Leaving a Garden

I truly dislike moving, but it is not for the reasons you may think. I do not have a problem with packing and moving, although hard work, It is not an emotional thing. I do have a very hard time leaving my garden!. The plants are my friends and I hate to leave them to the mercies of the unknown. In 1998 we purchased land to build on and needed to sell our house to facilitate the deal. Once the house we had lived in for 14 years sold, we had just two weeks to pack, move and find a place to live.
Looking for temporary housing did not seem as important to me as what to do with all the shrubs and perennials I wanted to keep. I had gorgeous daylilies that I had purchased years before and nurtured into large clumps that I wanted to take with me. I had a beautiful pink Gene Boerner florabunda rose bush that had grown to 4 feet and had wonderful pink blooms on it all summer long. I had a forsythia that was the clock my husband used to tell him when it was time to fish at Mann Lake. (He knew that as soon as it bloomed, it would be time to go fishing). We simply ran out of time to do more then pot up a few select daylilies and the rest had to be left. The young single guy that purchased our home assured me that his sister knew all about plants and that anything I left would be well cared for.
If I had known then what I know now I would have taken my rosebush and all my carefully nurtured little lilac bushes with me! Several years after we left the area, a friend and her young daughter were out for a walk in the neighborhood, and upon passing my old house the daughter exclaimed, "Mommy, what happened to Hollis' yard?" Her mom had to gently tell her, "Well, honey, Hollis does not live here any more!" The rose had been ripped out, the shrubs left to die and weeds ran rampant over the formerly groomed berms. The aspen trees were left to sucker at will and what had been a well thought out but small front yard had become weed paradise. I rarely find myself going past my old house but for years if I had to go by I would look the other way.
I have a better plan for the next move. When it comes time to leave my current garden, I will call all my gardening friends and let them take what they want. They will take very good care of the plants and when I am ready to start a new garden, a source to provide the plants I know and love.