August is generally not a great time for transplanting but fall is. If your temps cool enough in September and fall rains are around the corner, then that is an almost ideal time for planting/transplanting. In my area, I'd even wait until late September.

crikey.. where are you??

do it year around if PNW ...

do not do it in heat if you are in the desert ..

look for cool days.. and colder nights... call it a recovery time at night... for any heat during the day ... for me.. mid set thru oct ... but with ground freeze.. i cant go much later.. for fear of winter heave .. depending on size of root mass and attached soil ...

ken

This is where I'm from subtropix . Otherwise I live in Toronto, 20 minute walk to lake Ontario. I know one should not transplant when hot, however the nights have been cooler in last few days. I wish I was in Pacific North West. Everything grows well there. As you know Yugoslavia is no more. Instead of one big country, there are pretentious little states, where animosities and ethnic and religious intolerance run rampant.

The big forest fires are in the interior, not here on the Pacific Slope. Eastern WA is hot and dry every year, with some of it being actual desert. In my town the average temperature slowly builds from Feb 15 to July 15, the entire time being spring-like, with a leveling off until Aug 15 - when the temperature then drops like a rock. November is the stormiest and wettest month of the year, December the coldest. So by now, despite continued days in 80s being forecast the general tone is already autumnal, with many plants no longer actively growing. Drought affected specimens like maple trees that are already showing fall color will have been extending roots since their shoots stopped growing, set winter buds possibly some weeks ago. I have pulled balled in burlap vine maples out of sawdust beds at a nursery here to find quite long fall root extension growth coming out of the burlap in July.

Peonies you want to catch right after the overwintering crown buds are set, but before the new roots come out - if you dig them after these roots have already grown that is not so good. Here September is a typical month to be digging these. The peony nursery that used to be near my place would dig and divide them while the foliage was still present, cut that off without waiting for it to shrivel as by then it would be too late.

The overwintering buds are the pointed red ones that appear around the crown, often poking out of the ground, and will be next year's shoots. The plant has the same routine as a shrub, that is when the overwintering buds are set each year then the roots take off. Except shrubs extend existing roots in fall, make new roots when the stem buds open in spring.

The lilacs I would catch right after the leaves drop, the conifers when the current shoots are completely firmed up. You might end up cutting the fall root growth back or off but you probably wouldn't want to have the tops shrivel or droop because they hadn't matured yet either.

Yugoslavia, I'm pretty sure Ken's suggesting you put your climate zone and a geographical indication next to your user name. It helps get better answers to questions.

Here's how to add your zone and location as part of your profile so it always posts as part of your name and we don't have to ask or scroll through the thread to figure out where you have given that info:

Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

your canada.. should be about the same as my MI ...

i would do it mid to late sept ... thru mid october.. on the shrubs ... no matter how warm the day.. nice cool nights to recover ...

i dont do peony .... so no comment on that ...

insure moisture thru late fall ... check the soil.. 3 to 4 inches down ... do not freeze them into an ice cube if bad soil or ground freeze ...

in the alternative.. very early spring.. when your ground thaws ... at least 6 to 8 weeks before next summers heat ...

ken

Thank you so much. Some good advice from everyone. Earlier on I wrote it was getting cool in Toronto. Well, that was then, now it's more like July. So it will have to wait until late September. I appreciate all your replies. Anyway I couldn't ask anyone around where I live. Most worry about their lawns.

Unbelievable! Yesterday was the third hottest day of the summer. The other two were in August and July.

In Ontario you may be cold enough to be doing most planting and transplanting in spring only. In the US USDA 6 and warmer are the areas where much fall planting is feasible.

Here on the cold end of USDA zone 5, I do most of my planting in fall. The days are shorter with cooler temperatures but the soil is still warm. Spring in this part of the world goes from frozen ground to air temperature in the 70's in less than a month most years, so the soil is cold and wet while the air is warm, not easy on the plants. As long as I plant between mid-September and mid-October, I find plants (particularly woodies and including evergreens) do best planted in the fall. I do mulch after planting to keep the soil warm for as long as possible.