New Rule: Never move Porcelain Berry

Yep, came up with a new gardening rule this week:  Never move a Porcelain Berry vine.  I had them out front along our retaining walls, thinking they'd cling to the walls and make them look slightly less fortress-like.  But, alas, they climb by tiny (and very tenacious) tendrils that just wouldn't stick to the walls.  So they ended up sprawling on top of the barberry, through the roses and even under the roses.  Not a good look, and the vines didn't do well.  (I think I've found some annual vines that will tumble over and down the walls, intead of climbing them - same effect of softening the walls.)

We thought we'd put them on trellises on the south side of the shed.  It's not too hot there, as the space between our house and our neighbor's isn't that big, so it's actually shady for a good chunk of the day.  So there I am, Wednesday afternoon, all set to move the darned things.  Well, the roots go on forever!  And they're both quite thick and quite brittle, way more so than I expected for a root sometimes as thick as my index finger.  I dug and pulled, and pulled and dug, and rarely got to the end of a root.  They tended to spread out a few inches underground instead of going deep, which in some ways made it harder and others easier! Of course, I'm more concerned about the roots for my roses than for these plants, so guess which roots lost when push came to shove?  It was...interesting, I'm sure, for anyone passing by to see me wrestle with the blasted things while trying to avoid tumbling ass over teakettle into the roses!  My arms are pretty scratched up still.  If any enemies or someone sadistic caught sight of me, I'm sure they took great glee in watching my struggles.  It probably took me 45 minutes to dig up 2 plants not yet 3 years old. 

Here's the one I got the most root on - I accidentally chopped off part of the other one before I knew how big they were.  You can see the issue!

They're already bigger than the trellises, so we'll see how they do.  I cut 3-4 feet off each one! I'm not enamored enough of them to do a lot to keep them, but it's worth a try.

We also got some of our edging down.  We had some under the lilacs, but, as edging does, it had worked its way loose and was pretty battered.  Joe did one chunk Saturday, before the rain, and it was a ton of work.  He did the rest Wednesday, and it was a whole lot easier with softer ground!  I put some in on the west side of the house. The garden is only about 15" wide, and it's between the house and the sidewalk, so the border isn't to keep anything out.  But the soil and sidewalk levels are so close that when we water, the soil washes out.  We hope the border will keep water and soil where they belong.

Did some other divding and transplanting.  Wednesday was the perfect day - cool, little wind and light clouds - and the plants are just the right size.  Most of them will never even notice they've been moved. 

Off to Outback Nursery this afternoon.  They have container grown native flowers, and I need some to fill in a few holes out front.  Some plants didn't make it, a few aren't working out as planned.  I lost some from the Friend's School sale.  I'm not blaming them or their quality - it's just that a plant in a 2.5" pot doesn't have nearly the root system of one in a pot that's a couple of quarts or more!

I've already got quite the list started for the Friend's sale...