Hi gardengal,
I'm very new to gardening, but it must be hard to leave behind all those plants. I always say to my husband that if and when we move, I'll be taking all of my babies with me, but I don't know how realistic that is!!! There is something wonderful about starting fresh though, and taking 25 years of experience with you! There is also really nice karma in leaving beautiful plants for whomever to enjoy! I inherited a lovely Hibiscus tree when I bought my house and I'll leave it for the next person to enjoy!
It sounds like it's going a be a busy month! Good luck with the move and may your next garden be an oasis of lush, pretty, and spectacular blooms!

A month doesn't give you much time to dig but at least there are many perennials you can take chunks out of and pot up. If you are so inclined.

Moving is a scary thought for me. I'd love a bigger yard and a bigger house but leaving this one would be hard. How we've lived with only one bathroom for fifteen years is beyond me.

Best wishes and good luck!

Congrats Pam. I have viewed every move I have ever made as a great move since I got clean slates that I could try new things in and not do things that I had learned about in previous gardens.

I would not be as stressed about starting anew somewhere if I did not think of how much effort I put into my soil- all those leaves and compost and manure... I could always grow more plants and in a way I would love to have clean slate to work with and try new things... but where I would find doil I could work with my bare hands?

Yes, once I can get beyond focusing on how much work needs to be done in the next 30 days, I am pretty charged about starting up a new place! The hard part is leaving behind a "work in progress", as any garden tends to be, as well as some of the larger trees and shrubs that I have nurtured over the years and that are really rather special and select.

There are limits to what I can take - simply because I don't have a new place yet (I'll be staying temporarily at a second home owned by family members until I can find the "right" place) and because much of my garden is too big and too established to move. The good news is that there is more than enough room to store what I do take at the temp housing and I grow a ton of stuff in containers anyway, so I'm looking at this summer just being a container gardener! By late summer or early fall, maybe sooner, I expect to have found a new permanent place and can start my new garden afresh.

I hate the idea of returning to see what new residents may have done to a treasured garden - seldom do they value the same plants and the same style (especially my type of gardening 'style', which is at least one of everything and very high maintenance!). But I'm going to be relocating far enough away that won't be an issue.

I have very specific requirements for the new place - small, all on one level, a working fireplace and hopefully a fenced yard for the puppy. I am not nearly as specific about the garden - I can make a garden out of anything - but it's going to be much smaller and simpler than my current one and better planned out :-) And it is going to have a bunch of clematis!

ps. Do you have any idea how much garden 'stuff' one acquires over the course of 25 years? Not the plants, but all the stuff associated with planting and gardening, tools, garden decor, etc. Going through all of that and deciding what to keep or get rid of is presenting more of a challenge than deciding what plants to take!

Congratulations on your move and the excitement that brings.
Interesting how the inconvenience of not getting more done in your garden because of your broken foot has turned into a positive now.

I have moved many times and understand about having so much "stuff" to sort through. Seems with the extra space my gardening equipment has multiplied.

'Harlow Carr' is a lovely clematis. Any particular reason that this is the only one you are planning on taking with you?

I hope you have considered taking cuttings of some of your special shrubs or seeds to start new plants.

This should be a good time to buy a new home and you may be surprised to find one sooner than expected. Will look forward to seeing photos of your new garden and home.

'Harlow Carr' is the only one planted in the ground I'll be taking......there's a bunch of others growing in containers that will go as well :-) I'm choosing HC because 1) it is a such a blooming machine, 2) it's only been in the ground a year and therefore quite transplantable and 3) it's a relatively small vine as well. All my other planted clems are too well established or too darn big to attempt to move.

Although plant propagation is not my strong suit, I will be taking cuttings of some rare stuff that is too big to move also. Seeds I can't be bothered with :-)

Oh I know all too well how much garden stuff one accumulates over the years. I think I would have a yard sale and get rid of all but the most important pieces if I moved again. I also know about wondering how the new people that purchase your house will handle a garden that can take a lot of work to upkeep. My old house is less than 5 miles from where I currently live and I stopped going by when I saw how they were removing things that I had painstakingly planted and installed. It is their garden however and they should have the right to do as they please. To each their own!

The house you are describing looking for is mine. Small, one level, we have a gas log in the fireplace but it could be removed, fenced yard and lots of Clematis. LOL

There is also a big shed on a slab, not some pre-fab job, a greenhouse and multiple ponds/water features.

Not for sale though. :)

Wow, Pam, what a move! The house next door to me fits your description, too, and it's a short sale! Flat, shy quarter-acre less than a 1/2 block from the Cedar River, fenced, water costs only $40 month regardless of how much you use. Plus you'd have great neighbors!

This should be a grand adventure - I wish you well.

You haven't said where you are moving to. Inquiering minds would like to know. I've left behind more gardens than I care to remember. I learned a long time ago to never look back.