Moving Your Garden: Deciding What Plants to Take

What Do You Love?

Unless you're very fortunate, you can't move everything. Choose what you love. Does that flower signal spring? Did that iris come from your grandmother? Are memories tied to those bushes? Start with a list of what you love. Write them all down and consider their current sizes and what moving them entails.

Thin the List

Next, weed out plants that won't survive in your new home. Moving from tropics to cold north, or vice versa? Think hard about the needs of plants you want to move. Will they thrive, or is it a death march?

Size Matters

Here's the cruel truth: some beloved, climate-appropriate plants are just too big to move. Plan ahead—take cuttings, gather seeds, root cuttings, or air-layer plants too large to transplant. You can take some plants if you plan and consider size.

Thin It Again

Revisit the list. If you're like me trying to fit more plants than a long trailer holds, take another hard look. Do you need three of that? Can you live with a cutting? Just seeds? Consider space and moving costs—hard facts may change what you want vs. what you need.

Potting Up

Pot each plant and label in at least three places: once with a marker, once with a label in the pot, and once on a master list you keep. Labels get blown or washed away in rain, cold, heat, or wind during moves. The master list gives a starting point when you arrive and assess survivors. Pot carefully—they may stay in those pots a while.

Settling In

Don't rush to plant in the new garden. Watch the land, learn how it works. Give each transplanted plant its best chance. Nothing's more depressing than losing a cherished plant you nurtured and transported. Take time, get it right, and enjoy old friends in your new home.

Image: movers in 1887 France, now in public domain.