Well, when I tried to move a mature one years ago, I couldn't get it out intact - the roots seemed to go down to Australia. On the other hand, it was planted very close to the house foundations, so maybe that made it worse, I don't know. I've never tried moving one that's been in longer than 3 years since then. You could certainly try moving it, accepting that, if you can't get the roots out properly, you may lose it.

I moved one that had been in about 2 years and it had an awful lot of roots! I pruned the bush back severely before I tried to dig it out and took as much of the root ball as I could. They went under a slab of concrete hardstanding, so I had to cut those off. Two years later, I'm hoping for a reasonable number of flowers this year. It managed a few last summer and put on some growth, so I guess it survived.

If we have a very hard frost after you move it, there may be more damage to the remaining growing points, but it may be better to move it before the buds start opening. A difficult matter of timing - I'd say wait a week or two, but you could use the time to dig a hole to receive it.

Transplanted bushes need extra TLC - meaning thorough watering - throughout the first year at least, after they were moved.

Hello! I would take some cuttings and start again. The process is very simple as outlined in the following site. Go to propagation ... http://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/page.cfm?page_ref=how_to_care_for_Hydrangeas

Thanks a lot for your help,I will take cuttings before trying to dig it out.

Thank you very much for your help.I will take cuttings before attempting to dig it out.