Expert: C.L. Fornari - 3/21/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question -
I have 2 Indian hawthorne planted in the ground. Im seeing yellow or orange color on the bottom leaves. Is this savable? Also no blooms. I see no buds on my plant. Can i transplant them now? zone 8b.
Answer -
Debbie,
It's natural for older leaves (bottom ones usually) to turn yellow and drop off, in preparation for putting attention on new growth.  Although in your zone you should be seeing buds at this point, I would give them two or three more weeks to break dormancy.   You could scratch one of the branches with your fingernail to see if it's green, which would indicate that it's still alive.  If you can snap the branches in half easily, and the inside of the twig you have snapped is brown, it might be dead.  Give it some time and see.

If you need to transplant these hawthorne, this is a good time to do it.  Move them, water well if it doesn't rain (water well all this season if they make it - twice a week for the first month, then once a week after that through the summer, and a light layer of composted cow manure mulch will help as well.

I hope they make it!   (If no buds by mid-May they are probably gone)
all the best,
C.L. What do i do about the blooms? Cause i have it in a part shade area.

Answer
Debbie,
I was assuming the reason you are moving them is to put them in more sun.  They may or may not bloom this year, because just the act of moving them might cause them to loose any blooms.

What's most important for these plants is
1. are they still alive?
2. get them in a location with sun where they have enough room to grow.  (If they are getting at least 5 hours of dead-on sun including the noon hour this is enough.)  
3. keep them alive over the summer
4. hope that they bloom next season and on after that.

PS - don't use fertilizer in hopes of getting them to bloom this year.  They need to get established without being artificially pushed to make weak growth.
all the best,
C.L.