None of you who love - and have lost - sanguinaria are going to like this story, so avert your eyes. . . Twenty years ago, when I moved into a co-op in New York City, I brought with me a treasured little clump of bloodroot (purchased a decade earlier in North Carolina) and carefully planted it alongside a rock in a tiny garden area in front of the building. Total shade, no care, utterly ignored. . .and yet, I carefully trained the staff and tenants of this bustling urban building to patiently watch this rock (and it's buried treasure) early each Spring. Like clockwork, those pristine white beauties would pop through the soil every Spring for the past twenty years - the word would spread like wildfire and pictures were being snapped and I'd happily demonstrate to kids why it was called "bloodroot" by picking a leaf and letting them see it bleed. For about ten days out of the whole year, everyone slowed down - if even for just a moment - and then life in Manhattan charged on. . .at least until next year. And THAT, can be the power of plants. . . Marie: one of my favorite nurseries in this tri-state area carries your coveted DOUBLE sanguinaria. . .link below: Carl Here is a link that might be useful: Well Sweep Herb Farm

Yes, easy to grow in my area, as it's a woodland native here. BUT - I did have two clumps disappear on me this spring for no apparent reason. At first I thought they were just later to emerge since the location is much shadier, but they should definitely be up by now. I'm wondering if the critters had at the roots/rhizomes - ? . Even if the mother clump doesn't live all that long (not sure, but just read Mindy's post...), it re-seeds so there should be *something* left in the area. No clue what happened there.

I have the native tiarella planted by a clump of blood root which is in front of several christmas ferns. The tiarella sprawls around with surface-type roots and is easy to pull away from the blood root in spring. The blood root blooms first, then the tiarella. When the blood root leaves disappear mid-late summer, the tiarella has filled the area with pretty leaves.

Janet- I think TS and the others have given you a lot of support and advice. I don't think anyone once said not to help your parents. I think rather we just feel you need to rethink the way you are viewing this... change your filter if you will. Your original post gave me the impression that you felt you had to organize it FOR them, do the work FOR them, and do it all by yourself with help from DH. My thought right away was rather than doing it FOR them it should be WITH them. Maybe I just didn't understand what you were trying to get across? I agree with TS. And what you wrote in a later post indicates she is right. Your parents are very capable of taking care of themselves and of moving themselves. That comes across when you point out how much they have already thrown away and packed up by themselves. They have done more than you expected. While I think this is has the potential of being overwhelming, it really isn't your job. By that I mean, it is not your job to 'wrestle it to the ground' by yourself. Your parents will be the ones to direct this and decide what they are going to ultimately keep and not keep etc. It sounds like they are doing a great job and don't need you worrying about planning it all by yourself. In fact, I imagine they would be hurt to think that you don't think they can organize it themselves with some manual labor help from you. I guess what I'm getting at here is not a critique of what you are doing but rather a thought along the lines of - take care of yourself. Don't take more on than you have to or can take on. Allow your parents the luxery of your faith that they are adults and will do fine without your organizing FOR them. It seems that maybe you and your family, parents, sisters, etc who are helping need to have a pow wow of sorts. Sit down and tell your parents that you are worried about lots of stuff/smaller house and what can you do to help them. I imagine they know exactly what they need from you. And during this discussion would be a great time to provide your advice- a dumpster, no garage sale, etc. whatever. But as you said- every family is different. What would work with my parents will NEVER work with my inlaws. Each of us can merely offer some thoughts for you to take or not as you will. I think the idea of you and your siblings taking stuff that used to be yours back to your home is a brilliant idea. My mother in law can't throw anything away. Every year we go there we pull home several boxes of stuff to PRESUMABLY throw away. However, DH doesn't and that is another story. When I was a adult in my own home, my parents requested that I take all of my stuff out of their home. I think it is just respectful that if I want to keep it, I store it in my home. Maybe by you and your siblings taking back ownership of some of your old things would help. I also agree with much of what Steve O and Lazygarden wrote- be as efficient as possible. They had some very useful advice. When we moved my hsuband into this house and he is a saver to the extreme - we split up the rooms. I moved one room and he packed up the other. This gave me the opportunity to toss stuff and hm the opportunity to keep stuff. It cut the clutter we would have moved in half. Maybe you can do something like this? OF course, he trusted me then to know I wouldn't throw away anything he truly needed or wanted to keep. Whatever. It's late and I'm sure this won't come across nearly like I think it is. Good luck. Ginger