It would be interesting to know the story behind this give away. Yes, apparently the person is moving. Do realtors recommend removing plants before trying to sell a house with an extensive garden?

In the early 90's we were selling a house in Oak Hill, (Austin) I was asked to take up my plants in the front, it was all natives and grasses, and they said it wouldn;t sell quicky without sod. It was probably true. When I was planting everything years before we sold, my neighbors hated it We also had to pack up our day of the dead things because people would have thought we were devil worshippers, even skeleton drawings that DH's students had drawn

This makes me sad

The story is gone.

I'd also guess the realtor said it needed to go. I've upgraded my landscaping in every home I've owned. Mainly it is liked, but apparently, I like flowers more than most people. The buyer has ripped out the flowers in the last two homes. I think some people just want green and what they perceive to be easy maintenance. OTOH, my old neighbors tell me they didn't like it when the new neighbor pulled out the landscaping. Lol!

I'm a Realtor, & I wouldn't advise anyone to rip out their gardens;

the market 20 years ago might have been for expanses of emerald green lawn, but not today.

Today, people are at least open to gardens, less lawn, & water-wise xeriscaping.

I drove by one of our old homes last week and my gardens are gone too. At least the trees are still there.

"At least the trees are still there.

marilync posted something years ago on the Kitchen Table:

whenever one of her beloved animals died, Marilyn would plant a live oak near the grave.

She said that she hated to think of the bones being disturbed, & she felt that most people wouldn't chop down or dig up a live oak.

........

The last time I drove by the house that I lived in with my family from the time I was 12 until I moved out at 21, I saw that almost everything was different, but the magnolia tree that I had planted when I was 14 or 15 (the first summer that I had money of my own & could buy it!) was still there.

& it's huge.

Sounds somewhat like a garden variety of the "$50 Porsche" revenge sale urban legend...... suppose it was the non-gardener in a bad breakup giving it all away? :-)

It did sound like that, but I received a reply to my email (yes, I will drive that far for a LaMarque!) saying that she had received so many responses that she couldn't reply to all of them individually; she gave her address & said that she'd be there to identify plants & give advice but couldn't help dig or move.

Maybe she's moving to an apartment & homebuyers made it a condition of sale that gardens be removed or said that they'll give her until a certain day to get everything removed or they'll destroy it.

very sad.

Original owners of the house across from us had a woodland wildscape for their front yard. Could not even see their house from the street. It was beautiful, but an aberration in our "traditional" neighborhood. They sold as-is, ignoring their agent's certain advice to trim things up, and suspect they've never looked back knowing the new owners would likely limb up the trees, remove most under-stories, and install St. Augustine. Still a very nice yard, but no longer like living across from a park. Had to be a several thousand dollar transformation, so imagine they left some money on the table and unfortunately many of their plants were destroyed rather than finding new homes. Craigslist wasn't an option then, but if I had curated a natural space like that for 30-some years, don't know that I could watch it be dismantled either.

Not older than I, Ragna, and I do not have a concrete plan, but have discussed it with my daughter (who may take a lot of the plants), and she knows that my gardening friends get first shot at what they may want that would not interrupt the flow of the garden.

My plan is to enjoy the dickens out of this house and yard until dh retires, then sell it and move to a zero lot line.

The garden to me is a temporary art form providing me with many wonderful times and friends.

A wonderful perspective that reminded me of Leonard Nimoy's last tweet:
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

Lowering future effort/cost as we age is one motive in our move towards native/well-adapted shrubs and perennials. Guess that's the closest thing we have to a plan as neither of us seems great at sustaining most exotic or pampered plants for long..... except in memory... so unlikely to be many to pass on to the kids or friends.

My son and I put together a plan 3 years ago, actually before that but put it in writing 3 years ago

We have sold several homes have never been asked to dig up plants. Might be because we' be moved before the garden takes over the yard. But told DH to sell for less, unless he finds takers for the flowers. Try this website first.

In my current home and my first home when I moved to Texas were both overgrown, disheveled, weedy jungles. Needless to say I didn't feel to bad about going with the nuclear option on those yards and starting over.

I think what's even more sad though is when your garden becomes neglected. That's what's happened with my first house here. I put my heart and soul into re-doing that yard for the better part of the three years I was there. I was by there a few months ago and it was hard to look at. Everything's overgrown and weeds popping up everywhere. I talked to some of my old neighbors and they said the front is nothing compared to the back. I guess some people just don't care. When it turns over again, those people will probably have to start from scratch just like I did. A real shame. :^(

BTW, back to the topic at hand, I think it was a nice gesture on the part of the future owners to give he the heads up on their plans. They could've just as easily kept their mouths shut and tossed it all in the trash. At least this way her plants all go to good homes!

the posting was deleted..

I love this saying my daughter gave me. As aptly illustrated it goes for gardens too ... :-)

Bob brought this home from the hardward store of all places. In it's spot on the 'fridge it serves as a frequent reminder.

I'm spent big bucks on daylilies from different growers and bearded iris from Schreiner's in Oregon... I'm digging them up if I ever move.. no way would I leave them to be killed by the next person... will just plug in some annuals.

Dig them up before your Realtor takes photos!

If it's in the ground when the contract is executed (signed by buyer & seller), it stays with the house.