Hi ianna,
5 years in the soil will mean the roots are very well established,..and the important thing is to ensure they are not damaged,..there is a lot to doing the move than just dig up and move elsewhere so i will give you the link with lots of info on transplanting it.

Tips For Transplanting A Butterfly Bush

Philip

This post was edited by glengarry23 on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 16:23

I would not hesitate to move this type of plant to a better location.

You needn't worry if you do a bit of root pruning when you move it as that can actually be very beneficial. I'd also prune the top before moving. Another thing that can help offset transplant shock is to water with diluted alfalfa tea.

I've moved smaller butterfly bushes several times, even in mid-summer. Just be sure they're out of the ground as little as possible and water them right away.

We've moved ours a couple of times as well,no problems.
Kathi

Thank you all so much for these tips. I'll go ahead and do the transplant.. (feel like a heart surgeon here - LOL).

Ianna

Dear All,

Reporting back on this. I finally did the transplant. I was quite surprised to see that the roots had grown as thick as my wrist. This is a plant that had been in the ground for 5 years. So hopefully now that it's still early spring and plants are still just waking up, that the butterfly bush will recover.

ianna

Thank you to all who contributed to this conversation thread. This is the MOST helpful info I’ve found about transplanting my butterfly bush in summer. I have to do it this week... and it’s July in Southern California... my plant is also about 5 years old. This gives me hope that it will be worth all the effort

I cut my butterfly bush back last night.It was so overgrown and raggedy looking i couldn't stand looking at it any longer.Mine always grew fast and furious,too furious for my taste.I'm actually thinking about getting rid of it all together.Told my sister i'm getting to old to deal with all this work.LOL