I'm so sorry you're going.
I have no advice to offer, just wanted to let you know we'll miss you.

Take care and stay with us! :)
Christine

Most moving companies will not transport plants interstate, although I'm sure the rules vary state by state. Moving is a good time to clean up everything! If there are plants with sentimental value, you need to figure out a way to take them in the car with you. Everything that's important will fit! Shift some of the other items to the moving van. Won't the cats be in carriers anyway? That's a long drive and as a side note, you might want to talk to your vet about anti-anxiety medication for the ride. We're talking 10 hours minimum, probably more if there's traffic. Have a safe trip, Maine is a large state, where are you moving to?

If you have any gardening friends in the neighborhood, perhaps one of them could bareroot and ship your plants when the weather is cooler and fall is here. Without the soil the plants wouldn't weigh much.
Plants with roots wrapped in moist paper towel or newpaper, covered with plastic ( root ball only), travel quite well.

Where in Maine are you going? If it is anywhere near Blue Hill I can tell you about some neat nursaries.

Les

IF you can prune stuff so it's small, bareroot it *completely* to avoid transporting pests, put it in plastic bags, and pack the plastic bags in a box in the car. That will protect both the plants and the cats. Otherwise, leave it entirely for the new owners, possibly taking cuttings for a fresh start up there. I moved selections of an entire herb garden that way when I transplanted myself from Pittsburgh to Connecticut.
Maine notes - 1)travel time - it's almost exactly 12 hours from Herndon (Dulles Airport area) to Bath ME, allowing for a couple of pit stops and a gas stop 2) DO stop at the first rest area on I-84 in Connecticut if you are taking that route - they have gorgeous gardens 3)please take the time, once you get there, to figure out what is already growing. Maine has wonderful subtle wildflowers in the woods, and soil (or lack of) that takes those better than it deals with most of the tame ones.

Particularly if you are planning on driving straight through rather than stopping overnight, you're welcome to email me privately if you want accumulated info on routes etc. I've made the trip to the Bath area about 5 times in the last 3 years, because we have a place there in my father's home town.

We'll miss you, but good luck with the move!

Robin

I second the suggestion about mailing plants. I'm sure that if you have things potted up several of us GW folks (myself included) would be happy to keep plants for you til Fall and then mail them North. One can fit an awful lot into those Flat Rate priority boxes...

Lynn

Hi all,

thanks for the advice and goodbyes and offers of help and all ... MAG is great -it'll be a lot for the Maine forum people to live up to! Especially since, as noted, Maine is a big state! (see way below, in the tangent zone, if you were wondering where in Maine i'm going)

I'm not sure what the moving company's policy will be - i don't think any i spoke with gave me a flat out no for plants on the phone, like for legal/pest control reasons - i think at least some said if there's room, it's fine, but in this heat they won't take liability for plants' survival. i guess it'll be up to the driver. About getting stuff shipped ... I've never had much luck with getting anything to grow from bare-root, but then again haven't tried so many times ... dunno. not really close with neighbors or geographically close to any of you and just not sure i could get organized in the next weeek, espcially since i'm not so confident i could keep the planties alive once they were shipped to me bare-root. The stuff I would move isn't so special, really ... probably not at all what a more sophisticated gardener would be wanting to take - i'm just feeling stubborn (like, i've been trying to get lilacs the whole time we've been here in this house, since i think it's not quite a home without lilacs in late spring, and now the first one i got at a swap is maybe finally ready to bloom next year, maybe. and there's the one growing from a sucker my dad brought me from his house, which turns out grew from suckers from ones at my grandmother's house ... so that's kindof special ... though i could also just get another sucker from him which would be the much more rational thing to do; he'll only be 6 or 7 hours drive away) i've pretty much convinced myself to be ok leaving almost everything behind since
-the yard we're going to doesn't have beds ready and i think is very different in general (i haven't actually seen it yet! ... just lots of pictures and descriptions) - definitely way shadier -
-and i don't know what's there that i wouldn't want to accidentally destroy by digging up beds too early ...
-and i have lots of seeds to start things from (including some from many of you - thank you!) ...
-and also i've been trying to get lots of maryland natives for the yard here and they are probably much better off staying here in their nice native environment than trucking off to maine. and, up there i'll want more maine natives!
[yes, i like to rationalize. :) ]
but ... those plants that are already sitting around in pots just seem to be begging to come along ... and they wouldn't need to go right into beds there since they've been just in containers anyway [more rationalization]! and it wouldn't be hard to sneak a couple little bits of other basic starter-things into pots, pretending like they've already been there all summer ... but then again i don't want to just outright murder the plants if they really have no chance of surviving the truck ride.

so ... i'll see what the movers say, i guess. more advice, etc. from you all still most welcome, of course! :)
-libby

location tangent:
We're going to Trenton which is near Ellsworth (bigger/more likely to have been heard of) - right near Mt. Desert Island but on the mainland. Zone 5b, i believe. coastal "downeast" Maine, perhaps? stilly trying to figure out what different areas there are called. It is also near Blue Hill - we drove around there a lot and i think i saw a few nurseries in May when we were there exploring/househunting - (also saw listings for nurseries for sale along with houses tempting, for a moment, but sadly, i really do not have a very green thumb, so that would be a very bad idea) - really i should stay away from nurseries - too much temptation! though i have been holding onto the idea of being closer to green mountain transplants (if they're still in business in new location) - it'd still be 3 hours or so but would be between our place and my brother's - and they have stuff so cheap!

cats tangent:
yes, we will be driving straight through - my brother's house would be a good stopping point about 2/3 of the way there, but ... he has cats and we'll have the cats and none of them are necessarily so friendly to unfamiliar cats, plus they have tons of knick-knacks and one of my cats compulsively clears all surfaces of knick-knacks - it's quite a sport for him. and our cats absolutely do not tolerate being shut up in a room or anything - they're totally friendly (with people) and tolerant and easy-going (in a curious, explorer-minded sort of way) as long as they aren't shut up, especially not away from people. they're shelter cats ... i think that about maxed out their tolerance for being caged in. we will get and bring sedative pills from vet just in case but hope not to have to use them ... so far the cats are pretty ok on car rides as long as they're not in carriers. i know carriers are supposed to be safer but these cats freak out in them and drugging them unnecessarily doesn't seem like the best idea either - they both seem pretty sensitive to drugs (took quite a while for anaesthetic to totally wear off even after they came home from getting fixed; seemed a bit off for a few days after vaccinations and had bumps at injection site for a long time ... etc.). so will have carriers and drugs with us but only as plan B.