How to Replant Bridal Wreath Spirea

Select a replanting site with soil and light conditions similar to those where your spirea grows. Choose one large enough to accommodate the plant's mature size.

Mark the north face of your spirea’s trunk with a smear of white paint so you can orient it correctly in its new location. Water the shrub two days before your expected move, unless there is rain in the forecast.

Replant the shrub on a spring day after the ground has thawed but before its flower buds swell. Alternatively, move it after its autumn leaf drop, allowing a month for it to settle the ground freezes.

Tie up the spirea's branches. Attach the twine to the trunk and pull the branches toward it, binding them to it with the twine. Tie them off with a knot at the top.

Measure the shrub’s trunk girth 6 inches from the soil line. Each inch of girth indicates between 10 and 12 inches of soil ball diameter. Encircle the shrub with wooden stakes evenly spaced around the soil ball's estimated circumference. They will guide you as you dig it up.

Dig the spirea's new planting hole. Make it two to three times wider than, and the same depth as, the spirea's estimated soil ball. If the hole is dry, water it.

Create a trench around the shrub using the wooden stakes as a guide. Dig with the back of the spade facing the trunk of the shrub. A 15- to 24-inch-deep trench should reach a large spirea’s deepest roots. Pause as you go to prune exposed roots flush with the soil ball at the trench's center.

Loosen the soil ball. Dig at an angle so the ball is widest at the surface and narrowest at the base. Leave the center of its base attached to the bottom of the hole. If your shrub is less than 4 feet tall, its soil ball will lift without angling.

Use the spade to sever the roots still attached to the bottom of the hole. Lift the spirea by its soil ball. Cut a piece of burlap large enough to cover the soil ball. Secure it tightly with twine, tying it up both vertically and horizontally.

Place the shrub on the large tarp if it's too big for the wheelbarrow. Wheel or drag it to its new hole or to the vehicle that will transport it there. Never lift it by its trunk or branches.

Center the spirea in the new hole, with the white mark on its trunk facing north as it did in its old location. Refill the hole, firming the soil gently as you go to remove air pockets. Water it thoroughly after planting. Spread a 3- to 4-inch mulch layer extending 6 inches from the spirea’s trunk to the edge of its root zone.