Rhododendron haZ gone to Woodinville...

As part of our remodel, the large rhododendron in front of our front steps had to go. It is a large beautiful piece, with abundant red/rose colored flowers. But, it is also in the way and simply too large to be relocated to an unknown spot in our yard.

So, I did what anyone would do these days; I did put out an ad on Craiglist for a "free Rhododendron, just have to dig it up and haul it away". Due to its size, I really did not expect any takers, but to my big surprise, after less than 30 minutes, I had a few replies. Eventually settled on "Doug and Linda" from Woodinville, since they seemed less to be "no shows" (all too common on Craigslist ads). They came around last Thursday and looked at it, decided they wanted it and also had a perfect spot on their 4 acres in Woodinville. The rhodi will be getting a new home!

We decided for Doug to come around on Wednesday morning (yestersday) to dig it out. Well, he really did not show up in the morning, but when he did, we got hard at work. After a few hours, we had most of the root system exposed and cut off. We also did find the old concrete septic tank. Sort of a surprise, but I should have guessed it to be there somewhere, since the house was on a septic system up until in the late 80ies.

Today was followed by more digging, then a couple of attempts to "de-locate" the rhodi by trying to pull it and its rootball out on the driveway. Did not succeed until we went for the heavy machinery; chain and full ton truck. The rhodi was finally loose and now a "movable object".

Over the next three hours, Doug and I fought with the "beast" on the drive way. It was hard enough to get it to where we wanted it, the big plant constantly tipping over or plain just not moving at all. It was even harder to get this monster up the ramps onto the truck bed. But little by little, about 1/2 inch at a time, we finally managed to get it all the way up and secure it on the truck.

It was quite a sight to see Doug pull away with this "monster" on top of his already big truck. According to Linda who called later in the evening to say "all OK", they got constant cheers and thumbs-up driving home.

At the end of the day, the rhodi got a new home, Doug and Linda were happy for their new garden "decoration", we got the construction area cleared out, and maybe most importantly, we did not have to kill a perfectly healthy plant!

Lesson learned; If you're ever in the need to get rid of something that can be useful to others, put it out on Craiglist. It might make someone happy!

BTW, here's a good link for anyone interested in transplanting rhododendrons, or their general care.