rpgs rock dvds wrote:
Would like to dig this up -
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9753/bushrg3.jpg
But don't know whether it's got long potentially troublesome roots or
not.

Robert,

I agree with Pam, it looks like a bay tree. Lots of delicious recipes
call for bay leaves. And having had a poor success rate at moving
well-established small trees growing close to fences, I agree with Pam
too that it may not move well. A good number of its roots will have
gone under the adjacent fence and you will have no option but to slice
them off - which may meant the shrub won't survive in the new setting.
However, you don't say you want to place this shrub anywhere else.
Maybe you just want to remove it completely. If that is what you want
for some good reason then I would dig a circle around the trunk starting
from as adjacent to the fence as you can get your spade, so as to
examine the root structure. Maybe they don't go deep and maybe there
are not many of them, in which case, keep digging and eventually you'll
get it out. If however you find the roots are complex and deep, and you
really want to say ta-ta to the shrub then you can saw it off just below
ground level and immediately apply a strong solution of sodium chlorate
to the cut. This is likely to kill it.

But I would go along the lines of Pam's suggestion. If you are thinking
of digging it up because you want something else happening in that
corner, why not cut it back seriously, even only leaving four or five
inches above ground level, so that it will shoot afresh. THEN control
it and maintain as a small bush, OR take the shoots and propagate them
elsewhere before putting an end to the shrub.

I HATE destruction in the garden. It's so easy to kill plants. They
spend years growing. Better to alter them, than destroy them.

Eddy.