I have a row of azalea hedges in front of the house. The house is new to us and it's a low, squatty rancher. The azalea hedge makes it look even shorter since it cuts the front of the house in half. I was going to rip out every other one and let the ones left behind be single bushes with other, smaller plants planted inbetween. After trimming them down (to about 12-14") I read on here that they will come back up eventually. Would now be a good time to transplant them to another part of the yard where they can grow as big as they want or would it be too much stress on them all at once? I don't want to go thru the trouble of digging them out if they're just going to die on me.

Hubby now wants me to severely prune the ones that are remaining as well because since they were in a hedge, they are all growing sideways because they were smooshed up next to another azalea bush. The large branches are pushed completely sideways down to about a couple of inches above the ground. Would they survive being pruned that low?

Thanks for any help. I've never had azaleas before but I know these are older and if they can be saved, I'd like to.