I move things whenever they need moving and I have the time and inclination to do it - for many things, being in bloom doesn't seem to matter much.

As for lilies - are you talking Oriental? Asiatic? Just to avoid unnecessary breaking of the unwieldy stems, I let those go through their normal bloom and dying back period. Then I have no problem digging them up and repositioning.

Both, but more often it's a case of doing the work when I have the time to actually do it. Rarely lose anything, but sometimes bloom is sacrificed or foliage looks cra*ppy for a while, but it all usually comes back fine in subsequent seasons. I used to fret over not doing things the "proper" way or moving things at the "right time", but I don't anymore - my life just doesn't roll that way, and after many years of experience I've come to the conclusion it doesn't really matter all that much anyway... (unless, of course, you're having a garden party next week and will wreck the display if you tinker with things this week LOL!)

They're plants, they want to live...they'll be fine. :0)

P.S. Be aware that your lily blooms will more likely than not be sacrificed if you do move them now. That is one plant that I would wait to move until after moving if it were me, as the scent of the Orientals is glorious and my favorite summer scent, so the blooms would be sorely missed in my garden.

I move everything. I prefer fall but will do it when I have to.

Here's my issue, I have one small bed that has some asiatic lilies, hyacinth and daffodils in it.The Lilies SHOULD have been refreshed about 4 years ago. But the time of year when I have TIME to rework this bed is now, in June, or early July. Of course the lillies are blooming now, so I put it off for later in the season.

Then work takes over my life again, late summer early fall is one of my busiest times, and I don't get back to the garden. Thus that bed doesn't get redone.

I have some time availible in the next 2 weeks. And I am thinking I might just DO IT. And then just live with the results. Of course I suppose it's the wrong time for the hyacinth's and daffodils too....

And yes I am having a garden party next Saturday!! Don't know what I was thinking when I said yes.

not moving in bloom.. is all about losing that bloom..

harvest the bloom .. put it in a vase.. and move the darn bulb...

and enjoy the flower in the house for a day or two ...

i will yell.. DO THINGS WHEN IT CONVENIENT.. not when some third party know it all says.. oh.. thats not the best time ...

all that said.. i forget to water.. and july/august.. is a bad time to forget ...

so if you are way out of whack.. timing wise.. its IMPERATIVE.. you do PROPER AFTERCARE ...

there are no garden police.. who are going to come knocking on your door.. enforcing garden rules ... pshaw ...

ken

Ken, you are most definately right, I have decided that right after the garden tour next saturday, I am going to start digging and redoing. And if they don't survive, well they can't look much worse than tney do now! I only got about half a dozen blooms from each of the 4 clumps in there. I might as well split my lady's mantle at the same time, since it is next to the lilies.

Actually, I think this is the perfect time to move bulbs like Hyacinths and Daffs in my zone. The foliage has turned yellow and pretty much died back, so the bulbs have gleaned the nutrients from the foliage, and it can be cut back. But it hasn't totally disappeared so you can still see where the bulbs are! When planting or transplanting bulbs, I usually give them a sprinkle of organic bulb fertilizer.

The lilies I would try hold off until after blooming at least - they're just too pretty to disrupt the bloom. I can't even get them to grow here - between the voles and the lily leaf beetles, it's been impossible!

I move perennials more often in the heat of summer than the preferable cool and wet of spring/fall. It is at that time that I can see that a plant doesn't belong or would work better somewhere else. I guess I could document this and do the work later but with enough water most of my moves have been successful. I actually enjoy moving plants around. With my garden now unable to accommodate more plants, 'shuffling the deck' is the only garden fun I get these days ;).

Spring and fall are best when you aren't dealing with the drying heat of summer. One tip is to make sure you take a great deal of soil with the plant, so as to disturb/damage the roots as little as possible. Another tip is to provide ample water before and for several weeks after the transplant. I have been known to move the same plant several places in one day. It is best to move them in late afternoon/early evening so it has an entire night to get acclimated to the new site before facing the sun.

I always provide shade for a week to help the plant establish. Especially this time of year. A lawn chair in the right position or an inverted milk crate usually does the trick.

Yup. I move them. Whenever I want. I just moved some daylilies, hosta, peonies and ferns last night and split off some spiderwort and put it in a new home too. And plopped a rooted cutting of a butterfly bush I started from one of the ones I moved earlier this year into the spot where the peonies were. I will take freebies like daisies and coneflowers whenever someone wants to get rid of them, summer heat or not. I moved a LARGE (like 4' high by 3' round) hydrangea last July because someone wanted it gone asap-and a butterfly bush that was about 6' from the same person. Just watered a lot when it got into its new home and dealt with it looking like a crispy critter for a few weeks, it's back this year happy as ever. Butterfly bush too, it's even got some new blooms coming in.