Transplanting Pink lady-slipper (Cypripedium acaule) - William Cullina

Though in an emergency, you can successfully move pink lady-slippers at any time
during the growing season, I have had the best results when I moved them in late summer
just as the leaves begin to yellow. This plant flowered earlier in the season, but deer
nipped of the bloom stalk. C. acaule’s roots are very shallow and spread out from the
crown 8-24 inches in all directions, so care must be taken to damage them as little as
possible.
I use a pitchfork to lift the roots gently, coming in
at a shallow angle about 12 inches from the crown
and rocking the fork until the crown lifts up. At
this point I use my hands to help tease the roots free from tree roots and debris. Here the
plant has been lifted with little breakage of the roots and with some humus still
surrounding them.