"Callen Molenda" wrote in message
...
Well, my stepfather just informed me that he is selling the family farm,
where we've lived for years. Forget figuring how I'm going to deal with
all
the four-legged beasties, what am I going to do with my PLANTS????

Callen, you might not recall that 14 years ago I was faced with a move that
I DID NOT want to make to Eastern Tennessee from my home in Nashville I'd
lived in since 1974 (minus the 5 years in Denver) which was one street over
from my parent's house where I'd lived since 1958. In July of 1992, Squire
informed me that I WAS moving, get the house packed and expect him on August
first.....................which was my son's birthday and he was in
Louisiana with a new baby which I hadn't seen yet as well. Too much going
on, I literally dug my whole yard with the help of a dear friend who had a
toddler at the time, and I must say, frantically digging beloved perennials
CAN be done!
The soil over here was nothing like what I'd had for years, I had dark,
loose, loamy soil in Nashville, here it was gummy red clay with lots of
rocks and no way to dig into it, especially in late summer.

The solution was containers of any variety. I used plastic grocery bags as
pots with handles for perennials and bulb clumps. Larger perennials I dug
up and put into five gallon buckets, any containers that were planted stayed
planted, I even used trash cans! (a clump of huge Heliopsis was one plant I
put in a trash can, the other was my dad's old Indian shot canna's)

I refuse to leave all my beautiful acquisitions, many with personal
memories
of the long-gone friends who gave them to me, to the attentions of a new
owner. I don't know when I am going to move, and I'm concerned about
doing it in a way that will least traumatize my plants.

it's early spring. dig up beloved perennials and pot them up nursery like
so they'll adjust to the pots. Bulbs you adore, you can mark the spots, dig
them up after they flower and bag for fall planting. Lilies that you have,
dig them up when they break dormancy and pot into 3 gallon nursery pots.
they'll be fine. Most perennials will not mind a time in a container.
Some shrubs won't mind either, but you can possibly take cuttings of some
right now on tender growth. and they'll be smaller but at least you'll have
a piece of them to take to your new place.

any way you could buy the farm? And call friends who have yards you can
safely hold your plants over when you finally do have to move. Be sure to
tell any prospective buyers that some of the plantings WON'T be there upon
sale.

My gardens are huge so
there is no way I intend to move everything, but some of everything is
what
I'm aiming for.

then take a little of everything. The rose bushes, are they heirloom? could
a section of your farm with the house and property around it be purchased?
The rest of the acreage be sold?? Could you work a deal with him on that?

Can anyone recommend a comprehensive site for determining the best way to
approach moving my stuff? I have everything from grasses to small trees
to
rosebushes to euphorbias, and I need to get some sense of how to handle
their respective moves, depending on what time of year this occurs. Does
this make sense?
yes it does. I suspect that the roses will need digging up completely, if
they're antiques you can't replace.......I can't advise you there, but sure
if you e-mail Bev (pottingshed) she can help you there.

Oh, and I'll remain in the same zone.


Any input would be appreciated.

Callen in VA