PLANTING AND SEEDING SEASONS : Page 13

The beginning of the dormant period for woody deciduous plantscomes in the autumn when their wood is matured and ripened and theleaves start to fall or to take on their autumn colouration. This occursearly in such plants as lilacs, lindens, flowering currants, and horse-chestnuts, and it will usually be found to occur late in some of theplants which are said to be hard to move in the autumn, such as poplarsand silver maples. From the beginning of the dormant period in thefall until the beginning of physiological activity in the spring, de-ciduous plants may be moved at any time that the ground is inproper condition and the temperature favourable. As a matter ofpractice, in the northern states this work is suspended entirely during anormal winter, for about four months, except where large plants aremoved with a frozen ball of earth about their roots, because frozenground and snow make the operation of transplanting smaller plantsentirely impracticable. This period, longest in Maine and in thesection surrounding Minneapolis, lessens as one goes farther south, untilin Virginia and Georgia a continuous planting season extends withoutinterruption through the dormant period.