i have been at this for 15 years plus ... and i still have a 60% success rate ... on planting.. let alone moving ...

i would plant what you want.. where you want it ... and use perennials for a few years for size ... and when the conifers get big enough .. .MOVE THE PERENNIALS OUT ...

your plan seems bass ackwards to me ...

i would also get rid of plants that were misplanted .. completely .. rather than try to beat them back into submission ... the bigger and stronger the root mass gets.. the harder it will become ...

do understand.. in the conifer world.. all size estimates are at ten years... and at 20.. things can be twice as big.. and that 10 guess.. is a function of location ... e.g. ... in my MI ... i can be sure.. that the plants are completely dormant for 4 to 5 months with ground freeze ... in areas where the ground doesnt freeze.. root growth may continue below ground.. even if the tree above is technically dormant ... which means it will get bigger faster ....

think outside the box, you are already sitting in ....

ken

I agree that it's always best to plant the tree/shrub in its final growing place.

Having said that, I have fallen prey to the temptation of establishing a small "nursery" in the back of my lot. I grow quite a few small plants back there with the eventual plan of moving them to more prominent locations when they get bigger. So far I've moved five conifers and one japanese maple to new spots, but all five conifers were still relatively small when I moved them. As Ken notes, if your plants are too big, you will be unlikely to retain enough of a rootball to ensure survival. Regardless, just keep in mind that transplantation is a very stressful event for a plant. Overall, counting conifers and broadleafs (some of the latter of which were, er, rather large), an equal number of my transplants have survived and died. And I would absolutely wait until the plants were dormant in late fall (or whenever dormancy begins for you in Canada).

I never prune my conifers, so I can't comment on that.

yeah... i have the nursery.. and somewhere along the way ... stuff is still sitting in it.. 10 years later... lol ...

ken

A lot of the time temporary is permanent, .....at least for me, and I don't hesitate to move a plant. Funny how that works out.

I have a lot of plants in pots waiting for them to get large enough to plant out in the landscape. Plants in pots present their own set of problems as we know. Right now my 'nursery' is a mess and I'm spending more time there than anywhere else in the garden. A lot of plants are getting moved into larger pots and I'm doing a lot of watering. It's been really dry here in the Pac NW. Really dry and warm. Then there's the constant battle of organizing them so each gets the proper amount of sun or shade.

Ken, you're always pointing out that black pots get really hot in the sun and they should be shaded for the plant's benefit. Good point. I put potted plants in a larger empty pot to shade them. The pots are from my landscaping days. I saved a lot of them over the years.

Mike

Thank you all for your input. Guess I'll be removing the Woodwardii globe cedars and planting more appropriate dwarf cedars and perennials for bulking up the look for the time being. Annie.

I've seen 'Woodward' globes that had to be ten feet tall and growing! You've done well to move them out from under the glass.

+om