Oh, I understand so well. Last summer I started saying goodbye to my gardens which made it much easier to accept not being able to work in the gardens after emergency back surgery this summer. It is difficult to not succumb to the lure of adding new plants. I did add a couple of new plants last fall as knew I could see them in bloom this summer.

Moving to senior coop housing means only a small raised bed for veggies and a flower or two. Now the decisions are what to give away to simplify the beds so prospective homeowners aren't overwhelmed with the amount of plantings that are currently in the yard.

And like you I have planted the usual annuals and bulbs for the coming spring. But there is that growing feeling of separation and detachment.

I hope you are finding satisfaction through selection of plants that will move with you.

I did that about 5 yrs ago. I was a digging machine. The real estate agent advised me to delete and scale back anyway. She said lot of the new young couples with both working had expressed they did not want the work of upkeep of a lot of plants. Because my property was a lot of shade I started deleting (digging to take with me) and replaced them with bushes, and a few divided my common Hostas that I could easily replace.

When I finished it looked very pristine and easily controlled areas. I used a lot of mulch. The house sold in 3 months.

Interesting, all of your comments, Mxk3, Mnwsgal, Marquest.

Been in the situation of moving several times. I've tended to feel the big bonus was a chance to establish a new garden and not make some of the mistakes I'd made in the past.

I sold my house 10 years ago and I had to go deliver my child to college out of town and she hired some one to do a little "neatening up". He tore out everything or so it seemed. GOD was I livid! He was color blind and tore out all the wandering jew. He could not tell that it was not a weed. They ripped out a 5' beautiful oak leaf hydrangea, phlox, pattern plant, roses and so much else . I was in tears when I pulled into my drive. I felt totally vandalized. I felt eviscerated. She told me I was asking too much and I said NO I am not, I know this neighborhood. The house sold in 4 days, so maybe we were both right., but the buyer was familiar with what the garden was and wondered about the changes and loved it the way it was before the tear out. I told him that most would grow back from the roots because whoever she hired only took it off at ground level. The realtor had a philosophy that clients did not like things touching them when they walked around a house. Weird. We both laughed at her garden philosophy.

I will say it was a huge lesson about letting go. I had lived there 25 years. I did take many plants with me.

gosh, reading all this makes me so sad.

I can't imagine any realtor coming in and saying my gardens will detract prospective buyers from my home. I mean, there are people out there that don't want to devote every weekend of their summer to garden maintenance? What nerve!

all kidding aside, I don't want to see the day where I'll have to part with all the hard work that has gone into my gardens - it's like losing a piece of yourself. Our last house we had put some work into, I dreamed of it becoming a gorgeous oasis but we didn't quite get there. Still leaving there I felt a pinge of sadness at leaving our work. I do still drive by all the time to see how things have grown... and I smile. Our current house? Too much work has already gone in, with new beds arriving weekly lol, having to leave all that would break my heart!

I was really ready to go. I love to garden and hated that I did not have the space I wanted. It was your typical suburban back and front yard but I love plants, shrubs, bushes. I just longed to have a large space to garden before I was to old to see my dream expand. I found a house with a couple of acres and wished the new owners good luck.

What I left was a beautiful manicured landscape with a small flower garden in the front and shade garden in the back. There was little sun on the property so a few dayllies, Spring, Summer Bulbs and sedum, succulents as groundcover. The beautiful shade garden had a few hostas, and other shade plants that bloomed for color.

I removed every plant that I loved and replaced with either a smaller plant in the spot, mulch or a small garden decor that I could leave. I found a cute birdbath at the thrift store for 5,00. I spray painted and it looked good where the huge 10 yr old Sage Hosta once was. LOL Back at the thrift store I found a nice arbor painted it and attached the honeysuckle plant and a clematis that I was leaving. I drive past every now and then because I still have friends on the street. The gardens have not changed. It is just the way I left it. Some people just are not plant people.

I could not have torn myself away if not for moving to a much warmer zone. And like wantonamara I knew what I had! All the love I put into the perennials, the elderberry, paw paw, wild flowers, steeled me against all low offers. My realtor balked a little but she thought I would break down after the first month on the market. I got my asking price in five days. It was a fair price so I did not need more. Two gardening seasons have almost passed and when I just saw the google image of what the new owners did, I figured the best plants removed ended up somewhere else on the same block. It was a street of opportunistic gardeners probably circling around with potato forks.

My buyer, even though he liked my garden , was not much of a physical worker and the neighbors dove in like vultures. My garden has good bones and I think the neigborhood gentle pilfering has kept it "weeded". It still looked good till this year. He has let the siberian elm and pecan seedlings get away from him. It is gone over the edge in messiness. I almost got out of the car to do some weeding. Some people are not in their physical space. We had a chalkboard out by our shop for clients and it still says that we will be back by 11,....... 11 years later!