I can really sympathize, Michele, and think you're wise to take those favorites before a buyer even sees the house. Unless you're up in the mountains of Virginia, you should be able to do this successfully. Up here in coastal NJ, USDA Zone 7, I have had no trouble overwintering potted perennials, shrubs and small trees in pots sunk into the ground, with a good few inches of shredded oak leaf mulch. I feel that leaving them in the pots causes less trauma than being torn out of the ground again in spring. If you cannot sink the pots before the ground freezes, then I would cluster them together and surround with straw bales then fill in between and over the pots with shredded leaf mulch. What you want to do is stabilize the soil temperature as much as possible to prevent repeated freezing and thawing of the soil and root systems. Despite unusually wild fluctuations in temperature this past winter, ranging from the 40's down to the teens, and vice versa, all of the plants overwintered in this manner made it through with no problems.

Thank you for replying telling me how thing's are for yourself's. When my grandfather past away in 1978 we all knew it was coming, seen his health decline from heart problems. Grandfather was my first lost from illness and I was specially close to him. My granny, grandfather's wife lived 19 years past his passing away and I would go over and sit with her for a few hours, she'd talk of how much she missed him and was so alone without him. I was very young at the time plus busy raising my two young kids, didn't realize just how bad it was for her being without her spouse. Not only having to deal with her loss she also had to put up with my uncle her first born son, he wanted to put her into a nursing home right away just to get her out of her own home so he could do as he pleased. My dad and her would not hear of it and she wasn't ill nor was she having any health problems at that time. Later on in the late 80's she started going down but it was slow she started forgetting the great grand kid's names till it came down to not even knowing her own kid's names. My dad would go over to see her and she'd ask who are you...well, where do you live. It is sad and so hard to see and watch a loved one go down. My dad has his up's and down's. When he is feeling good he loves to tell jokes and friends of his beg's him to tell them. Here lies one problem: being that he does live so far 23 miles from me it is not easy going over everyday like I do. My own home is suffering some cause I cannot get around that good myself. Like the other day I left dad's house around noon time so I could come home and do some house work but I had a bad bout with my leg and foot, the pain was so bad that it kept me up at night, I could not get comfortable no matter what I did. I'm going to the doctor today to see if something can be done for my foot, It might be a spur in my heal. Plus my husband keeps me up sometimes with his snoring .... he's going for a sleep study tonight. My DH also has a bad gall bladder and will need surgery and we've been checking out trying to find a good surgeon for him. First one we went to had the personality and a wet noodle LOL, Really that surgeon left us feeling very unsure about letting him do surgery on my DH. It is wonderful to have an outlet an outreach like this where as long ago it was much harder to find someone to reach out to. Thank's again for listening to me ramble LOL

Thank you! It does look remarkably like Sempervivum tectorum! Picture from the Internet: http://worldofsucculents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Sempervivum-tectorum-Common-Houseleek.jpg I guess I should give it more sun, it did look like it was stretching a little. I got it at the flea market, tilted the pot a little bit to tie my shoes, and the whole thing just fell out, roots and plant and all! :O Good thing it's tolerant to abuse.... It's going to be a bit hard digging out the oxalis plant. Maybe I'll keep it and move it to another pot, it looks quite cute right now. :)

Do you mean azomite? If so, not technically a fertilizer as it has no NPK to speak of (only a P of 0.2) but it does contain a good range of trace element and minerals. It is really intended to remineralize depleted soils although a lot of soil scientists question any need. I can't imagine it would do much for a lawn, which typically needs just N in any quantity, and it is silly expensive!! It also has no capacity for any aeration.