A few years ago, my daughter gave me several small lilacs, in various colors, for Mother's Day. Having nowhere to really put them at the time, since they were small I planted them into 3 gallon buckets. They've done wonderfully, but apparently their roots have grown out of the holes in the bucket bottoms and into the ground.
How do I move them without damaging the roots? I would like to transplant a couple into permanent locations, but it doesn't seem like a great idea to just rip them up. I can't dig up the ground they are in, because then I still couldn't get them out of the buckets. Would it be better to sever the roots connecting the buckets to the ground with a sharp object?
I have no idea what to do.
