Should be the easiest plant in the world to transplant. I just cut out pieces--and I'm referring to 'Chocolate Chip' especially-- and stick them in the ground. I can't imagine why your transplants died.

I don't have 'Chocolate Chip' but have literally tossed "Catlin's Giant' out in the back semi-wooded area and next thing I knew it was growing there. I see on another thread that you mentioned a hill - did they get watered enough to establish?

TIMING is always the chief variable.. do it in august.. they all die..

do it in early spring...or late fall.. preferable in dormancy.. and you should get near 100%

are they currently in fast lush spring growth???

and do it on a rainy day.. or cloudy days...

ken

@ruth_mi, that hill is a new addition :-) The area that I moved it to last year was about 100' South of the original, and both areas are full sun with a sprinkler.

The hill doesn't have a sprinkler, though, so I know that I'll have to haul 2G jugs a lot this year to get everything nice and established. It's OK, I've gained some weight in the last year and could use the exercise (●●)

Should this be a simple matter of scooping under them a little with a shovel to keep about an inch of original soil, then sit them in place and surround them with mulch?

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, I usually split up my hardier stuff in April, then less-hardy stuff in May (after the traditional last frost). I'm pretty sure that my attempt last year was at the end of April.

You're remembering when I had to move a few plants in late July / early August because I had a guy cutting trees and was going to damage them. Ironically, that guy dropped one of the trees EXACTLY on the new garden area, and destroyed 90% of what I'd moved trying to save! I know there's a lesson in there somewhere... Man plans, God laughs, maybe?

But anyway. Here's what I'm looking at:

A lot of the flowers have already gone away. I'm ready to work on it today unless you think I should wait for the flowers to all go away?

Ajuga is not a full sun plant. That could be why your transplants died. It’s natural habitat is damp partial shade.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK, Monrovia lists them as full sun or part sun:

https://www.monrovia.com/chocolate-chip-ajuga.html

It's only been in the low 70s this year, though, and you can already see that they're looking pretty rough! I can only imagine how they'll look when it hits 100 :-/ I'm realizing that Monrovia might have been pretty generous when they said that.

I think that the new area will be on the lower end of part sun, though, so hopefully it'll do better there.

Well, I disagree with Monrovia. But then they want to sell as much as possible so they'll push the boundaries a bit. Do some reading on where this species is found in its native area. Or look here.

Ajuga grows perfectly well here in full sun in cool summer areas and with adequate soil moisture. But in hot summer climates and in dry soil or without irrigation, it will suffer.