I've got a couple hydrangeas that I'm wanting to transplant to my new house however an idiot (not myself) mowed over them a few weeks ago. One of them produced a bud a week later at the base but I'm not sure they'll survive the transplanting process at this point. This will be the third move for both of them (yes I take my favorite plants with me when I move). Should I leave them behind and hope the next residents enjoy them or take the gamble and move them as planned?
I wish I had more wisdom about this, but this seems pertinent: http://www.mcall.com/features/home/mc-garden-hydrangea-transplant-plant-time-20160909-story.html
That said, I am better at reasoning. If you leave it behind then you'll never know how it turned out. If you take it and it dies, at least you'll know. Also, if you take it and it lives then you'll be a happy camper. I think your only chance at being happy with the future of that plant is if you try to transplant it.
How long as it been since you moved it last? If it's been a year or more, then I'd say you're well past the point where it would have repaired and recovered itself. We're heading into fall, so it seems a decent time to be pulling it.
It's been two years since their last transplanting and the soil is fairly sandy with decent organic matter where they currently are, soil at the new place looks more sandy so root recovery shouldn't be an issue. I'm more worried about them using stored resources with normal leaf drop coming in the next month to 6 weeks. That happened with one of my Japanese maples and it killed the central leader when a cold snap came.
I'm leaning towards throwing caution in the wind and moving them anyways since this is a shorter distance than the last transplant so hopefully less time out of the ground, sitting in pots. I've been looking for someone local that might carry small packs of mycorrhizals to aid in quicker recovery. I lost a native azalea and two oakleaf hydrangeas after the last transplant which I attribute partially to time out of the ground and partially to not having something to aid in new root growth (rest of the blame is probably mine for trying to move them further south than they were accustomed to).
Update: when I went back to get my plants over the weekend, one of the hydrangeas that had been chopped had leafed back out quite nicely. Hopefully everything will survive, the majority of plants are currently living in pots in the shade and getting watered daily until I can plant them this weekend. Native azalea isn't happy it got moved (didn't like the wind through its leaves or over some uncooperative roots) but hopefully it will pull through. Everything else seems to be ok so far in fact I think my lenten rose are happier now that they've been moved.