Could you dig even a temporary bed in your new yard? The soil will still be warm in October in most of the country and they would be safer in the soil, maybe mulched later, than trying to keep in pots.

joycewwct is right a temporary would be the best bet. Or you can do what I did some years ago. I made agreement with the new owner and dug up my plants that following spring.

Yes, you can put them in pots and in Virginia you should have no trouble overwintering most of them. But, unless you have written into your sale agreement that you can take plants, they convey with the title.

I moved a couple hundred plants in pots, most not potted carefully and some took me two years to plant. Digging and moving in fall is a good time.

As someone elluded too, you techncially can't take the plants with you, unless the new owners agree to it.

Althought, they might not notice, lol.

I know that once I have a Buyer I can't start ripping out all the plants and if a Gardener buys the property, they won't want me taking the plants. So my resolution is to just get them out of the garden sometime in September when it gets a little cooler. We won't be in our new house until after Christmas - too cold them to put them in the ground.. So my plan is to dig up my favorites (its hard to choose!) throw them in pots... and then I have problems.. I'm not sure HOW to overwinter them? Help!!!!

I can really sympathize, Michele, and think you're wise to take those favorites before a buyer even sees the house.

Unless you're up in the mountains of Virginia, you should be able to do this successfully. Up here in coastal NJ, USDA Zone 7, I have had no trouble overwintering potted perennials, shrubs and small trees in pots sunk into the ground, with a good few inches of shredded oak leaf mulch. I feel that leaving them in the pots causes less trauma than being torn out of the ground again in spring.

If you cannot sink the pots before the ground freezes, then I would cluster them together and surround with straw bales then fill in between and over the pots with shredded leaf mulch. What you want to do is stabilize the soil temperature as much as possible to prevent repeated freezing and thawing of the soil and root systems.

Despite unusually wild fluctuations in temperature this past winter, ranging from the 40's down to the teens, and vice versa, all of the plants overwintered in this manner made it through with no problems.

My observation has been that people who buy property with lots of landscaping kill it all and plant grass there, and maybe put in a few dinky little ugly shrubs. Weird!! Don't know what the attraction is. If you drive by and see how they've ripped out what you put your heart into, you'll be heartbroken! Take whatever you can with you. Trust me, there's a 99.999% chance they won't even notice it's gone. And if the person is a gardener, they'll probably want to implement their own ideas and preferences anyway.

Deanna

Why don't you ask a friend or relative to give them a temporary home? You said you were moving across town - surely someone has some space to put them in over the winter.

I've been there, done that. When I move again, the only plants I will take with me are the very hard to find ones, very expensive ones (e.g. Japanese maples), or sentimental ones.
The rest can stay behind.

When I moved, I took everything I could. Guess what? Out of all that, I have two Japanese maples and one peony left. Everything else is long gone - either the conditions weren't to their liking (soil structure, exposure) or they didn't fit into my vision of what I wanted my new gardens to look like. Also, my esthetic evolved, partly because my new house was much different than my old house.

Frankly, taking all those plants just wasn't worth it - not worth the time and effort, not worth the expense (don't forgot - plastic pots and potting soil cost money, too), not worth the stress of constantly looking at seemingly endless pots of stuff to be planted, and not worth the guilt of ultimately tossing a lot of them.

i LIVE IN A MOBILE PARK I HAVE LILAC BUSH, SOME KNOCKOUT ROSES, SOME OTHER PERINNALS i PLAN TO DIG THEM UP AND TAKE THEM. The only problem is I might have to olant them in containers. Will they survive winter in these containers. I also ordered some others for my garden, and I cant't plant them, can I put them in pots, till later.

Nereida your post leaves too many questions, such as where are you and what is your winter like? How big are your plants, and how long will they be in containers? Al