Commando gardening

[puglogic]

And no, I don't mean gardening sans underwear :D

We moved out of a house last fall and into a new one, and we've had the old one for sale for some time. We're (hopefully) a few days from being rid of it finally, and my husband thinks I'm crazy for going over to the old place to rescue a bunch of the perennials.

First, there's the rhubarb, brought to me from Wisconsin 20 years ago, and which I've been toting/transplanting from home to home since. It's a beautiful, sweet red variety that you can almost eat fresh.

There's my valerian, which took me two years to establish.

My jerusalem artichokes. Motherwort. Horseradish. Egyptian onions. Lovage. Ft. Laramie strawberries. Chervil. Sorrel. Garlic chives. Back and forth, back and forth, but luckily the old house is just 5 minutes away.

AM I crazy? It just seems like I can't take the chance that whoever's moving in there is just going to let them die, or bluegrass them over. Plus I don't want to spend the hundreds of dollars to replace it all. But maybe I'm just a nutty gardener..... Anybody else ever done commando transplanting to rescue something?

[fidgiegirl]

Nope, I think you are completely in the right. We plan to go divide the plants from our rental property. They are expensive! And it sounds like sentimental. So there.

[Gardenarian]

Heavens, I dug up all the roses at our old house and brought them to our new one! I don't think that's crazy at all!

[herbgeek]

Chances are the new people wouldn't even know what the plants ARE. I would take them with me too.

[ApatheticNoMore]

No I think it's sensible. Unless you wanted to leave them as a gift for your new tenants, which is generous, but they may or may not be planties (um that's something like foodies with plants).

[San Onofre Guy]

I thought that this was a thread about Billybarebutt or Loose Chickens gardening!

[Alan]

I thought that this was a thread about Billybarebutt or Loose Chickens gardening!
Me too. I was afraid to look!!

[iris lily]

I have run around for two summers transplanting iris and lilies from a place we will be selling. After all of that, and after having gotten rid of truckloads to friends and to the dumpsters I STILL have scads of iris. I sent out mass emails today to the Iris Society and various gardening friends to come in and dig this weekend. It's tough to see quality plants be ignored.

[pinkytoe]

I think about this a lot as I go about transforming my yard. I haven't decided how I will deal with it when it is time to leave but my hope is that whoever buys our house someday will love the plants as much as I do.

[Gregg]

I don't think you're crazy at all, but I will play the bummer part here... Make sure it's legal. If your selling a house and have a contract whatever is left there is usually considered the buyers property. I'm not sure there would be a legal difference between cutting out a little horseradish and cutting down the big maple in the front yard. Is there a way to talk to the buyers? If you do that, and assuming they say ok, you'd be off the hook. Plus, if you're dividing plants it would be a great time to show them what they're getting so they might keep it all up. We left behind gardens that we spent years building when we sold our last house. That was REALLY hard, but what do you do? Off to the new garden!



BTW: If you wish to practice that other form of commando gardening don't forget the sunscreen on any exposed areas!

[frugalone]

Not crazy. I've got a friend who has moved hostas from her grandmom's house all over the place--and her husband was in the Navy so you can imagine how much traveling was involved!