Bad time to be doing it but I would dig them up and pot them-if you cant take them with you, give them to anyone you can think of who would want and love them. If you wait for 'the perfect gardening buyer' you are just as likely to come back and find they had bulldozed the lot and had the yard cemented over.

If you have a few weeks before you have to sell, I would advertise the roses over the house. Run the home sale ad, but emphasize the roses...something like BEAUTIFUL ROSE GARDEN FOR SALE...HOME COMES WITH IT.

If that doesn't get a buyer in the next few weeks, I'd talk to someone at your local rose society and see if they do something like Patriciae recommended. Maybe pick a day and let people come in a choose a rose (they could dig it up if necessary) but they would be people who know something about roses and hopefully be able to move them successfully...and not trash your yard in the process.

Good luck with selling your house. If you list your general location, you might have people from this forum, who live in your area, come help you dig up your roses...and move them to their house :)

A woman here in Sacramento with a wonderful rose garden - roses everywhere, front and back of the house, trained around pillars, over arches, up fences and wall, in pots around the pool and every possible place - ended up having to dig out most of them and put down sod in order to sell her house. She did it in a few stages, thinking each time that it would be enough - and it wasn't. I don't know how many roses were ultimately left but most of them were distributed through the rose society and whomever would take them.

When people walk into my back yard, they exclaim "Isn't it a lot of work?!?!?" It really isn't, except for pruning time, but you can't convince anybody of that. My garden's pretty idiosyncratic, and I've taken it for granted that it's the rare person who would take it on as is. People know about turf and shrubs - roses scare them.

Thank goodness, I have no plans to leave.
Anita

You have my sympathies. Although I don't have a rose garden, I still have many roses. I suspect they could all be removed and the landscape still wouldn't look too bare. It's funny how guests think the roses are the problem, when the weed seed blown in from hundreds of surrounding acres of farm land are five times more time consuming than roses.

I commend ornamental grasses as a nice border. You can't kill em for trying, they come in assorted sizes and colors, some are natives that you can't fry or drown no matter how hard you try, and their sole care consists of cutting them as short as you can once a year unless they are evergreen, in which case they get no care at all besides drip irrigation. Here, they move in the breezes, providing a lovely swaying backdrop to turf.

I have been figuring in the back of my mind that I or my heirs will have to "dig out most of them and put down sod in order to sell". It's irritating and makes me think like Butch Cassidy - we got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals!!

I like lavender_lass's idea about advertising. You have a niche. Now you need to find the folks that are attracted to that niche otherwise...

All the best to you.

Sherry

I'm disheartened to hear roses can be a liability when trying to sell your house. I once almost bought a house I wasn't sold on BECAUSE it had a beautiful garden. But too much remodeling would have been involved and I wanted none of that. I have mostly climbers and I bet they are considered even more undesirable in terms of work. If I ever try to sell my house I better do it in spring and start planting lots more trees and evergreens!

Good luck to you. Your home and garden look beautiful. I think Lavender Lass' idea is a good one - people who are looking for beautiful landscaping and a ready made great garden, may be drawn to an ad emphasizing aesthetic features. It's a consideration for a lot of people.

Landscaping is usually a minor issue (look at how many horrible landscapes there are at houses marked "sold"). The landscape looks maintained and appropriate to the house. Most buyers look harder at the house and location than at the landscape. Most people can't tell a rose from a privit in the first place!

People buying a .67 acre lot are going to assume there will be maintenance. If they don't want yard work they buy a condo.

In this buyer's market, buyers are scarce and are looking for perfection. Are you sure the rose garden is the umm...sticking point? (sorry about the pun!)

After reading this thread, I KNOW that NOBODY would ever consider buying my property. Oh well. I guess I'm stuck here.

Robert

We sold my mother-in-law's house a couple of months ago. It had no roses in the front garden, but about 50 in the back garden, along with all sorts of fruit trees, etc. I was happy that I found an old map that showed what each rose was. Well, the house sold in 2 days for 100% of the asking price, and I really don't think the roses were an issue one way or the other at all. Maybe that's because there were only 50 of them!

People were much more interested in the neighborhood, and the "mid century modern" architecture of the house. The ultimate buyers are planning on doing massive remodeling, and will be taking out everything in the gardens that requires much water, which includes most of the roses. I think I may have talked them into keeping some of the once bloomers. I don't mind, really, because most of the roses were only planted 20 years ago.

Jackie

I've already resigned myself to the fact that someone who buys my house will probably not want all my roses. And I'm ok with that. I will remove them if they wish. But until then, I'm not going to worry about it.

Wow, I forgot to look at the link to your house - major beautiful! How long has your home been on the market? After looking at the photos I don't think I'd worry about the roses, except to make it clear that certain roses will not convey in the sale (if you're taking some with you). Your home looks to be perfectly maintained, tastefully decorated, and the landscape is fine, too. Price is always the biggest factor. Sharpen your pencil and get it right. Believe your Realtor's comparable sales, because they are what the appraiser will use for your buyer's mortgage. Your market may not be in the toilet like mine is, but lenders are still being tight-fisted with their money. If you're right there with the comps, it's just a matter of time. I don't think the roses will hold you back (you could always offer to pay for their removal before closing), and I wouldn't accept one buyer saying it was the roses that killed the deal. Buyers are liars. It was the money.

Sherry

Does your realtor say the roses are the problem? Can he/she state that if that is the problem, you are willing to remove any/all the roses they wish? They can pick and choose which roses they want to keep - if any, and any they want to get rid of, you will remove it (and pay to have sod placed down, if necessary).

I feel for you - people do have a preconceived notion that roses are a lot of work (and that grass is no work!). But in this economy, I can understand that you need to do whatever it takes to sell your home. LL had a good suggestion - perhaps you can give that a try for a short period of time.

Good luck!

I don't know what makes people want one house and not another. Many people think gardens or any sort are a lot of work, and don't want them. I think they like lawns because an anonymous service comes once a week and takes care of it for them, pumping on the chemicals and shaving it to a uniform height, like well-groomed outdoor carpet. If you know for sure that you are going to move, and if you have had this response repeatedly, you might want to make your garden look bland and neutral. Give away most of the roses, lay some cheap turf, and make it look like everybody else's garden. Actually, even if a true garden lover bought it, he would still change much of it.

Rosefolly

Here is a link that might be useful: House and garden

Some years ago, an older local rosarian put her house on the market, so that she could move in with her children.

She had a magnificent rose garden, many of her roses things she'd propagated over the years.
Her realtor flat told her the house would never sell with all of those roses, and in the end, she did have to remove most of them. Sad, isn't it?

Jeri

I wish I could buy your house!

I live and garden in coastal NC. I know it's no consolation, but properties for sale in this section of the state also are languishing on the market. I think that Rosefolly is correct in her observation that gardens in general can be a detriment when trying to sell -- especially large gardens like yours. Most young folks simply haven't time to garden these days, & many older ones either don't have the energy or choose to expend their energy in other endeavors.

People love looking at, and being in, lovely gardens but they are intimidated by them, clueless as to how to care for them, and often unwilling to shoulder the investments of time and resources that their maintenance requires. And then there's the unfortunate fact that much of the public has embraced the notion that ALL roses are super-high maintenance and environmentally unfriendly prima donnas.

I'm wondering how long your property has been on the market. It could be that if you timed the listing to take advantage of your garden's peak season, you might actually have been doing yourself a disservice. Anyone looking at your house in this 95+ degree heat is going perceive garden maintenance as being the very LAST thing they want to do -- either this summer or any summer hereafter. Your home and gardens might appear to be less demanding in the off season when temps are much milder and the lushness of the grounds isn't quite so in-your-face obvious.

It's a trite old bromide, but I'll say it anyway: It takes only one buyer. I hope that one person comes along soon, and I hope that he/she will be the garden lover that your beautiful home and grounds deserve. FWIW, I think your gardens are stupendous . . . I'd love to spend time leisurely strolling around them -- even in this ghastly heat. Best of luck.

Your gardens are gorgeous! I'll second what rootygirl said - I wish I could buy your house, too. It must be so hard to move after putting so much of yourself into those lovely gardens.

We have an older home in North Carolina, and have had no need to keep up with the housing market. But of the few things I've ever noticed in articles in the newspaper, prices amaze me. Compared to them, your house is going for a steal. The main thing I'd be careful about is that the yard looks well-maintained for visitors, the same as for the interior (which looks immaculate and very tastefully done, by the way). The backyard probably doesn't look quite so well now as when you prepared for the photo, but if you can keep it anything remotely close to that, it would be wonderful.

Anyone interested in gardening might well want every rose, and anyone else in your price range ought to know that it's not that hard to mow down a bunch of plants and throw out grass seed/lay sod, if that's what they'd prefer. Builders mow down/cut down huge trees all the time, so it certainly can be done for roses.

On the other hand, there's no need to enumerate the numbers of roses. For anyone who wants to know, that answer could be provided. You can't exactly tell from the photos that your whole back yard is a rose garden. If a non-gardener wants the house, it's easy to get rid of the roses, even if you are the one footing the bill for some mowing and tossing of seed/laying of sod.

Unless the sale of your home is in a desperate situation, I'd hold out awhile leaving things as they are. I'd also investigate what a rose maintenance place charges for a monthly visit to take care of weeding, and have the figure ready for anyone who visits who might wonder about the rose maintenance burden. Witherspoon operates as a rose garden maintainer in some locations in North Carolina, and might know a rose business to recommend for your spot.

Maintenance: most anyone who likes the looks of roses would be willing to throw out some cottonseed meal once in awhile and water deeply a few times during a drought to get the roses to have deep roots to get them through; you might also mention to them that some of the other widely used landscaping plants in North Carolina--azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias--offer less potential for drought survival than do the roses, on an infrequent deep-watering schedule. And offer to selectively take out any roses that in your experienced opinion might need spraying with noxious chemicals--before they move in.

I know you'll hate leaving all those beautiful roses, but best of luck in selling your home!

Best wishes,
Mary

We sold a house with about 100 roses in January in about 5 days. The realtor did not include any pics of the gardens in the advertising, and I didn't ever send him spring and summer pics to include in the advertising.

The buyer bought the house and I don't think she even thought about the gardens, even though there are flower beds everywhere. It was simply not mentioned or talked about. I don't think the buyers even considered the landscape at all; they just liked the house.

So maybe take out the pics in the advertisement and sell the house. If I had a buyer that wanted my house at close to full price and then fussed about the garden, I'd just offer them some $ for re-landscaping. Maybe the problem is the slowness of the market? I didn't expect a premium for my home because of the gardens. My neighbors asked about the roses and I told them to watch because next spring the buyer would probably rip them all up and throw them in the street.

Good luck - your gardens are really pretty, but then I love roses.

Gean

Your place is gorgeous. Just hold out!!! your place isn't for everyone, but it is for more people than you would think. I'm a landscaper; I earn my living creating and maintaining gardens for people because people do want gardens! If someone has the money to buy your place, they also have the money to hire a maintenance gardener. And if they like the house and don't want the garden, they can afford to bulldoze it. Real estate agents want a quick sale and will try to get you to do things that make that happen. The market is very bad for sellers right now which means not only are people not looking or buying, but also that agents are going to be pushier about forcing you into a mold of easy sale. I'd try advertising in some of the gardening magazines.

I've been living in my home for 25 years with no plans to sell and I've accumulated 300 roses, along with countless sun and shade perennial gardens. It's tons of work...multiple truckloads of mulch, lots of fertilizer, and untold sweat. Few people anymore want to invest the time and money in roses and perennials, it seems. They like to look, but not work.

I don't think I could bear to have someone neglect or dig up my roses or perennials...they're such a major part of my life.

I just looked at your place on realtor.com, which is the major real estate website, especially for people who are looking from out-of-state--such as all the New England baby boomers who are moving south. Right off, it is listed twice, which makes it look as if your realtor isn't on the ball. Secondly, there are only four photos and none of them is of the garden. So your house comes off looking like just another nice house, which is probably what your realtor wants it to look like. But it isn't going to catch the eye of someone who wants something special and that is what you are offering. Your pergola alone is a major asset. You need to get your realtor to rework the realtor.com listing. He should show 12 photos including three of the gardens, one of which should be the pergola. And he should also have a line in the blurb about "beautifully landscaped." Finally, there is not a direct link to your realtor's web site so that one could view the additional photos. It forces the searcher to call and there are not enough photos and description to make one want to call, esp if one is out of state.

Even if some people do not consciously see or appreciate the beauty of a lush garden, I think attractive landscaping effects most people positively. Do you know the show 'Curb Appeal?' Landscapers and designers create changes to house facades and landscapes to improve chances of saleability. (Is there such a word as saleability? :~) Anyway, even if as someone here said, you are a garden lover who will likely change someone else's garden to suit your own taste and needs, your initial attraction to a property is at least partly based on the appeal of the landscape. Consciously or unconsciously, many or most people respond to beauty or the lack of it. The house I moved into was decorated in a style which is not my own but it was done so well that it felt appealing and good to me. I knew I would change every detail but still the initial positive feeling drew me in. Whether someone decides your garden is too much work or not, whether you end up having to remove roses for them or not, I think beautiful landscaping is a plus in attracting potential buyers.

Catsrose, there is a very high membership fee that enables a Realtor to post more photos on Realtor.com, so more photos may not be an option there. There are lots of fabulous photos on the agent's site and on others. Hopefully, people use Realtor.com as a jumping off point and google the address, because there's lots to find on it.

works_for_roses, you truly do have a beautiful home. Your agent really emphasizes the garden, and your garden is so well done. Perhaps she could give more info on details of the house, your neighborhood which is obviously a selling point. It's hard to say. Buyers are kind of scarce these days and particularly higher end buyers. You just have to hang in there. Are you a member of the local rose society or the medical society? You might try spreading the word about your home with them. It's a rosarian's dream. Perhaps a gardening magazine would be a good idea.

Sherry

They'd have to come up here with a bull dozer. We just live like there's no tomorrow.

I'm in a similar situation. We recently moved to Columbus from Cincinnati, and our house has been on the market for about 3 months. Not a lot of showings, but I have received feedback that some people have been scared off.

I took about half of my 100+ roses, and I think I'm going to slowly take out more. I'm close enough on the weekends to make a day trip of it and bring some babies home with me.

On my last trip, it really hit home about the maintenance. While I was living there, every trip outside would involve me deadheading something or pulling up a weed. Well, after 3 weeks of no one being there, I came back to find half of the garden overrun with morning glory vines, climbing Etoile de Hollande launching 15 foot canes in every direction, including some that were ready to eat anybody who walked out the back door! Oh...and the not spraying part...yeahh, I definitely saw some poor nekkid bushes.

We can't carry 2 mortgages, so we going to rent it out. When the roses go dormant, I'm going to bareroot a bunch of them and bring them to the new place...a subject for another post.

I wish you the best in your house selling, and that a rose lover buys your house!

Eric

The arboretum bulletin here once actually ran a piece by a local garden writer about how important it was not to have a fancy garden if you cared about selling your place. This was not a real estate rag, but a plant magazine!

My cousin, a realtor, once looked out our kitchen window and snorted that our back garden was "overplanted". Judging by how she has handled the multiple properties she has bought and lived in herself, her idea of landscaping is lawn with a few tiny puffs and sprigs of foundation planting - just like you see in those sketches of houses in real estate materials.

She even cut down the one small flowering crabapple lawn tree that was balancing the shape of a tiny house before selling it and moving on. I do not remember a single other plant on the lot except, over course for turfgrasses.

Currently she lives in a mountain village, where the picturesque house sits on a riverside lot that appears to have been logged and bulldozed bare of what may have been forest vegetation characteristic of the setting. Her business card shows trees around the edge (on neighboring lots?) with nothing but grass around the house.

If your realtor is of the same mindset, which I assume to be a widely shared group-think among realtors then they would seem unlikely to be doing much to promote your gardens.

I bought my hose from a couple who had just fixed it up and "turned it around." The previous owners had lovely gardens but the couple bulldozed them, put grass in and foundation shrubs. I didn't know about the gardens when I bought it; I just saw the potential for my gardens. I was horrified when I learned they had been destroyed. In the first years, several gardens began to reassert themselves: a huge clump of peonies started sprouting out the grass; I have several Dr. Huey's left from murdered roses; monarda and obedient plant disclosed another bed and when I started cleaning the grass away from them, asters and evening primrose appeared. Destroying those gardens was the owners' loss. I wouldn't have bothered making an offer; I would have paid their asking price right off the bat.

Just don't judge the desire for your gardens by today's market. It is awful everywhere. Somewhere someone is looking for your roses!

mendocino rose - when I planned this garden I planted roses like there was no tomorrow! I never thought we would leave.

cincycitygardener - it also hit home to us how dependent this garden is on us being here - if were to move to a new place before the house sold I would have to fly back every couple of weeks to weed, deadhead and spray.

bboy - I had a similar situation. My son mentioned something about the yard being "overgrown". When he looked out the window he just saw big bushes. These non-rose people, I just don't understand them.

Thank you all for your support. I never imagined us being in this position. Before this I had a job that you wouldn't believe with a really good salary. Everybody wanted my job. But I always knew my high salary could potentially put a target on me when budget cuts were made.

It's happening all over, the layoffs I mean. I was laid off in March, luckily I found a new job right away that I really like, but it's less money. Just the times, like the real estate market.

But I wouldn't panic. People either will love your house or hate it. I don't think the yard will deter anyone who reallly loves the house. .67 is a manageable size yard. And if it gets to that point you just offer to take out the roses. Problem solved. Or someone who loves the yard will buy it and then call you all the time to find out what to do, LOL.

As sick as this made me last winter when we sold our home, I think it's probably true.

Our realtor said that curb appeal adds to the appeal that a home has for a buyer. If you don't have the appeal, you don't get the showings, esp in a tight market.

BUT he said that the appeal isn't worth much, moneywise. Square foot cost is the bottom line, determined by neighborhood comps. Weighing the appeal that gardens have over the cost and effort to maintain is not easy to decide.

In the end, I didn't send him garden pics to include because I didn't want to scare anyone off. We wanted to move and I wanted to make my garden as low profile as possible. In January it was fairly easy - she wanted the home; it was a good price and she forgot to think about the outside, I think. Sometime I wonder what she thought when she woke up one day and Marie Van Houtte had burst into bloom.
It's a labor of love for me, but it's my vision, no one else's.

My neighbor had a beautiful dry creek installed in her back yard, lots of azaleas and shade plants. When she sold, the new neighbors took out the dry creek and threw out the azaleas and shade plants and chopped down the pines. They wanted a lawn. they still have a drainage problem since they took out the dry creek.

It is hard to emotionally detach yourself from a garden when you sell. Ask me how I know this.

If you have lots of time and are willing to wait, that dream buyer may come by. It depends on your schedule and what your needs are. Really, good luck. It makes me sick, but there it is.

Gean

Approximately 6 years ago we sold a 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch in Olympia WA. there was a rose garden in the front yard that contained about 30 or so roses; both modern and OGR's. The roses did not appear to be a concern of any of the buyers...the roof actually was the concern.
However 2 years after the house was successfully sold, we returned to the neighborhood to attend a block party. The roses had been removed and replaced by pepper, tomatoe and corn plants. Never go back.
Jeannie

The truth of it is, there was a quite nice garden here when we bought this house 15 years ago -- mostly agapanthus, shasta daisies, TB irises, alstromeria, a few other assorted perennials, a few HTs, and a couple of shrubs and a small maple. It was very attractive and appealing.

I ripped the whole thing out.

Then over the next few years I planted the garden I wanted.

When we move one day, I expect the same thing will be done by the new owners. Gardens rarely outlive their owners' residence.

Rosefolly

This thread makes for a cautionary tale indeed, and serves to underscore a point I've been attempting to convey to a couple of relatives. I'm going to e-mail them a link to this right away.

My realtor neighbor and fellow rose lover down the street told me just this week that of the half-dozen or so new listings she's acquired since late May, two are exceptionally well-maintained properties that have three things nobody wants these days -- a swimming pool, a greenhouse, and what she refers to as a labor-intensive yard (ie, largish gardens with lots of non-evergreen flowering plants). She feels that the housing market hit the skids as attitudes and expectations toward housing per se were undergoing fairly radical changes anyway. As a result, she sees what's going on now as being a kind of 'double whammy' for sellers of existing homes and for real estate agents. When things eventually 'recover', I think we may find that there will be a new and very different 'norm' relative to housing and the American psyche.

An update: I'm not going to remove any roses. I'm going to leave the gardens as they are but I'm having the MLS sheet changed so that the text is better and is focused on the house. They will also take out all pictures of the garden except for one that shows the pergola. I pruned back some overexuberant OGRs that looked like they might leap out at you. Witherspoon is coming out next week to give me an estimate on taking care of the roses - spraying, pruning and fertilizing. So I can provide that if someone needs/wants it, or says the gardens are overwhelming. They will even weed too - can't even imagine how much that would cost! But in this heat that sounds like a nice idea.

Thanks to all for your suggestions and ideas, and for enjoying my gardens vicariously!

Works for Roses, I think I speak for everyone when we wish you the best of luck selling your house. Do keep us posted on how it all turns out, please!

Rosefolly

A little role play. Me to the Realtor "If only they had installed a swimming pool I could consider it, but roses ?? Beautiful yes but roses aren't the easiest thing to grow."
You might not have the time for this but, Until someone steps up to the plate and establishes the "Value" of your home (including the roses/garden you might not take) is when your house gets the best reasonable offer.

Leaving out the plantings but including the pergola touches on another phenomenon: the market values "hard" elements but not plants. People who have it will rather readily pay good money for structures and paving but not for serious planting. The exception is large specimen plants, such as 50 year old weeping laceleaf Japanese maples, which are also viewed and used as a solitary landscape object - these could just as well be statues or fountains.

Good luck summers !! I hope it goes in your favor . If you are keeping your current home as a rental then that’s wonderful as you can slowly move your roses while having tenants ! :)

i left behind 200 roses. I never thought we’d leave . If we were to leave I certainly never thought it would be to California the only state with restrictions on bringing in plants . I had to cut my garden back very painfully to show the home in the fall . My realtor was constantly harping on me about it . Thanks fully it sold in the early early spring so things were fresh and new by then . When we originally put it on the market in the fall , we were going to make a nice profit from the booming market in our town and move to a nicer school district a few towns over , so I planned on moving my roses. Then my husband got this promotion to California, so I had to say bye to all my beloved plants . I absolutely loathe the thought that the new owners probably removed my roses but that’s what happens . If you don’t like roses , you certainly won’t like 200 of them ;)

when we bought this house in Ca there were 35 trumpeter landscape roses on the back pool wall bed . The lady loved that I loved roses and assumed I’d be caring for her very jarring red roses with the slightest hint of orange that really drove me nuts . Couldn’t wait to be rid of them !! Lol

Works for Roses, if you happen to check out this 10 year old thread, I'd love to hear how your house sale went.

Lately I've been eyeing my own garden. I'm down to about 80 roses, but when I take out roses I do tend to put in other plants. Succulents close by the house, which are fashionable these days so maybe they'll be okay. Natives in the distance and they are also trendy now (though I do actually like them). People think natives are no work. I won't disabuse them of that notion if I ever decide to sell. We are not currently planning to, I'm just trying to achieve a garden that looks good without me working in it like a half-time job. In our case, it is the size of the garden as much as what is in it.

Thanks Lily! Going through a short sale, so it could take up to a year. I have to get the current house ready to rent during the waiting period. The yard is full of thorns, it’s not a safe place for a family with kids, or even adults, there is not much a yard right now, it would be hard to rent. Lol In the past I used to grow roses under a lot of trees ( cut them all down 2 years ago), in a land of tree roots, so the roses stayed small , that’s why I could pack the yard with so many roses. I have to move most of the roses to make it rentable. My garden friends used to say what a beautiful rose garden, and my realtor friends shouted out: what have you done to your yard!? It’s not sellable with all those roses. Lol We have some land at the country weekend place, so I will move them there one weekend at a time. I am planning to leave 250 landscaping roses at the current house‘s front yard for a while until I came up with a garden plan for the new place. It will be a long journey. Thanks again for your shovel thread, I bought two, one green and one blue. :-)

Rosefolly, thanks! I will keep you updated. It’s such a huge construction to move all those roses. Not sure how to move all the hardy rose trees in the ground, and the big climbers yet. Most of the roses shouldn’t be hard. The huge ones I’d leave them. DH told me to remove the big rambler by the front porch, I will try to leave it there.......