Question
I bought a new house in the fall so, of course, this spring I had to plant. I planted a lot of things I have never dealt with before.  My question is, if I planted them too deep can I go ahead and raise them up?  I planted around April 8th after days and days of back breaking labor adding peat moss, etc... to my beds.  I live in southern Indiana.  The weather is still pretty cool.  We've had quite a few days 70+ but mostly the 60's and a lot of cool nights.  AND some down right cold nights (tonight it is supposed to get down in the upper 30's).  I'm not worried about my cannas or my elephant ears.  The ground is still too cool for those to take off.  But, my phlox (David and the volcano variety) I understand was supposed to be planted fairly shallow and only 2 of the Davids have come up.  My perennial geraniums are not sprouting. Maybe 2 of them are but I bought 6 different kinds and the leaves are not the same on them.  So, I'm not sure if I have geraniums or weeds.  2 of the 3 astilbe have come up but one has not.  I even planted my peonys too deep.  2 of the 4 have not come up.  Oh yeah, my iris plants are too deep too.  I have spent hours on the net reading everything I could about these plants.  That is how I know what I did wrong.  But, the only thing I have found about raising plants was on the iris, which it said to go ahead and do it but not to expect any blooms this year.  So, should I wait until it warms up to see if the rest come up?  Should I scrap them and replant?  Or, can I go ahead and dig them up and raise them?  Basically, every bare root starter I planted is 3-5 inches down and they should be at the top.  The soil has been moderately moist also.  We have had higher than average rains this spring.  On the up side, the salvia, hostas, dahlias, acidanthera, and ranunculus I planted are doing great.  Sorry so long, but I didn't want to leave anything out.

Answer
Hi Janelle,
Thanx for your question.  If you only planted the plants 3-5 inches deep, I'd leave them alone.  I think they'll come up.  They will adjust themselves most of the time as long as they're not a foot deep or something drastic like that.  It has been unusually cool in the Midwest which has slowed growth down for a lot of plants.  Good luck.
Tom