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.
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.
The dark green 
colour is a perfect foil for so many other plants and it is evergreen. What a bonus.
colour is a perfect foil for so many other plants and it is evergreen. What a bonus.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.
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.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.