs/perennials at this time of the year, providing that you keep them well watered they may make it.

Sharon

Thanks Sharon,
I'll hold off for a couple months. I tend to take a huge ammount of soil when I transplant, but DH is worried I'll kill "his" saskatoons. LOL!!

Verena

If they were potted plants, I'd say go for it. But being you just want to move them I'd actually wait until spring and transplant before they start to leaf out. I'm not a believer in moving too much in the fall. Not trees anyways. They need time to root.

It's been my experience that no matter how much soil you intend to take with them, ultimately some of the roots get cut, damaged, or exposed to the air. I tried moving a skinny two foot high Saskatoon that had lots of small roots, but a couple of long roots that ended up being cut. This was in late summer. By the time I got it out of it's spot it was basically "bare root" as the soil clump fell off. It was a real nightmare. Most of the top growth shrivelled, then died, it sprouted from near the base, but in the end it didn't survive winter.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I moved an elder shrub this spring that was one year old, with no ill effects whatsoever. In fact you could still see the square shape root ball with new roots coming off this. It was early in the season though and the roots weren't yet very spread out.

It's really a gamble I suppose depending on how old the plant is, the size of roots, the time of year, etc. Two year old Saskatoons are likely still "transplantable" at the right time of year.

Glen

I would definitely wait until spring. I moved a 5 foot cherry and 3 foot high-bush cranberry this spring before they bloomed, and they didn't even wilt. The cranberry even bloomed. Took my eldest DS and I 3 hours to dig out the cherry, though - the hole was 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep by the time we were done. After my saskatoons bloomed, I took suckers from them to start a new row, and they are struggling. That 2 week interval made a big difference in the health of the trees. If you can dig the saskatoons before they leaf out, and maybe prune them a bit, they may not even notice that they've been moved.
Connie

Thanks All!! :-)
Verena

One solution might be to give the bushes a good haircut now to expose your lilies and then transplant the saskatoons later. You might actually get a lot of nice new green growth to fill the area in after the lilies have bloomed.

I have a large saskatoon bush planted in front of my house
the roots and trunks are getting big and it is planted right beside my basement wall. are the roots strong and will they eventually bust the cement on my basement. they are regualarly bearing berries and it is about 15years old. should i remove it in case the roots damage my basement

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe it was a city horticulturalist who told me that tree roots do not damage basement walls. The roots will go the other way when they hit a wall. They will, however, take advantage of any damage or cracks you may already have. I'm not familiar with how massive a root system a saskatoon bush has, but I doubt it's anything to worry about.

If you're concerned, you may be able to contact a local Fruit Grower Association, or there may be a department within the Alberta government that could help you out.

Someone here who grows Saskatoons may be able to help you a bit more than I have.

I hope you're right, Lynne, because my elder is way too close to the house. I never thought of it as a tree, but a shrub, when i planted it, and now it's about 10' high! Dh figures it'll damage the basement, and i've had my eye on the wall it's in front of but there's nothing so far, thank goodness!