Sure, that happens, unfortunately! Why don't you look at your temps over the next week or so and pick the coolest day to do the change.

Not this year, but it's happened..I bought what was described as a very dwarf alstroemeria to about 8" one year and put it right at the front edge of a bed. First year, it was about 30" tall. To make it worse, the roots with the little tubers had gone nuts and I had to dig about 2' deep and wider to get it out of what was an overplanted and very full bed to begin with.

And, nobody's beds are perfect for the most part. My weather is pretty mild here so the editing and moving doesn't cause a lot of plant stress, but you could always make a note to move it when it cools a little in Fall, there are few plant emergencies :)

I carefully planned all my beds--drew them out on paper, dug the sod, planted things either purchased or grown from seed via winter sowing. I bought 'designer hostas' at a local hosta nursery and planted them as directed according to height/width and was carefull to give each the space it needed. This year two have so far grown to twice the size I was told and yet another one has grown considerably larger than the amount of real estate I allotted it.

Am I disappointed? Not so much. Am I surprised? You betcha. Wasn't expecting these 'mood swings' with plants that have performed reliably in years past.

Am I surprised they're performing in a manner I didn't expect? Why would I be? Like humans and other living creatures, plants are alive and respond differently based on growing conditions that aren't normally exactly the same two years running. Do I expect my carefully planned, planted & tended beds to look the same year after year? Well, yeah, I guess I'd like that but am coming to realize it's just not realistic to expect that's gonna happen.

Yeah, that happens more than I'd like, and it sometimes it bugs me. While often I am happy that a plant does so well, it can be a pain to have to move things. Not to mention have to replace the too big plant with something else, if needed.

Perennials aren't so bad, but when it's a shrub, well that's really a pain. I planted some spireas that got much bigger than they were supposed to, and had to rerrange eight fairly large shrubs because of it. On the flip side, I planted a row of cornus alba Ivory Halo, hoping they would get to the 5 or 6 feet claimed, and they have yet to get over 2 and a half feet tall. So much for my privacy screen. :)

And this is the main reason I am afraid to plant certain shrubs, like chamaecyparis. I just don't trust the size descriptions, especially when they are all over the map for the same one. Who do you believe?

Dee

Perhaps the 'Cosmic Eye' is mis-labelled/identified?

Well, technically, the blooms haven't opened yet, so it is possible that it was mislabeled, but doubtful. There was a lot of them together and they all had the same growth habit, a reputable nursery that I have bought many things from and nothing has ever been mislabeled. I think it is more likely that b/c it is a relatively new hybrid, then there is just disinformation out there and this grower just passed on the disinformation. I did notice online that the estimates were all over the place, but nothing near what mine is growing like. It's funny b/c my clay soil usually affords me smaller plants than the estimate, not the opposite!

I've done this a number of times... and still do... the biggest one lately has been (last fall) putting daffodil bulbs in front of bergenia... When I look at it I just wonder what was I thinking? I also put valerian in front of an echinacea and black eyed susan... ha! In my defense, I figured the valerian wouldn't get as tall as it did. It was about 8" high last year, very low growing, so I figured it wont get past 2 feet this year.... Now at about 5 feet tall, the ech is doing fine but poor susan can't get any sun so she'll get dug up and moved to a container until I can rearrange in the fall