In article ,
(William Russer) wrote:

There a 2 large azalea plants that are scheduled to be removed to make way for
a new house. I think one is way to large to transplant (I would need a
crane to
lift it)
http://members.aol.com/williamrusser/a2.jpg/

The other seem manageable. Its about 6' high 4' across. We live in N. New
Jersey zone 5. Has anybody had experience moving large azaleas?


I've moved six & eight foot rhodies from spots where they'd been in the
ground for decades. Sometimes the roots are surprisingly shallow & they
pop right out of the ground after slicing a big circle around the
dripline. The first time I ever moved such a shrub, it was rooted so
shallowly, it came out of the ground like a pancake. "Moving rhodies is
easy!" I enthused -- but hooboy, since then, others have contradicted the
idea that rhodies & azaleas always have such shallow roots.

I spent hours "undermining" one big rhody & could not find the lowest
roots even when the hole was a three-foot deep trench all around the
shrub. In frustration I finally sawed the roots short, & even at that the
rootball was so big it took four people grunting & crabbing at each other
to get it down a stone stairway & lift it to a flatbed. I brought it home
for my garden, considerably banged up from its ordeal, but I minimally
pruned it to a pleasing shape & it began producing new limbs & leaves
right out of the bark of the broken or pruned bits. I've babied it because
of the sawed-off roots, but it has never shown the least sign of stress &
is just doing superbly. I was just asked to go remove three more big ones
-- & I'm kind of dreading it for fear the roots will be big deep ones
again. My partner's art show at a cafe opens this weekend & that has me
too busy right now, but sometime in the coming week or I'll have to start
digging.

I've moved other sorts of shrubs in the past & it stressed some of them
horridly, most were slow to bounce back, a couple died, but never these
rhodies, they seem to get through being moved barely noticing it happened.


-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/