I moved 3 large butterfly bushes this spring, 5 feet tall, well established. It took a lot of digging, but I just plopped them in another hole and then babied them all summer, making sure they were well watered and fertilized. I did this in the early spring before they began to leaf out, they responded quite well especially considering their size. They are pretty tough. A smaller one shouldnt be too much trouble. One did not do quite as well as the others,A little detective work revealed it was getting some shade from a neighbors tree. They really do like as much sun as possible.

I just moved one today. Won't know until the spring if it survived. It was a relatively small one that was a voluntary seedling.

I have several large butterfly bushes that i'm looking to give to a friend this weekend. Should I wait until spring or is now a fine time to make the transplant happen?