THIS is the very last opportunity to plant or move bare rooted trees, shrubs or roses. As the ground warms up the sap is rising and plants will resent undue root disturbance. Anything to be moved should be done so quickly and discreetly with the minimum of root exposure to wind and sun. Good gardeners shunt plants about regularly and with such tact the plants hardly know that they have been disturbed.
Herbaceous plants are coming into growth but there will still be time in the coming weeks for moving and dividing. Many autumn flowering things such as asters and ornamental grasses are much happier being divided and moved in spring. Some of these positively resent autumn division and shifting. Novices are frequently wary of digging up and pulling or cutting roots to pieces. In general those that cannot be pulled apart after washing off the soil can be cut with a sharp knife or a spade. Dividing is not only about greed and increasing stocks, it is about encouraging and maintaining healthy and vigorous growth.