MOVING home can be a very stressful time for anyone, and with our gardens being such a big part of our day-to-day lives, there can be added anxiety at the prospect of leaving behind beloved plants, either due to sentimental reasons or the fact that they are choice plants.

Plants may have been gifts from family members and friends, cherished memories of childhood, or simply nurtured carefully through many shared years. Careful planning ahead can help reduce the stress impact not just on yourself but on your precious cargo. The same principles can also apply to large scale changes within your garden, where you find you need to strip out a planting scheme, reserving select plants before commencing grand changes.

First, it’s important to be realistic about what you are taking and saving. Ask yourself the following: Are these plants easy to obtain again? Is it really cost or time effective if you have to include their removal and care within costs and other commitments? Will the plant have a good chance of survival during its transition? If your new home (or planting scheme) is not ready yet, is there somewhere to conveniently store the plants where they can be tended to?

Plants already in pots can be moved relatively easily; finding helpful family and friends to temporarily take these in would be a good start. Potting on larger specimen plants can be part of the early preparation; larger plastic containers with handles can be perfect for this and less weight than heavy stone or terracotta. Keep them well watered after planting, but ease off close to move time to avoid lifting heavy wet soil. If the weather is especially warm during transition, or they will be stored during a long journey, misting is a good way to provide a moist air environment around plant foliage to lessen the stress plants will be put through.

Removal of flowering stems and excess foliage will help plants such as perennials conserve energy and moisture and can help them settle more quickly when relocated. This may seem harsh but it is believed plants lose at least 90 per cent of the moisture drawn up by the roots just through leaf transpiration water loss.

Lift and divide plants well in advance of a move: this can help to minimise disruption than doing so during the growing season. Additionally, you are saving yourself last minute headaches, especially given there are legal aspects to removing plants once contracts are exchanged as they become part of the sale and you could be liable to legal proceedings which can be very costly.

Another huge factor to consider when selecting the plants suitable to grow in your new space is the aspect, or position of the garden. This determines not only the amount of sun exposure, but also the direction and strength of the prevailing wind and weather, cold and frost pockets. There is little point saving your sun loving perennials if you aim to establish them in a shady corner: they may well grow, but they will never perform how you remember them. There are also smaller microclimates within our gardens that can create large variations from one area to another. The RHS website has lots of useful information to help you understand how this can affect your new planting; it may also generate new planting ideas.

Lastly, remember all of our gardens are different as soil conditions can be very variable; even once you have established whether it is clay based or sandy soil, there are many factors that control the incredibly complicated soil environment such as porosity, water retention, availability of macro and micro nutrients and organic content. Ultimately, time alone will tell you what works and what doesn’t, as every gardener knows from experience.