Ask the gardening expert April 9

I am an avid gardener and have taken the time to research appropriate planting depths for perennials. A friend and I have been discussing planting depths for peonies and roses. She insists on planting her peonies about 10 to 12 inches deep, and bury the crowns of her roses. She lives on a hill in Amboy. She wants my advice and yet is stubbornly insisting on these planting depths.

Winter survival depends primarily on plant selection (appropriate to your zone) and in some cases on the insulation provided by snow cover and/or winter mulch. Other factors can include wind and sun exposure as well as soil moisture and drainage and so on. In general, though, planting too deep will likely kill your plant. The depth and size hole you dig will depend on the size of the plant you are planting. Container-grown plants should be planted at the same depth as they are already growing. When planting bare-root perennials it is usually best to plant so that the crown of the plant is at its natural depth, not too high (roots will dry out) and not too low (the crown will smother or rot). On bare-root shrubs you will be able to tell where the original soil line was and you should try to match that with the exception of grafted roses as noted below. Peonies will not flower if they are planted too deeply, so the rule of thumb when planting bare peony "eyes" is to put the eyes only about two inches from the surface. (You would, of course, be planting the base of a container-grown plant deeper than that by the time you have dug a hole large enough to accommodate the root ball — but within that root ball the eyes would be near the surface.) In cold regions, roses on the other hand are often planted so that the graft (if it is a grafted rose such as a hybrid tea) is under the soil in order to try to protect it a bit better from the extreme cold of winter. Roses grown on their own roots would not need to have this done. Since you are in north Clark County and have some altitude, she may want to be looking for roses that can more easily survive your colder temperatures and may have better success with roses grown on their own roots stock.

I'll be moving within the next few weeks and want to take my tulips and hyacinths with me to replant at my new home. They have already started to come up (just the green tips of the leaves). Can I uproot them, or will it damage the bulbs? I want to take these bulbs for sentimental reasons and don't want to run the risk of damage by uprooting them improperly. Can you give me some advice in this regard?

You can transplant them while they are growing or blooming if you do it carefully. Prepare the new planting area ahead of time and water the bulbs the day before you move them. Dig them up, keeping as much of the surrounding soil as possible intact so that you have not only the bulb itself, but also the root system around and beneath it. Replant immediately into prepared soil and water them in. If you have taken enough of the root ball, they won't even know they've been moved.

Celeste Lindsay is a WSU master gardener. Send questions to lindsay8@pacifier.com.