"My garden has personalities that remind me of the different things my husband did together."
Yvonne Noble, 79, lives in Warragul, Victoria and is preparing to relocate her yard, which she has already done five times before moving across the state for the next two years.
When I visited her in her garden, she was cutting off the roots of her ginkgo; made this particular tree wander from house to house, symbolizing resilience and reminding her of her late husband, Frank.
Every plant in Yvonne's garden reminds you of a special person or moment in your life. Begonias, roses, peonies, trees and bushes follow her everywhere, some going back to her grandmother more than 100 years ago.
"I'll leave some [plants] here, but I'll take some with me," he said.
Here's how Yvonne prepares her garden, plus tips for moving plants from horticultural expert Nancy Morgan.
Basic tool kit
- kitchenknife
- shovel
- scissors
- Methyl alcohol (for cleaning tools)
- Kindergarten propagation mix
- Algae solution
Tip: Always use clean tools. Clean before and after every cut.
Make rose cuttings
Most roses are successfully propagated by cuttings, which means you can take your hard work and memories with you when you move out.
"I have the first rose that Frank gave me, that was my first love," says Yvonne.
"And I took cuttings from each of them because I went from house to house."
As Ms. Morgan explains, the best time to go is between late fall and late winter if you want to make leafy rose cuttings.
Choose stems that are the thickness of a pencil and cut off a piece about six inches long, with the cut sloping just above the new bud and shallow at the bottom. Dip it in hormone powder or honey.
Adobe Stock: Valerii Honcharuk
)You can plant the cuttings pretty deep, two-thirds of the space in a nice sandy mix, with lots of cuttings pretty close together. Just before the buds burst in spring, move them to their own pots or dig a trench and plant them as deep as you took the cuttings.
Feed them and they will be ready to move into their new permanent home in the fall.
You can also move whole roses into hibernation by pruning two-thirds , picking up the roots and placing them in a pot.
Propagation of peonies and tuberous begonias.
Peonies and tuberous begonias seem to develop best when propagated by their parents in winter, Morgan says.
Peonies reproduce best when they are well established, around the age of five. If you divide the peonies before this ripeness, the mother plant will be stressed.
You can often get a fairly sturdy piece of the mother plant's edge without digging anything up. Aim for a clump with a strong bud or two and a few roots attached to it.
Cut off any ragged and dead pieces. Wash the roots with water to prevent the spread of pathogens. Plant in a seedling mixture and water well with an algae solution. Protect until set up. It will take a few years for peonies to recover and bloom well.
Adobe Stock: Guppies
)Take trees and bushes
Yvonne's precious ginkgo survived the drought and moved in several times with Yvonne and Frank in a glass.
"We just tried to put him in the shade, give him water where we could, and it was symbolic that we could hold on," says Yvonne.
ABC of the day: Bec Symons
)Once your tree is in the ground, you can propagate it by root cuttings.
Ms. Morgan says that root propagation is best done in mid to late winter while the tree is still asleep. Remove pencil-sized roots and make each cut about two inches long. Cut at an angle at the bottom and straight at the top.
Make sure the cuttings are washed, then dip the end in a fungicide, such as a copper mixture . Include it in your spread mix. You can put several cuttings in a pot or on a rail. Some people leave the cuttings and lightly cover them with compost. Water them well with a solution of algae. Store protected or covered with cling film.
If you want to work above ground, you can propagate most shrubs and evergreens with a piece of stem.
"In the summer, I get along very well with semi-mature wood. Experiment! It's cheap and fun," says Morgan.
Start by choosing semi-mature wood and use a pencil to cut a 6 inch thick cut. Remove the leaves except for the top third of the stem and plant the stripped stem in a pot filled with the propagation mixture. You can plant multiple cuttings in a pot about an inch apart. Water enough to keep the soil moist and use an algae solution every week.
"I know it's tempting, but don't pull the cuttings to make sure they're rooted," says Ms. Morgan.
You can also dig up and replant shrubs , clumped plants (like lemongrass and chives) , perennials, and small trees when you arrive at your new home.
To do this, Ms. Morgan says that you should first trim your shrub or periwinkle by a third and remove as much of the existing soil as possible. Then prepare the new site with a large wok-shaped hole. Plant at the same depth as before. Water weekly with an algae solution until it is well established.
Move plants during the day
When Yvonne moves out, she needs two trucks. A truck for furniture and an even larger platform for potted plants.
For your big move to your new home, you can use a tarpaulin-front trailer or even a horse-drawn cart so that your beloved plants don't fade as you travel.
Once you get to the new house, put it in a sheltered spot while you sort things out and find their new location.
"I had to move a lot of plants at one point and I didn't know where they would live, so I prepared a very good piece of land and planted all of them there so I could take care of them and take care of them at the time," Ms. Morgan said.
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