I found several fine specimens of Oenothera biennis, the tall evening primrose, growing in a ragged section of the lawn. I wanted them for the new dry border so I dug them out, potted them up, and put them on a shady porch to wait out transplant shock. Then I went onto the Internet where I read that these plants were impossible to transplant, would never live, and needed to be grown from seed.
I doubted this. This is a tough plant that can grow out of a crack in stone, that can grow in sand. Why would transplanting discourage it to death?
Had I planted it in hot sun right into the garden it might have failed. But when I transplant this late in the season, I always shelter plants in place, in pots, and always in shade.
The two plants sulked for days, but now at two weeks, here they are.
I will keep them in the pots another few weeks as insurance, then into the border they will go. They came off the porch into the sun 3 days ago.
The point of this little post is not just about transplanting, it is about gardening advice one finds on the Internet. Someone sees that someone else tried to transplant the tall evening primrose and failed, and that failure takes legs and runs off in all directions.
Gardening On Granite 