Sod-like roots of rhododendrons and azaleas make these easier to transplant than usual. Hers is probably a Mollis azalea. Move it now, before it buds out.

If, on the other hand it turns out to smell good it's liable to be Rhododendron ponticum. One of these being 8' tall is more likely than an 8' Mollis azalea.

I would have suggested that in the first place but Mollis azaleas are quite skunky in bloom.

I'm pretty sure yellow flowers would not be R. ponticum.

Yes, now that you mention it what I was thinking of was the Pontic azalea, Rhododendron luteum. That gets pretty big. When I used to work in garden centers people would bring flowering sprigs in and ask if we had "this honeysuckle", or would describe a "honeysuckle" that I could tell was actually the azalea.

Some hybrid seedlings I have seen sold as Exbury azaleas have leaned quite a bit toward R. luteum, which brings up a third possible identity for the shrub asked about.

I wasn't all that curious about what kind of azalea it was, but after reading these comments I am! I'll get a photo of it in bloom later this spring and send it to the masses here.

It's already too late to move it for this year and my mother now says that it seems too big to move to the "new" house (in terms of the scope of the project- which I would happily do- and the available planting sites...and I, viewing the big front "just grass" front yard, say "Bah!"). She is really interested in getting a cutting.

Can you all walk me through that process? I know with a huge rhododendron in my yard I can, without effort or even intention sometimes, get new roots by layering. Would the azalea be much different... and how long does that take?

Deciduous azaleas are too much of a bother from cuttings to be suitable for this situation.

Unless you want to take cuttings as early as possible, the soonest time they can be gotten without collapsing under the fingers, root them in a special setup, and then hope the new plants flush a complete growth the same growing season - including the setting of fully developed winter buds before fall leaf drop. No winter buds, no new growth and continued life the following spring.