Guess who is digging up her garden and moving?

I welcome any advice on potting and moving roses.

The forsythia are still blooming here. The roses are getting their first leaves, but no buds or blooms, yet. A few have new canes starting. All but one rose, my beloved Tiffany rose, have survived the winter and set leaves.

So far, I have pruned and sealed any canes that I would have pruned anyway. I am trying to get the entire root ball when I dig up each rose. Each potted rose has adapted to the pot without wilting or sulking. I am mulching the surface soil to avoid water loss. I am also sticking small perennials and/or groundcover plants in the larger pots.

Some of my roses are taller than I am. I am tempted to pot them and move them at their current/ideal garden height to avoid stressing the plants. I may have to alter the plan to avoid stressing the friends that help me move.

Calif-Sue moved some roses when she bought her new house I think. I have moved roses as well, but I didn't pot them - I dug them up & then put them directly in the my yard. I'm no help here, but I'm gonna watch what everyone says because if I have to move for some reason, I'm bringing my roses with me.

I just dug mine up stuck them in a bucket but only had a 30 minute drive and then stuck them in the ground this was in June during a drought in Missouri.
Most of my plants are pretty tough its either be tough or die around here. So I am no help either.
But they are doing well and are coming up.

Mine may be in pots for a while. Even if I went straight from here to there, there is no way I could dig that many holes in one day in this rocky soil. It sometimes takes me a couple of days to dig one hole, longer if I hit a big rock. I have dug holes, filled them with water and still had water in the hole two days later.

Some of my roses are over 6' tall. I hate to cut them back when they are finally starting to thrive. I may have to cut them at least the height of the moving truck, unless someone with a truck offers to help me haul plants.

If anyone knows somewhere to get big pots cheap, let me know. So far, I am relying on the biggest pots at Walmart and some nursery pots on hand. I have a few big buckets, but I am saving those for last minute emergency use. I have plastic bags of several varieties on the grocery list.

I don't drive, so this is going to be an ordeal...A necessary ordeal, but an ordeal nonetheless.

My neighbors keep asking for plants - if I dig them out myself. I gave some sedum to a couple of people as I was taking it out. Now everyone wants some. I am limiting my giveaways to people who actually help me. I hate to be that way, but I am really running out of patience with people. One little kid even stole one of my stepping stones. Good thing she put it in her front yard. I took it right back.

If one more person asks me if I am going to have room for all my plants, I am going to primal scream!!! They are coming with me whether I have room or not. No more freebies to freeloaders.

For now, I am taking my frustrations out on the aphids. I saw the first aphids of the season yesterday. Those little sap suckers give me the creeps.

Winston the pug is in his bed snoring away - its a dog's life!

Andi - Watch Craigslist / Freecycle in your area. Dunno what city is closest to you, but people sometimes post things like that. And if it was cost effective, I'd ship you a ton, but it wouldn't be too cost effective I think. Go to your local nurseries & see if they have a plant bucket recycle bin.. even sometimes big boxes (I know my local Home Depot does). Or contact your local garbage company & see if they have a recycle area for plant pots.

If you want, I can see how much a box would cost to ship you some buckets. I have.. oh.. probably 40-100 buckets (I keep all my buckets). I wouldn't charge ya for the buckets, only for shipping. Lemme know.

I asked about pots at Home Depot and Walmart, but they weren't very helpful. I grabbed some plastic waste paper baskets at the dollar store. They would be attractive outdoor planters once I drill holes in the bottom. They were cheaper than pots.

I didn't think of a cardboard box/plastic bag combo. That may work well.

I am packing everything in liquor store boxes. If you knock at the back door, they give you all of the boxes you want! Imagine the new neighbors thrill when they see the truck unloading bags of huge greenery and tons of booze.

Could you post a sign at a grocery store or somewhere asking for large pots or buckets? I have a neighbor who puts really nice kitty litter buckets into the trash and I keep meaning to stop and ask her to save those for me. Our neighborhood is too far out to be on the recycle route so we have to drive recyclables 8 miles to put them in a large dumpster.
I have my advanced dumpster diver certificate...feel like I've won the lottery when I find a good bucket!
People with horses also have buckets galore, and sometimes restaurants will save them for you. The green pickle ones are really good!
When i moved my roses 6 years ago, it was the middle of a very hot summer, and I left as much dirt as I could around the roots and put them in big trash bags. (They were too big for buckets!) They lived that way for a few months...sitting in the shade by the house. They all did just fine.
I moved every plant I could possibly take, and I'm glad I did it. good luck! If I can keep them alive in Kansas, I'm sure you will do fine.

CindiKS said:I have my advanced dumpster diver certificate...feel like I've won the lottery when I find a good bucket!

I'm glad I'm not the only ADD certificate holder! My best find to date was a stand for a 125 gallon aquarium! Would have cost me like $400.. found it next to a dumpster when I was living in an apartment many years ago. When I go see my bestie, I always go by his dumpsters 'cuz apartment dwellers throw away SOOOOOOOOOOO much stuff! Most of it I take to the Goodwill (and get the tax credit!), or I'll freecycle. But, sometimes I'll keep a bunch of it & have a garage sale! Why not? The people who used to live next to us before they sold their house 2 years ago used to throw away EVERYTHING. So I'd rummage through their garbage on a regular basis. Goodwill personnel got to know me VERY well! I can't stand to see good stuff in the garbage!! Just irks me half to death!! He'd get mad 'cuz I'd go through his garbage (NEVER make a mess.. I'd always come back with a broom if I did), but he knew that once it's out on the curb, it's fair game. I've picked up everything from working lamps, clothing (LOTS of clothing!!), bicycles, furniture.. you name it!

The BEST dumpsters are apartment complexes near an army or air force base. ( I know all the good dumpsters... )
Old dressers and coffee tables are the best finds, because they can be repainted, antiqued, or tiled and resold.
Wish I could find a picture of a coffee table we did with stained glass mosaic. A friend and I did it as a gift for her daughter's first apartment and it was a big hit! Only cost was the glue and some bandaids.
Wastefulness, sending usable things to a landfill is just wrong. It makes me smile when i see something sitting by the road with a "free" sign on it.

I am glad to hear that your roses survived in garbage bags. I am potting up everything I can. I had a moral dilemma yesterday. Some poison ivy rooted in my garden. Should I leave it growing for the worst landlords ever, or dump it. No wonder I have such bad karma lately. I am not a nice person.

I got lots of my gardening structures - shepherd's hooks, small trellis, etc - on bulk trash day. Winston and I go on extra long walks on the evening before bulk trash day.

One of the neighborhood leeches - the one who wants more free hostas and sedum - asked me if I wanted to sell any of my garden things because they are so expensive in the stores. I tried not to laugh and said that I didn't know yet. I have more books, yarn and fabric to list online for sale, first.

I sold an octobaby - aka baby blanket - rose to a neighbor. They asked where I got the cute little pink rose because their mother in law liked it and they could only find big red ones in the store (knockouts, i guess). I told them I would pot it up for them in their pot for $30. They ran back with a pot. I put a baby baby blanket with a couple of pink buds with some sweet woodruff in a pot. Looked a lot nicer than the ubiquitous single red knockouts at Walmart and everywhere else this year. I still have two octobabies for my imagined future arbor. My original baby blanket rose and its progeny could easily fill an arbor. It sends out long - 12' + - canes that root when they touch the ground. I really like the rose, but I wouldn't call it a ground cover.

I don't mean to knock the knock outs. They are great "starter" roses for people in cold climates. Stores could at least stock all of the knock out colors and perhaps some other Radler roses.

My Realtor was a no show this afternoon. Argghh. I couldn't even reach a human being at the office. I called the nice lady at the other office with the listing number and link. Thank goodness for "universal listings" or whatever they call the internet shared listing thing. I just want to get things settled so that I can breathe again.

Winston the pug has a pussy pee pee. Now we are waiting for the mobile vet.

I am a lady in waiting today.

Andi - As far as selling, do you have your home listed on Zillow? That's what I'm doing for my father's home up in NNY.. I posted it up for sale on Zillow and then cross posted to Craigslist. And don't you just *LOVE* moochers!! It'd be different if they gave you things in return, but when the scales are lopsided, it makes things hard.

As a source for cheap or free big pots, contact landscape companies. The one that gave me my pots had just finished a huge project and was going to have to pay to recycle the pots. They were happy to give me as many as I wanted free and even cleaned them up for me.

As for cutting the roses back, it's probably best to plan on cutting them back because the root ball will be smaller and the roots will be less efficient when you've dug them up and moved them making it harder to support the top growth. Don't worry, the roses will come back just fine.

Lyn

Lyn - Ya know, I've done the same thing!! Back in '09 when I put in my first major set of roses, I found a landscaping company that was putting in a bunch of larger shrubs (3-5 gal) and asked if I could have their empty buckets so I could chop off the bottoms & make rose cones! duhhhhhh

Winston the pug and I have been getting more exercise checking for pots and things on bulk trash day. I always grab those kitty litter square containers to hold garden stuff or my cheap bagged kitty litter. I asked at the local nursery/pie place if they had any plastic buckets they are recycling that I can use to move my plants. They had just gotten rid of some but will save some for me. I'll stop by the day before recycling day. (The town has recycling pick up, our complex doesn't).

I am sore from digging up my garden. I am about 1/3 the way done in front, 1/4 in back. They are forecasting rain the next few days, so it will be work and inside packing.

My roses have chosen this year to leap. I need to get more pots to hold the jolly green giants. In the meantime, I am potting up things in small pots. I have lots of soda bottles for winter sowing if I run out of small pots.

I have pics and other news. I'll check back in later when I am not so tired.

Still digging. The roses are adjusting to their pots so far. I am glad that we had only a few days of hot, humid weather.

When is moving day?

I am not sure, yet. The goal is sometime before June 30. I am hoping things go thru on a place I found. Right now, I am digging, packing and hoping everything works out. If a friend volunteers to help with a truck, I will move in smaller batches over more days. If I rent a truck, it will 1-2 trips. Luckily, I am not moving far. The potted plants are going to be a major effort, especially because most of my friends aren't gardeners. They are not going to be pleased with tall, potted thorny things.

I don't drive and I am running out of boxes and big pots. I still have some space bags to fill. I LOVE those things. Why didn't I discover them before????

They wouldn't work for roses, but they are great for yarn.

Do you have any church, community, scouting, other type groups that require members to get service hours? And would count moving help toward those hours? Let THEM handle the thorny stuff and keep the friends for the rest.

The landlord of my future home accepted my application! I'll be moving in the end of the June. I really like this place, so I am happy things are getting settled.

It was hot here today, but I got another big rose out. this is the second one that I had to cut the roses roots to fit it in a large pot. I cut back the canes to be manageable and keep the plants well watered. They should survive and send up new healthy canes. That is what is most important. I got to Walmart for more bins and pots. Now I just have to finish digging, packing and moving. I have been watering and trimming dead/wilted leaves/stems from the potted roses. The spring flush of blooms is so beautiful, I hate to interrupt it.

I am glad that things are coming together and working out. I am looking forward to a fresh start in a new place. It will be fun rearranging my plants in a new space. The new place has a nice big deck and a shady patio, so I can use the new pots for patio plants next season.

Congratulations! And best of luck!