Oh that is beautiful - I wouldn't want to leave it either.Interestingly, I am also having this debate concerning a huge p.delavayii.lutea. I have moved herbaceous paeonies several times and what happens is...they sulk for a year. The roots are enormous and fragile - they will break off but as long as sufficient growing points are retained, they will bulk up and reflower. It is entirely possible that yours (and mine) will go into a bit of a decline for a year or so...but paeonies are more or less immortal - truly, they can be savaged, chopped, divided and moved without certain death. Herbalists routinely dig up and replant paeony roots (they are an essential component of Chinese medicine) so I would do it as soon as it had flowered (just because I wouldn't want to miss the show), taking as much root as you can...but don't get too stressed if it does break up - the growing eyes are very evident - as long as there is sufficient tuber attached to maintain the energy reserves, go ahead.

I'd feel better about this if you could dig it up and plant it the same day. I've always had trouble with scale when planning on potting up plants from the garden. It doesn't look that big in the ground, but then instead of fitting nicely in the 3 gal pot as I had planned, it divides up into a half dozen 2 gal pots with some left over. Unlike a lot of plants, I would want it in a pot as opposed to living a week in a plastic bag.

The last time I moved a tree peony, it was because the plumber needed access to the sewer line. So we were already digging deeper than the tree peony roots, and could do a good job of unearthing the root system. Usually I just pry things out of the ground, but it does help to be careful with these.

Yep, best to drag the rootball onto a tarp or sacking and tie it up rather than squeezing it into a pot...every time a bit of rootball falls away, it will take a chunk of roots - make sure the soil is nice and moist to help with keeping rootball together...and if the hole is already prepared so transport delays are kept to a minimum, all should be well...but better to take half of it, cleanly chopped, than struggling with a huge and unwieldy rootmass....and you will have to water like a maniac for the entire summer

As a back up, can you start one from a cutting now? It's an absolutely stunning plant!

And seed...unless it was a grafted plant. Paeonies, despite the length of time needed, are actually easy from seed and can simply be sown and more or less ignored for a few years.

I've only moved smaller tree peonies, but I would think you could transplant this much like a very large shrub would be treated. Get as large a root ball as possible, transplant at proper time of year, water well, etc.......I would definitely go for it! It's so large you might want to see if you can hire someone with a mini backhoe to scoop it up without damaging a lot of roots. This past gardening season we had someone move 35-yr old blueberry bushes for us from original location to our garden where holes were already dug and prepared. All done in one morning. They were huge shrubs but so far they look great. I think you can do it with some good planning and care. Would it only be in the planter for the transport? Or would it need to stay in the pot for a longer time? That would be the only really questionable variable I can think of.

For what it might be worth to you, here is a tree peony story. A good gardening friend told me this, she is gone now but I miss her so much, especially when the tree peonies bloom.

They had bought a new house late in the winter, and she wanted to take her peonies with her, so she dug them, put in brown paper bags and stored in the garage for the rest of the winter. When spring came she planted as early as she could. They lived. I would never have the nerve to do this, but she had the most gorgeous tree peonies I ever saw.

Tree paeony roots are different from herbaceous paeonies in that they are less...succulent, less tuber-like and more, well, rootlike. They can be dug up and bare rooted (not sure how I feel about storing them in bags though). Tell you what, I am going to do mine...and it is bigger than yours - I will do mine as soon as I can decently take this season's foliage back to the wood - because I want it making good root growth before deep winter - this is an optimum growth period for them...so September maybe...and I will photo the process and report back. I spoke to a tree-paeony mad friend who assures me that they are easier to move than herbaceous paeonies - just like moving a rose (I have done loads of them) so hey ho...

Good to know, Camp! Flowergirl - wow, don't know if I'd take that much of a chance, but encouraging that even storing in bags worked!