If you can't work with a spreading habit in that spot, Japanese snowdrop is not the tree for it. Plantings of 'Pink Chimes' are too recent here for full development to be seen, but since it is not a dwarf a 15'-35' (50') tall tree should be planned for. Branch spreads half or more of the height of the specimen are common on older examples of typical white-flowered ones. Some can be very spreading, even forking and bushy, with much lower, broader tops than those growing on sites (or with genetics) producing a taller habit.

Thanks, bboy. It's not that I can't work with a spreading habit. I just think it would be better to move the tree farther away from the house, so it has room to grow to its full height and width. When the tree was planted by the previous owner, it was placed right beside the porch since it's still small, but no thought was put into how tall and wide the tree will actually get. I'd like to move the tree while it's still small to a big enough area to accommodate its full height and width.

The copious spent, fallen petals and pellet-like crunchy fruits it will be generating might become annoying in such a spot also.

At a wholesale nursery outlet I worked at I saw the foreman walking around with a rather large snowdrop tree on its way to being potted. The roots had been stubbed off to mere inches in length. Later I saw the trees from that block leaf out and make pretty good top growth. So I think you should be able to more yours fairly easily - when it is leafless and dormant.

That's good to hear. I'll definitely wait until it's dormant then. Once it's moved, the tree will be close enough to the walkway and sidewalk for its flowers to be appreciated but far enough away that the leaf litter and falling fruits will probably just fall into the surrounding garden beds.

You could spade around it now, but not lift it out. Then in February, do the grunt work.

Rain2Fall
Former Seattleite

That would just cut the existing roots, preventing them from elongating this fall. No significant growth of new roots from these cut ends will occur until stem buds open in spring. Not a tender tree, so no point in waiting until Feb. to lift it.