Hi Brenda
What a quandry you are in! My friend moved from Michigan to Connecticut but before they sold the house my buddy split up all her perennials and she potted them up in potting soil and watered them well. After the house sold and they had to move they still didn't have a home so they brought all those pots over to my house and stacked them around my maple tree garden (just mint, ground cover etc there). There they sat til spring - thru all the snows and bitter cold - and my friend came back to Michigan and picked them all up and trundled them back to CT. I think out of about 130 pots she only lost three or four. Not bad at all! Even I couldn't believe it! I forgot to tell you that when we raked up and mulched all the leaves we tossed them around those pots for insulation so that the roots didn't freeze. Good luck!

Hi Brenda,

Do you, or will you, have access to a garage? I overwinter lots and lots (approximately 200) of pots in my garage every winter, and usually most of them survive. Let's just hope you know *before* winter whether you have to move or not. Won't be able to do much if it's January when you find out, and your plants are still in the ground.

Good luck!
Dee

Wait till fall, as late as you can, even November. Dig up as many of the plants as you can,with lots of roots. Then dig a trench or ditch in your new location. Make the ditch about 18 inches deep and as long as you need. Place the plants in the ditch sideways, then cover them with fallen leaves. Keep them damp during the winter and they should be alive come spring. I have personally used this method. I live in zone 6 where we have cold winters. Good luck to you and your plants.

Another way is to give divisions of your favorites to friends and neighbors, with the understanding that after you move, they will share divisions with your for your new place.

You got some good ideas, but another one is to save seed from each of your plants - an economical way to store those plants for the future. Look into the Wintersowing.org website and there are also extensive conversations on Gardenweb about WS. Its the easiest thing I've ever done and a lot of fun.

I think you should divide your favorites and pot half and give half away to someone else who would share with you again in the future - just hedging your bets.

I stored quite a few of my friends plants when she went through a divorce last fall...

I overwintered them in the ground at my house and then gave them back to her this spring....

It worked great!

Worst case scenario, a lot of us fellow divorcees will help you wherever you settle. I've lost everything too, and it's awful. This is a good bunch of caring people who will definately help someone when they are down.
Joyceann

When I moved to the current house, I brought about 30 pots of perennials and a few shrubs from the previous house. I dug them up in the Spring of '02 and moved here in August '02. But I was wrapped up in projects on the house so I didn't actually get to start the gardens here until Fall '03. Those poor plants spent 1 and 1/2 years in the pots!

To overwinter them, I placed all the pots on the North side of the house next to the garage, to minimize sun exposure and fluctuations in temperature. You want to avoid freezing and thawing of the soil in the pots through the winter, because that is more likely to kill plants that are in pots than plants in the ground.

Also, like Magickiwi I mulched the pots heavily by surrounding them and piling up leaves all around the pots, again to minimize the chance of thawing once they are frozen. Remember to keep them well-watered!!

Almost all of the plants survived and doing well. As I recall the lavender died, but I've since tried to grow lavendar two more times here, and it keeps dying on me. Who knows why?? :)

How well do you get along with your landlord? Do you think it's possible that he might put some sort of clause into a sales contract that states something like "tenant may return in April at a agreed-upon time to retrieve plantings in such and such a location".
Might be worth a try anyway.
If he sells in the winter, the new owners won't know what the gardens look like, anyway.

In any case, I would definitely give divisions to friends this fall.

All of the above suggestions are perfect - let me throw my two cents in.

If you are worried about losing ANY perennials - remember, perennials can be done from seed - There are two forums for seed growing - Growing From Seed - and Winter Sowing.

I use the winter sowing method and have tons of perennials (many can bloom first year...) and have done them for pennies.

Good luck - and please keep in touch via forums

Carrie

When I moved I brought 225 potted plants with me. It was in the Fall and I put the pots into the ground for the winter so I could unpack and get settled. I went from a zone 7 to a zone 5. I lost about 10% but that was not too bad, especially considering the zone change. If I ever move again, I would only bring the unusual plants or the ones that have an emotional attachment. [grandmother's and mother's plants] You could put you plants into pots and see if it's possible to heel those pots into your new yard or at a friend's yard. When you pot them up to move, remember to cut them back, keep them watered and don't fertilize. Good luck and I think you will find you will be much happier now that you're "allowed" to garden!
GG

Wow, thanks to everyone for your responses; I can see that I'm going to get a lot of help here at the forums! I've been sitting here smiling and reading, and in amazement at all the quick response.

Ive been collecting seeds, I collect seeds everywhere I go! (One day soon I just know IÂm gonna have a nickname!) IÂve got a very natural green thumb, but I still donÂt want to leave my beauties behind. THEIR MINE! : ) All the seed I collected from last year made my home into quite a showcase this summer and I stand in amazement everyday because I really didnÂt know what I was doing. I have to admit, though, I have so much more to learn! Whatever I do, though, IÂm going to have the seed, at least.

Joyceann, when I read your post tears came to my eyes, thank-you. : ) If you only knew what those kind words meant to me right now!

Magickiwi, that is an awesomely sweet story, and a great idea!

Jannie, I love your idea about the trench, but I donÂt think my landlord will. I am going to keep this idea in my journal, though, and use this at a later date. Great idea! Thank-you!

Diggerdee, I do have a garage, but it has no doors. ItÂs a great garage, but the landlord never put the door back on, and itÂs an entry to my patio and back door so nobody ever put one there. I think it might be too cold there but what do you think of my basement? ItÂs probably around 55 degrees all winter, maybe a little warmer, not certain. Although the furnace is down there, itÂs not heated, and stays just warm enough to allow me to go down and do my laundry, quickly!

Saypoint, the idea of divisions is great, and IÂm going to do this just in case But IÂm also going to pot them since this seems to be the easiest way for me to move them if he does sell this winter.

Alyrics, thanks for the site, IÂll visit there soon. As I said, though, most of my flowers this year were from the seeds I saved from last year and since I didnÂt know anything at all about saving seeds, I guess I got lucky, because everyone that comes in my back yard tells me I have a jungle! Everywhere you look there are flowers, itÂs awesome!! I could look at them forever, and since I hurt my back at work and spend most of my time at home, I do!

Webcat, IÂve got a girlfriend with lots of land, but that sounds like too much work for a girl with a back injury, (which I realize I didnÂt mention in my original post, sorry) so I guess IÂm going to pot them. Thanks for the suggestion, though, it is a good one!

Chris, I had thought of your idea, asking the landlord to put a clause in the sale, but what if the buyer does not agree? My landlord is certainly not going to lose a sale over my flowers, so I guess I need to pot them! Although when I rented the charming little house he did tell me that he was looking for retirement security in his rentals and I thought I had a place to stay for a good long time, he wants to sell this place to put money into another. I really donÂt understand his thinking, because he is making a good amount here and I am very stable and take care of things well and he knows this. Go figure, my luck!

Carrie, IÂve heard about winter sowing but have never tried it. I guess itÂs time! Thank-you for the heads up. DOH!! : )

Terrene, I'm sure your flowers loved their pots because they were yours and they were still with you! : ) If I find out anything about lavendar, I'll post for you! Thank-you for the help! Potting it is!

OOOoooh, Gardenguru, you have noooooo idea how much happier I am now that I am "allowed." IsnÂt that just too funny? My kids keep teasing me that when they hit the lottery or get rich and famous they are going to buy me a greenhouse! I canÂt wait!! : )

I really didnÂt think much of watering in the winter, thinking that the plants are dormant and donÂt need water. (~smacks head~) Thank goodness IÂve found you guys. The question is, should I put the potted perennials in the basement or the garage? And Carrie, you said to cut them back, how far should I cut them, to the ground?

Thank-you, truly, for all the response! I really do love my flowers, as IÂm sure you all do.

Brenda

One thought,I'm not sure how it is with rental property, but if the new owners thought the plants belonged with the property, they could cause a stink if they were dug after the sale & weren't aware they were yours. If he is already showing the property, I might be concerned.

Brenda

It was gardenguru who kindly mentioned that you cut them back and she's right. Can't take credit for her great advice - but yes, go to Wintersowing forum- it'll change your life and save you tons of money

Carrie

Oh, Carrie, please, please, PLEASE, forgive me. I had so many posts and it was my first ever post and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt anyone. I really do appreciate your time in helping me out. Grrrrrr, I'm sooooooo very sorry, really. If you notice in the original post, at least I had it right there. I feel so bad...

: (

ngraham, I thought of that, also, but you know what? That's not my problem; that's the landlord's problem. He needs to tell the prospective buyer that the flowers are mine and I truly believe that any court of law would stand behind me; I am, afterall, renting the property. He said I could plant flowers; he never said they would become his property. He's not going to keep the furniture inside...

I really do hate this situation, and I don't want to bother my flowers over the winter. I really don't have a good feeling about this, though, and I think he will sell it if he gets the chance. I do love my flowers and I'll be darned if anyone is going to get them from me; they've been very therapeutic for me!

Thanks for the post and Happy Gardening!

Brenda

I believe that when you plant in someone elses yard it's something akin to painting someone elses wall. I don't THINK unless otherwise agreed they'd have to let you have them back.

I told my renter she could plant what she wanted but what she planted stayed in the ground. That's what I was told as a renter many years ago and thought that was the rule of thumb.

Brenda

Gosh, you never hurt anyone's feelings - we all LOVE you already - so please don't worry.

You are going to love these forums, everyone is so nice and helpful - I learned so many things about gardening and learning to grow from seed has been the best!

Good luck - Carrie

Awwww, thanks, Carrie, that's a relief! I love it here already, I've learned already, and I still have soo much to learn!!

And trust me, I'm going to WS this year just for the fun of it, and if anything comes up, they can keep it!! LOL!

Happy Gardening!

Brenda
~whew~

brenda: When I moved, I also wanted to take a lot of my plants with me. I potted them and drove them to a friend's house in the autumn. Sat them close together on the ground under an old swingset, bought 6 or 7 bags of topsoil from Lowes and dumped the soil over, around and between all the pots. Wrapped deer netting around the swingset to keep the deer out.

Come spring, when I found a new house, I pulled out the pots and took them to their new homes. I lost a few, but thought this method worked pretty well, didn't require digging a trench and didn't do my friend's place any harm.

"You know you're a gardener when you give more thought and care to moving your plants than you do to your furniture!:)"

I moved four years ago and was determined to bring absolutely everything with me too. One of the things I ran into immediately was the cost of potting soil! I used up all my compost and realized I was going to go broke if I had to buy that much. (I brought 350 pots of stuff with me.)

So, I potted my plants up in dry leaves. I know this sounds insane, but I mowed up leaves from my yard that fall, catching them in the mower bag, and then I packed them into the pots and potted my perennials in them. Then I just watered them as if they were full of potting soil. I am telling you the truth, I didn't lose more than 3 or 4 plants, and they were in the pots from October to the following September! The leaves broke down into compost, of course, and by the time I was planting in the ground, I had only about a half of a potful of soil and roots in the containers, but everything lived. And it gave me some nice free soil amendments in my new beds too.

By the way, I was selling my house, so I divided each plant, putting half back in the ground and the other half in my pots. My old neighbors told me the yard was gorgeous the next year. Remember, it's good for perennials to be divided. (You can tell your landlord this, and it's true, of course.)

As for over-wintering, obviously a zone 7-er is no expert, but I have read that you can take fence wire and bend it into cylinders (like big tomato cages), put several inches of dry leaves in the bottom, then your pots, and then several inches of leaves around the sides and over the tops of the pots, and that will work to insulate your plants. It seems like a good idea to me, but some of you northerners feel free to weigh in on this idea.

Oh, one more piece of advice. Be sure you put something in your pots to identify your plants. If you keep up with the names of daylilies, and the like, you'll really need to work at this or you'll be lost when replanting time comes. Also, it would have been helpful to me to put a description of the color on the tags too. (The official color descriptions of daylilies are not always the colors my eyes see.) One good tag idea is to cut up old vinyl window blinds into strips and write on them with a sharpie pen. Stick the tag down into the soil so the ink isn't exposed to the sun. It will last longer that way.

Hi Leslies, That's a great idea, and as I said earlier in the post, I have a girlfriend with a very large lot, and it even has a swing set in the backyard! (No way, too ironic!) It's so funny that I thought of putting them in her yard after I read some of the ideas here, and then you mention using the swing set. Aren't our gardening friends the greatest? They really understand! Thanks for the input.

Donnabaskets, you really had me laughing on the first line. As I said earlier in the post, I was never allowed to dig on our 12+ acre lot, and when I was set free, the gardener came out in me! I don't have room in my cozy little house for house plants, (not many, anyway) but I used to have at least fifty at a time when we lived in the twenty room house. BUT, there is no need any longer, I am digging almost daily, and the kids are teasing me all the time. I start my annuals inside in winter, and the kitchen table is always so full of the little pots that I think I drive everyone crazy! They keep telling me that they are going to buy me a greenhouse one day. It's just so funny that you should mention the furniture; I hadn't thought of it until you just mentioned it now.

A gardeners work is never done!

You've given me some great ideas and I really appreciate your input. I especially like the color coding ideas; I probably would not have thought of that.

Leave my girls behind, not a chance!

Happy Gardening!

Brenda

Brenda, I can almost hear the smile in your post. I'm glad you're so happy. I use Donnabaskets' idea all the time, labeling plants with a piece of blind. May I also suggest you start a garden journal. I find it most helpful to see what is happy in it's location or what may need to be moved or split next year. [As I age, my recall button sometimes doesn't work like it use to!] Now that I am done with human propagation (LOL), I am now learning to propagate my plants. This is also a great way for you to increase some of your bushes and plants. There is always something to learn in gardening. And, yes, it's GREAT therapy. Perhaps your children are old enough to help and will also love gardening. This is a great forum and you will always have gardening mentors here, I'm sure. Good luck with your move and keep smiling.
GG

My advice is just ask your landlord to honest with you and if he says he's trying to sell out from under you, it may be a good idea to start looking for a new place to move to now, BEFORE winter.Just move your plants to the new place. I don't know the laws of renting but I'd think that if he's showing the place to sell it, he shouldn't be able to hold you to a lease. Just a thought!

Just a follow-up. You have gotten some terrific advice and are benefiting from years of gardening experience. An old saying is "a fool learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others". Same goes for gardening. Mostly women don't make mistakes - of course - but don't you just love all the help and advice?

Two things I was thinking of when I read all the posts above tonight -
ONE: Check at Lowe's for potting soil - look for ANY AND ALL bags that are punctured and, if moved, will spill out some of the contents. I get those at my Lowe's for 50 cents a bag! Forty pound bags! I also get pretty much the same deals on ANY kind of split bags. The people at Lowe's always put on some wide tape of some kind so that my van stays clean.

TWO: TAGS: I also use cut up mini blinds - only I don't use pens any more - I use #2 pencils... the pencil doesn't fade. I write botanical and common name of plants if I know them, color, height and who I got them from - writing the info on both sides of the tags. I cut them about a foot long. They break easily after a few years but it works for me and others in our garden group (online group of Michigan perennial gardeners) and this is how we tag our pots at the plant swaps. Putting names on there - or email addresses - lets us contact the people and let them know how the plants are doing or and to ask questions about care etc.

That is about it for me tonight. Oh - Winter Sowing is the best! Do check out their forum and read their FAQS section now as when you are wanting to know what to plant into etc you will be scurrying around hunting up containers!

Your gardens sound wonderful! Congratulations for hanging in there.

Cheers from Michigan zone 5

Hey, GG, nice to hear from you again! You know that was a very nice thing you said to me about the smile, thank-you. (Insert embarassed smiley.) Gardening really does make me so happy; I'll bet you can imagine. : ) It kinda' scares me, though; it is getting to be more like an obsession! You guys here in the perennials forum are such great people. I wish I could surround myself with all of you all the time.

Really, really great idea about the journal, thanks for the heads up. I honestly thought about it just for general ideas, but the idea of notes on my flowers and plants, now that is good! Next time I go to Walmart I'm going to visit the stationary and get something beautiful and perfect to keep my notes in. Maybe Ill press some flowers to make a cover! LOL!! It's impossible to remember everything, you are correct; especially when I have so many new things coming up around me all the time. (I was a silly girl and tried some different varieties of zinnias, from seed, no less, in late June; I wanted so badly to have some new surprises later in summer, and they are already blooming!)

Now lets see, first things to add to the journal: propagation, plant tags-color coded, ..

AND, surprisingly enough, all three of my children have followed in my footsteps, although they still dont help as much as I would like. Its not that I want them to do the work, but there is just something about being outside digging in the dirt and spending time with your children.

I believe that everything comes from God; and Im sure that is how I found this forum. You guys are really great, and I knew from your first post that you were a gem!

Hiya, Iowa, thanks for the interest. Actually, Ive been thinking of talking very frankly with my landlord, just as you suggested. My lease ran out, but I wish I had a two sided one, now. He is a very good Christian man, so Im sure he will be honest with me. Its just very hard to bring things like this up, but I think I am going to have to have that talk. I wasnt sure if it was a good idea, but now that youve said the same thing, I guess its not just me. Thanks for the reassurance!!

Hey Magic, nice to hear from you. The idea about Lowes is awesome, thanks soooo much!! Im certainly a bargain hunter, especially these days. The idea about using a #2 is great also, details, details!! Ive got a mini blind to replace in my sons room, so I guess Ive got a couple years supply.

Oh, and I am going to try Winter Sowing; Im very excited about the idea and more excuses to dig!

Thank-you mostly for the vote of confidence; it really means more than you know!

Take care, all, and Happy Gardening!

Brenda

P.S. To all concerned, I was born at Mount Carmel downtown Detroit, which is no longer there. I was raised in Garden City and had relatives in Brighton, Dearborn Heights, and Ferndale. Im in Ohio now, but I do miss my hometown. I do visit every now and again to see the Lions and Tigers when I can!