Hello all :)

I'm fairly new to gardening. I have a lot of hit-or-misses, but that's okay, It's all in fun, right?

Well, now I have a large project that's coming up. I want to do it - and if these things die, then okay. But I'd like to save them if I could.

We have several rhododendrons in the front of our house. They're definitely very healthy and vigorous - they were here when we bought the house three years ago. I've been doing well with pruning them every year, and they always come in nice every spring. They are actually blooming as I type right now (just started yesterday).

Now, the thing is, these are HUGE. The one on the corner of the house is actually as tall as the roof. The others in the front are about 5' tall. They're kind of "overtaking" the front of the house. My husband and I want to redo the front - kind of make the entranceway nicer, and put in new plants that aren't so mammoth in size.

We also have a small "grove" of pine trees towards the back of the yard, in a shadier spot, with a nice "pine bed" where all the needles fall. I know that rhododendrons like a bit more shade, and they do well near pine trees, so I think this would be an excellent spot to plant them. We just removed a horribly ugly fence from there last year, and now you can see this ugly old shed that we want to replace. I think putting the rhododendrons there would provide a little cover, and they would flourish in that spot.

The thing is, like I said, they are HUGE. I have no idea how long they've been where they are, but if I were to guess, I'd say at least 10 or 15 years. I know when we dig them up, we'd need to get as big a root ball as we could, but I'm wondering if there were a "better chance of survival" if we did something else. My mother-in-law came over two years ago and took cuttings from each one, and "started" them in a pot. This year, she actually has some small bushes in her yard. So I'm wondering if this would be a better option to go for (they'd definitely be lighter!)

Anyway, we waited because a recent landscaper told us to do it immediately after they flowered this year. So that's what I'm waiting on - for them to finish up so we can get started on this. If anyone has any great tips or ideas on what we can do to save these, I'd really appreciate it!