Generally speaking, you can definitely transplant a dogwood shrub if you need to. In this post, I’ll walk you through the best time to do it and what you should keep in mind to make sure your shrub thrives in its new home.
Why Move Your Dogwood?
There are a few common reasons why you might find yourself needing to relocate a dogwood. Usually, it comes down to:
- A bad location with either too much or too little sunlight.
- Lack of space because the dogwood is growing much faster than expected.
Getting the sunlight right is crucial for balanced growth; otherwise, your shrub might struggle or even die off. That’s why I always recommend picking the perfect spot before you ever put a shovel in the ground—it saves you the headache of moving it later!
If your dogwood is simply getting too big for its britches (both in height and width), consider giving it a hard prune first. Sometimes a good haircut is all it takes to avoid the stress of a full transplant.
The Best Time to Transplant
Just like initial planting, the best time to move a dogwood is when it’s dormant and has lost its leaves. This means either late fall or early spring. During these windows, the shrub is basically “sleeping” and requires much less water, which makes the transition a lot easier on the plant.
How to Handle the Move
The difficulty of the transplant really depends on how old the plant is and how established the root system has become.
Moving Young Dogwoods
Younger shrubs have thinner, less developed roots. You can usually dig these up pretty easily and get the whole root ball out in one piece. Once you’ve moved a young dogwood, be sure to prune it back by at least a third in the spring. This encourages it to establish strong roots and grow back nice and bushy.
Moving Older Dogwoods
With older plants, the roots are often so wide and deep that it’s nearly impossible to get them all. When you’re digging, try your best to preserve as many of the small, fibrous surface roots as possible. These are the “straws” the plant uses to drink water!
A Word of Caution for Flowering Dogwoods
If you’re dealing with a Flowering Dogwood, take extra care. Think long and hard about whether the move is absolutely necessary. These beauties are notoriously sensitive to being moved and don’t always handle a sudden change of scenery very well.
