The Perfect Moment to Be Bold and Give Your Garden a Reshuffle.

Something I’ve noticed in plots cared for by the same individual or group is that the best ones never stay the same. People who truly love their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those constantly redecorating homeowners who change their curtains biannually with the changing of the clocks.

The longest I’ve ever had a plot is five years, but even in that span it seems as though I made a multitude of distinct spaces. The suck-it-and-see approach of transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a trusted strategy since I started container gardening on a minuscule terrace.

Yes, there’s a risk that moving a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a free and relatively easy way of experimenting with new shapes, forms and ideas in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d contend that right now, this peaceful, tranquil period between the holidays and the new year, between one year and the next, as the days gradually start to stretch out again, is a beautifully symbolic time to do it.

If you’d rather be more formal, draw a plan of your borders, whether existing or planned, to help position specimens in their fresh location.

If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or completely iced over, then save it for a quiet weekend in January instead. But if things are simply chilly, moist, and dormant out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for rearranging your greenery, because many perennials will be dormant. I recommend you start with the things that are bothering you a bit – whether it’s because you hope for more vigorous growth, they’re cramped in an undersized container or looking deathly – because the likelihood is that a different position will only enhance their situation.

One of my most cherished aspects about gardening is the almost free-flowing nature of how plans unfurl once I’m in the garden. But if you’d rather be more formal, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether current or envisioned, to help place items in their designated spot. Ready the new planting hole before you dig anything up: dig a hole that’s amply deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the base of the specimen for a good guide), and add some mulch or well-rotted compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down firmly and give a good water to mark the plant’s new home.

Based on the species, you may not witness the results of your work for a few weeks yet, but there’s a satisfaction in this, too. While you wait, you can enjoy your new planting arrangement through its bare-bones framework; and if it’s not working for you, have a second rearrangement before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the new year.