I've moved a mature one before. Just dig deep & baby it for a while. It probably won't bloom next spring, but if you ever want bloom, I imagine you don't have a lot of choice. It does prefer full sun, & that is what mine gets. Other than sun, mine doesn't get fertilizer & isn't in one of my beds that gets watered in dry summer either. It blooms like mad in the spring.

That's good to know in case I ever want to move my 'Purple Smoke'. It may need a sunnier spot than where it's planted right now.

I would move and divide in the fall and treat the plant more like a shrub than an herbaceous perennial, trying to incorporate as many roots as possible. But it's okay to cut roots back if necessary.

I bought 3 Baptisia in Fall 2007 in 1.5 gallon pots. They were horribly root-bound. Even though it was November, I decided to repot them into bigger pots. Soaked the rootball, separated out the roots, cut back curling roots - handled them pretty roughly actually. They not only survived just fine in the pot ghetto over the winter, but thrived AND bloomed in their new pots till I planted them!

thanks ever so much for posting about this. i have learned alot today and will move mine in the fall to hot sun.
best,
mindy

Not that she needs me to, but I can vouch for the accuracy of Lacyvail's info. I recently cut a chunk of baptisia from my sister's garden. It was not a precise surgical operation - more of a brutal hack job. I jumped on the shovel multiple times as hard as I could, and pried and ripped until eventually I had maybe eight stems with only scant roots left.

I put them in a plastic grocery bag with a little soil and water and forgot about them for a few days. Hoping that at least one would survive, I cut the stems off close to the roots and potted them up with some compost and potting mixture. A month later, they are doing great with many thick green shoots coming up. Even the ones with no discernible roots left seem to have thrived. Pretty amazing.

ThinMan

Much thanks to all! I was positively dreading this task, certain that if I didn't dig half way to China I'd kill it. I will now approach my baptisia with ruthless resolve this fall. I might actually even - gasp - divide it!