· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Landscapers
Most foundation beds in Middle Tennessee have at least one plant in the wrong place: a holly that now blocks a window, a hydrangea spilling onto the walk, a camellia that went in six feet too close to its neighbor. The usual answer is a chainsaw. Often the better one is a spade, because a healthy shrub that has been in the ground a few years is worth moving, and the weeks between late September and the first hard freeze are the best time of year here to do it. The work is not complicated, but the details decide whether the plant lives.
Why fall works better than spring
A moved shrub has lost most of its roots, and it needs time to grow new ones before it is asked to support a full canopy of leaves. In fall the top is shutting down while the soil stays warm for weeks after the air cools, so roots keep growing into November and sometimes beyond. The plant heads into winter asking very little of a root system that is quietly rebuilding.
Move the same shrub in April and the timing runs the other way. It leafs out on a damaged root system, meets its first hot spell in May, and then faces a Tennessee August with roots that have barely left the original ball. Plenty survive it. Far more of them sulk for a year, drop leaves, or fail outright by midsummer.
Which plants are worth moving
Shrubs with dense, fibrous root systems move well: boxwood, azalea, hydrangea, most hollies, camellia, spirea and abelia among them. They hold soil together in a tight ball that comes out of the ground in one piece. Plants that send down a deep taproot or spread a few long, thick roots move badly, and older specimens of those are often better replaced than dug.
Size matters more than species. A shrub small enough that two people can carry its root ball on a tarp is a reasonable job. Anything much bigger needs a tree spade or a crew with the right equipment, and at that point the cost is worth weighing against a new plant that will fill the space in a few seasons.
Digging it out with enough roots
Water the shrub deeply a day or two before you dig, so the ball holds together and the plant goes in hydrated. Tie the branches up with soft twine to get them out of the way, then cut a circle straight down with a sharp spade, well out from the trunk; a wider ball is heavier, and it is also what keeps the plant alive. Undercut from the sides and ease it onto a tarp rather than levering it up by the stem.
Dig the new hole before you lift the old plant, so the roots spend minutes out of the ground rather than an afternoon. In our clay, make the hole two or three times as wide as the ball and no deeper than it, and scratch up the sides so they are not glazed smooth by the spade. The top of the ball should sit level with the surrounding grade or a touch above it, never below, because clay turns a sunken hole into a basin that holds water against the roots all winter.
- Water deeply a day or two before digging
- Dig the new hole first and match its depth to the root ball
- Keep the top of the ball at or slightly above grade in clay
- Backfill with the native soil, lightly amended, and water it in
Getting it through the first winter
Water the moved shrub in thoroughly, then check the soil every week until the ground cools, and again during any dry spell in winter. Evergreens lose moisture through their leaves on sunny, windy days even in January, and a plant with a reduced root system cannot replace it quickly. A couple of inches of mulch over the root zone, pulled back from the stems, holds moisture and evens out the soil temperature.
Skip the fertilizer until spring; feeding now pushes soft growth the plant cannot protect. Some leaf drop or yellowing in the weeks after the move is normal and does not mean it has failed. The honest verdict comes in late April, when a shrub that rooted in over winter pushes new growth on schedule and one that did not stays stalled. Before digging near the foundation or a walk, call Tennessee 811 so any buried lines are marked.