Transplanting euphorbia Robbiae
This is fast becoming one of my favourite euphorbias in the garden. It is called Euphorbia amygdaloides Robbiae, wood spurge or Mrs Robb’s Bonnet.![02 1ephbs](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/02-1ephbs-300x225.jpg)
![02 1ephbs](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/02-1ephbs-300x225.jpg)
And it is a fantastic groundcover plant. If you are looking for a handsome and reliable plant for shade, then this is your beast. It does well in sun too.
It might not do for a small space or in a garden where you don’t want invasive plants. But I’m always keen to increase my crop of any good plants. Especially if I can get them for free.
I have had it in the garden since Andrew brought me half a dozen plants two years ago. And they are thriving on the walnut bank and in the shade garden.
Today I decided it was time to lift some of those little babies you can see next to the main plant; and spread them about.
My first suprise was to realise they are spreading underground by rhizomes. Most of my euphorbias spread themselves about by exploding seed pods.
So I have realised that I need to be quick and catch these new plants when they are titchy. Their roots are deep.
I don’t want them to swamp this lovely iris foetidissima. So I lifted all the little ones around and then moved them further down the walnut path.
We have a second walnut tree which has a tricky space to fill beneath it. It looks dreadful in winter. But in the spirit of complete honesty about this garden, – here it is.
Scuffy, don’t you think? The iris in front have all their dead foliage. The eragrostis grasses in the middle need cutting back. And the euphorbia x wulfennii are looming over the lot.
Ooh, I am vain. I simply had to show you a shot of the bed in summer when it is weeded and behaved.
But I have a blank space behind the tree. (Blank? Brambles, mess of all sorts.) So I decided it was time to establish a new euphorbia robbiae colony behind.
And transplanting is
dead simple. I uprooted the small plants (wearing gloves) with a small trowell and have tucked them into the new spot, into the soil straight away.
![02 1euphorbs transplanted](https://www.fruitfulresearch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/02-1euphorbs-transplanted-300x225.jpg)
They put down deep roots fast, so there is no gain in potting them into containers first.
I had to weed the area a bit of course. And I must confess that I left a huge pile of mess just to the right of this shot. I guess I will get back to it eventully and haul it all onto the compost heap.
So much for my boast about honest garden shots.