Transplanting mature trees and shrubs into a newly developed landscape allows an almost instantaneous creation of an established landscape. There are as many ways of moving large plants as there are people who move them. It is much more than just removing the tree from its original position and putting the plant into another planting hole.

Transplanted plants may be either moved bare rooted or with a root ball. They can be moved with the root ball completely exposed or burlapped and secured with rope or wire netting. In the extreme, the root ball maybe boxed. Care varies from the extremely meticulous, such as one to two years of root pruning prior to the move and digging a large root ball with careful burlapping, transporting, preparation of site using a good quality soil mix and overseeing follow-up maintenance, to the extremely casual, like simply scooping out the plant and moving it. Whichever method used has its own merits. Transplanting success also depends on the plant species and its condition, characteristics of the original and final planting sites, climatic conditions, and especially follow-up care, as well as the transplanting method itself.

Before transplanting, it is important to assess the overall health of the plant and the potential problems associated with moving it from a particular site. For instance, plants are transplanted more easily from sites that are free of stones and other obstructions. We had a recent experience in moving a large tree under difficult site conditions. A large specimen of Dracaena maingayi, about 20 m tall was found at the Upper Pierce site of the proposed Central Service Reservoir on top of a hillock. We decided that this beautiful and majestic tree be saved and transplanted to the new Singapore Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre.

Dracaena maingayi is an exceptional Dracaena that grows to a large size reaching 20 m tall. It produces pale yellow flowers and small orange-coloured fruits. Native to Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, its natural habitat is the coastal forest. Transplanting this tree involved planning and co-ordination works between the Gardens, the Public Utilities Board, which manages the Central Service Reservoir project and the Traffic Police. The Dracaena maingayi was crown pruned to a height of 17 metres from 20 metres. It was then root pruned (by trenching) and the trench backfilled with sand and cocopeat to encourage root growth for a month before the move. Due to the tight schedule of development works at the Reservoir, we did not have the luxury of trenching for a longer period.