I moved a huge gardenia a little over a year ago. He was in mostly shade & got a lot of rain water run off from the roof. The back of it was completely full of dead twigs and it was covered in black sooty mold.

We dug him up, moved it to a sunny site. I put lots of azalea/rododendron/gardenia food in the hole and gave it lots of liquid iron. I tried not to prune him, but it got more and more pitiful looking. Eventually, my DH hard pruned that puppy to about 8" tall.

Currently, this gardenia is about 2' tall & covered in blooms!! Go ahead & move it but give it lots of food and show it some tough love & hard prune it way back. Good luck!

Nancy

I am going to gently disagree with most of the advice above, sorry Nancy. ;-)

The BEST time to move them, I think you know, is when temperatures cool down and they cease active growing for the season. Especially in your zone 8 climate. It is no longer recommended that you prune in advance of transplanting, since it is the leaves that generate the energy for your plants to make new roots! The foliage is extremely important (absolutely critical) in the process of new root generation. Hopefully, if you've done a good job of digging and replanting, your plants won't blink an eye. Dormant season digging can be extremely successful.

I would advise against fertilizing your plants with anything before, during, or after the move, as well. New roots could be harmed as they begin to grow, AND a sudden blast of nitrogen could actually encourage a bunch of top growth at the time, something you don't want to happen. Again, transplanting is ALL about root development. Force a plant to put out a bunch of new growth when it has lost most of it's root system, and it ceases making new roots.

If you have any other questions about this, just let me know, okay?

I agree that the best and easiest time to move shrubs is when they're dormant. That said, sometimes you just can't wait. I've moved stuff at all times of year and lost few things. I usually put the plant in a big pot in the shade while it recovers and grows new roots. For at least a month after the plant is back in the ground I try to make sure that it's sufficiently watered.

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely wait till it gets cooler (hmmmm, here that's around October or November, lol). I have plenty of other things to keep me busy in my yard. Now if someone can just give me a good cure for crab grass.... lol!