Are you moving to zone 8a or out of zone 8a??? October is pretty mild here in zone 7b. I would mostly worry about any potted plant that seems to want to push out a lot of new growth at that time - those plants may suffer when frosty weather comes.

If you can't plant them you could store them all up against a wall somewhere that gets a decent amount of sunshine and then pile mulch or leaves up against the pots if we get some freakishly cold nights. Or heal them in somewhere by digging a trench and sinking the pots below soil level and piling on the mulch.

As long as you're not moving somewhere colder I would think you would be fine. Any thing that goes dormant can be planted no matter what the weather is.

I'm moving about 40 miles further south. If anything, a more solid 8A than here. We've got a nice little microclimate here that is a little warmer than some of the surrounding area. But the new farm is about a degree warmer on most days with the weather.com temp readings. It's reassuring to hear what you are saying. I did some more research last night and for some of them, this is a preferred time to replant. Great ideas about putting them up close to the house foundation in a sunny location. I've got one spot on the new place which is nice and sunny, and should catch winter sun. I'm going to be planting like crazy as soon as I can get the beds cut in for them. Got my fingers crossed between the garage, greenhouse and your ideas I can save them all and not loose any from the move.

Hi Nanner,
Sorry to hear your move is going to be delayed for you, but really October and November are the best months to plant your evergreen shrubs and trees down here.
The gardenia and magnolia should be planted in the fall, like conifers, because they are evergreen.
That way they will have a nice developed root system before next summer.
I wouldn't worry about roses, they take cold easily, and it really doesn't get that cold anyway in the winter down here.
You can plant them in the spring if you want, or winter.
I have EE in pots, this is my first time with EE.
I buried one pot of big black ones in a hill, and the other little ones I have in a pot on my stone driveway.
Should I bury the pot with the little ones in it in the winter?
They will die down right? Should I throw some mulch on top of the pot?
Sorry, but I never overwintered them before, some people where I live have them in the ground and they come back every year for them, but these are potted.
Good Luck on your move.
Don't worry, all your plants will make it.
Your going to be one busy bee.....LOL.

More good and encouraging words, thanks Butterfly!! On your EE's, I plant mine straight into the ground. Not sure where you are but here mine do great in the ground. I've got Jacks Giant, Kona Coffee Cups and some little lighter green/Dark green runner that I picked up at a big box store. I have done this for several years and they always come back larger and better each year. No special fall treatment, just let the frost kill them back and they pop right up in spring. The ones I have never had luck with are the Black Magic's. I have only been successful with them over winter in my greenhouse in a pot. And they must have been weakened by that because they died off in spring. If they are potted, I would pull them into a garage or basement for the winter, and stop watering so they won't rot. May be overkill but some of them are quite sensitive, and others are quite hardy.

nanner..your move date of October probably means that
the month of Sept the builder is doing the interiors finishing.
Is the final grading and backfill done yet? Probably not if they are still taking deliveries of drywall, cabinetry and flooring.

As the dumb Queen of unintended planting by heeling in (lol) I've had lots of time to think how I should have done it
better and easier when moving my favorite plants for two moves since 2004.
I would have set out 1/2" galvanized square mesh wire covered by landscape fabric and set the plants on it then
finished the temp. holding area into a framed box of that wire mesh tall enough for the largest plant so they were all
completely enclosed.
Protection from voles that adore the teeny feeding roots growing off root-pruned plants.
Protection from deer and rabbits who think somebody set a banquet table in the forest.
Protection from falling leaves and sticks while allowing sun and rain to penetrate.
By all means mulch between the plants in this enclosure .
Plus, it's easier to tarp over to protect from frost.

That's how I would have done it if I'd given it more thought.

Dottie, more great ideas!! I will definitely keep in mind to put down something, as in landscape fabric or something to create a barrier for them should I have to set some things around. You are all giving me the thought that I will be fine just to put stuff in the ground and not worry on most of these plants. I think I'll greenhouse the young and tenders and then go for it with the larger, older plants. How about Hardy Hibiscus? Any words of wisdom on those? I have 5 or 6 I got at PDN I love! And Dottie, if you have moved yours two times since 2004, then I sure have hope for mine! Back to your question on the grading and backfill. I was down there about 2 weeks ago and the guys were doing the backfill for the foundation then, I had been on the warpath about water running under the house because of all the rain. They were also doing a rough grade then. We still have drywall, hardwoods, tile in the baths and kitchen, setting of the plumbing fixtures, setting of the HVAC, LIght fixtures. Mostly all the finish work. Last weekend we had interior stud walls, and were still waiting for a couple of the doors and windows that the supplier had got wrong. But he is making progress, its just slow with the weather. You wouldn't believe how many crew trucks, delivery trucks and garbage trucks that have got stuck when the power ditch was open. LOL The builder finally just left an excavator there so he could pull them out. I got to say, I love my builder, he just slogs thru the mud and keeps on going. And he is building me one heck of a nice house. I'll have to post up a couple of preview shots for you guys if you are interested in seeing it. Not done yet but coming along nicely! :-)

nanner, we are all eager to see photos from the approach (what a visitor will first see) to up the driveway and all around the house location.
If you can indicate on the photos the sun path and prevailing wind directions and pitches in the terrain we all can have something to refer to when you ask for suggestions.
The back fill..was it just surface dirt? Could it have building material scrap in it?
I was ,back then, financially able to foot the cost of insisting the backfill be good, well draining topsoil so it would be ready to plant and take amendments easier. As a result, everything I stuck in those foundation borders thrived and grew (especially the stuff I'd positioned in a heel to see if I liked it there..rooted out the pot drains almost immediately)

Keep a plot map and mark on it where most of the trucks are parking/rolling in so you know where the ground is going to be a problem of compaction. Sand piles (for brick mortar) are often left behind and create a quick drainage area for lawn/garden that results in bare spots during summer's worst heat.
Looking forward to your photos !

Hi Dottie, the back fill is just the surface dirt. It's clean tho, my builder is pretty good about keeping up the building scrap. This property is flat as a table for the most part. I've got a link here you can find some pics at. This is a Flickr Photostream, go to sets and look at House and Yard. I can post some more as I get thru them, just tossed these up to give you guys a preview. Enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Nanner's New house pics

OOOH!!! You must be having a ball !
Couple of tips before they drywall.
Over every main floor cold air return see if they can install built-in cabinetry.
I found a huge space in the master bedrm foyer over the cold air return which ducted down to the unit under the house. That space would have been covered and wasted but is now two cabinets (one on top of the other) for blankets or spare quilt on the bottom and our carry on luggage in the top cabinet.
Opened another shelving unit in the master bath that would have been blank wall. Now it is a hamper area below and nice open shelving on top.

If bldr hasn't put in cabinetry yet to master vanities, have him put an outlet back there in the wall that will line up with your drawers or your open area below.
That way, your hairdryer is always plugged in and ready.
It's also helpful in any other bathrooms.
Rather than plug in your hairdryer or curling iron etc. in the wall outlet and have the cord dragging all your stuff off the counter..this way works great!

It is cheaper to add outlets now during the build. Put them everywhere. Fergit code.. think about use or you'll only have one every 6' or so.
You'll want extras on the porch so you can keep foods warm, make a pot of coffee outdoors. They'll probably be the covered exterior type outlets.
I had a cable outlet and two phone jacks out there on the porch too.

Is your main gathering room (den/greatroom) set in your mind as far as furniture placement?
If so, you might want to consider having floor outlets..you know the kind with the brass round covers flush with the floor. (if you're going with hw floors)
That way you can be more creative with furniture placement and tables for lamps.

Are you having it pre-plumbed for central vacuum? If so, be sure there's an outlet within 5' of the vac tube opening.
And, look into the sweep-to pans. I had mine put in after construction when I was sure where drafts pushed the dog hair/dust to collect. They can't be installed on just any wall because of the anchor 2x4 but they work great in the base of cabinets.

A hose tap on every side of the house and one close to the driveway (washing the car of pine and oak pollen).

Wow..you do have some pines.
Have you taken soil samples all around the yard yet?

While they're moving soil still you could have them build you a rise or a slight berm if you like Mediterranean type plants that like less water on their roots.

Will you have lighting up the driveway or reflectors on the pines?
Can't you just envision that long treelined driveway bounded by flowering shrubs?
Thanks for the link to your photos.

Wow, great thoughts Dottie!!! I've covered some of them already, got one great builder in that Dept. too. Kinda go down the list. here. On electrical, we had a walk thru before the rough in started on electrical. I got to mark where I wanted every outlet in the house, and how many.That was of huge importance to us, as my hubby is a mechanical engineer by trade and I'm an IT project manager. So you have a couple of tech heads in there. LOL Our current house doesn't have enough electric service so we boosted this one up to 400 Amp service. There is also a whole house generator going in for storm days when Duke doesn't keep us running. I also got to place every single light fixture and ceiling fan. One of the things I love is that I will have ceiling fans on both the front and back screened porch. That is a great suggestion on the cabinets. We don't have those in yet and my builder has me keeping Houzz and Pintreset hot with cabinet ideas. They will be custom built, kitchen will be hickory, all others will be oak. And he "story boards" the design before they are built with mock up blocks of furring strips and craft paper to simulate the space taken up by them. I will definitely look for the returns and try to take advantage of that space. He does also use the central vac system lime you describe, with the Kick doors in the toe kick areas of the cabinets. The entire house will be white oak hardwood floors except for the baths, laundry and kitchen. I've got some great tile picked there, using some of the newer design that looks like hardwood in some of those areas with a herringbone pattern. And I'm going to use carpet upstairs in hubby's music room/ den. We have network, phone and satellite hookups everywhere, laid them all out where all areas are covered. I've got the hose bibs covered, even one in the garage for a winter portable dog bath area. LOL Can you tell I love my pups?? I haven't decided what to do yet along the driveway. But I have decided to put the stone pillars and an automatic gate at the entrance to the woods from the field. I most likely will use some type of landscape lighting along the way, that is one of my loves is to have nice accent lighting. I haven't taken any soil samples yet, haven't had a chance LOL. It's been a whirlwind of a time for the last year. But you are right, I'm having a blast with this. :-)

Oh, one more thing.
If your ceilings to your bathrooms are 9' or taller..go with upgraded more powerful vent fans to move moisture and odors.

WOW! Nanner, your new home is huge!
Talk about big! Awesome!
And the front porch! I LOVE that front porch.
And your pretty much private and in the sticks.
It's going to be a lot of work, but over time you will be sitting on that awesome front porch with your sweet tea enjoying the scenery.
I'm happy for you.

Thanks Butterfly, I know, the work part of it is exactly why I held out so long and fought so hard to not sell and move. I already had 5 years of progress in on my old house and that is hard to give up when you are doing it all yourself. But this one has some very unique things about it. I have always loved the old farmhouse look so we have that with this one. I insisted on a nice covered front porch and a screened back porch. And the land is absolutely gorgeous. But after fighting this for close to 5 years, and holding back on what I wanted to do at my old house for so long, I'm really getting excited about this one. It's been a lot of work just to get this one built, it's a custom so I've had to decide and pay attention to every single detail in the house. While I love that, it's not very easy to accomplish when you have a 40+ hour a week job, are having to pack and prep for a move and still take care of your day to day life too. But once this is done I'm going to LOVE it!! I do have a wonderful builder and that helps tremendously. And my hubby is a dear thru this whole thing. This has been all my baby and he has just told me to build what I want. He has even put up with my frustration and temper at the mud, Duke Energy and things just not going right at times. I am seeing the light where I can finally just have fun with it. So off to see the week's progress. I may post up some new pics tonight. I know it's all going to be worth it when we are all done.

Will there be a glasshouse?

How much land do you have beyond what I can see is cleared?

Are there any hardwoods among the pines or is that a pine plantation? The pinebark beetles have been so hard on the pines in this area that I'm just having all of them dropped,chopped and carted to a dump. Nobody will notice since there are so many hardwoods.
Did you get blasted with hard rains over the Labor Day weekend?
Guess I was sort of hoping you would escape the mud issue soon.

Dottie, we have mixed pine and hardwoods. The house site is on the edge of some young hardwood with a lesser amount of pine. We needed to go with a good site from the perk standpoint and to get the house as close to the center of the acreage as we could. It's a large tract of acreage, I bought 50 acres. It's pretty much a big triangle shape. I don't have quite as many hardwoods as it sounds like you do. But it is a mix on most of the land. I may have the timber company come in next year and drop and thin some of the pine. I have about 30 of the acres that are good marketable timber. I didn't want to do it this year as I've not really had the time to put a lot of consideration in with the construction going on. I've got to spend some time doing some research and thinking on how to best manage some of this acreage. On the rain, it's much better than is has been. I did get slammed pretty good about a week to two weeks ago. Labor day was pretty dry. But we are still drying out from the monsoons. I'm about 30 miles away from the new house and we got over 7 inches in August on top of the 20+ we got in June and July. I'd have to go to my spreadsheet to give you a total, but we are over our normal for the year already. The loose dirt from the Duke Energy folly is still problematic as of today. I measured about a foot of water still standing in one of the ruts the trucks has put in that messed up area. But it is much, much better. If we can keep rain to a normal level for a few weeks, I think we will be home free!! It is drying out nicely now. And the builder is making excellent progress, we now have mudded sheetrock!!

Well, some of the small, pups from this year are moving to the new house tomorrow. I'm putting some of them in the garage to protect from harsh cold until I can get them overwintered properly or in the ground. Wish me luck!!

Nanner,
Look at the bright side, at least its nice and cool to move all those plants.
I can't even imagine doing it in the heat.
You must be getting ready to move everything into the new house soon, right?
It's been nice and dry where I am, down in Aiken, so hopefully the ground is dry for you too.
I sort of wish it would rain here, its been too dry.
The ground is hard and dry.
Don't overdo it and hurt yourself, your excited and you have a lot of move.
Are you hiring people to move all your plants? I hope so, I know I couldn't move all that.

Well, we finally have a move date of December 1 and I have one of the smallest windows from work imaginable! Looks like the movers will be scheduled for 12-2, and I'll be using my Thanksgiving for small and breakable moving and then I'll be using my Christmas holiday for putting stuff away. I have a new project group at work, and there is releases up to the end of the year, something i'm not used to. The builder messed me up last weekend, told me it had been raining buckets, yes his words, at the house. I got down there, without a load of plants, and it was dry as a bone. Except for his guys ruts......... Yea thankful for 4X4 Hemi power here!! So I ended up sheltering the small pots and the ones I'm concerned about from the lack of dirt around them in my old storage building here. I'm going to try to take them down over the next week or two to the new garage. I'm still struggling to get dates and info, but I'll have some new pics up on Flickr tomorrow night. Butterfly, yes you better believe I have movers!! I'm going to do most of the plants myself. But I have someone for the larger pots and plants. And I have a landscaper on the other end to cut in and till beds, spread mulch and plant for me. He will also be putting in the sprinkler system and hydro seeding the lawn.So off to see the progress tomorrow, I may take some plants, not sure yet, and meet with my fence guy for my puppy yard. Got to have a place for the girls to play!!! :-)