Saving my garden while a retaining wall is repaired.

8 years ago

This may not be so much as knowing how to move and reinstall plants and bulbs rather it is finding, and paying, someone to over see the operation. I am just a bit too old to do it myself.

The retaining stone/concrete wall is about 2' feet high, 2' deep and runs about 75' along the side of the yard. The strip of garden above the wall is about 12" deep and the strip along the bottom of the wall is about 2" deep.

I have 100 miniature daffodils, 5 lavender Phlox, Blue and white Spanish bells, crocuses, a pink and a yellow forsythia, a cascading rose, three Yucca plants, a variegated forsythia, a miniature Spiria, above the wall with pink and red Sedum, white and blue Spanish bells, crocuses, White and blue Siberian Iris, Mums, Bee Balm, and Pink Heather, and 200 King Edward Daffodils, along the base of the wall. I am sure that there are others in there but I forget.

Imagine digging all of these up, keeping track of their names, and storing them a week or two until they can be returned to the gardens. In this scenario I can regenerate the soil easily before reinstalling the plants.

OTOH, I can wait until November when the majority has died back or going into dormancy. Maybe most of them can stay in place and I can hope for the best.

I am ready to hire someone to handle the horticulture side of this while the crew rebuilds the wall.

Anyone experienced in this?
Any suggestions on what to know before I start?

Any thoughts at all......?

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
what does the contractor say about it all ...??

as to timing.. where are you??

i would probably have also posted this in some of the actual plant forums ....

ken
Jim Waneright
Original Author
8 years ago
I want to know my options before discussing this with any contractor.
PA Zone 5a (b?)
Which "actual plant" forum? None seemed to fit.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
annuals.. perennials.. shrubs .... forums ....

any chance you can post a pic or two .. so we could better see whats going on ...

the bulbs should probably be pulled up as the greenery wains.. and stored like onions for fall replanting ... otherwise.. i dont know how you would ever find them ...

the perennials can be dug and stored for a couple weeks.. in plastic grocery bags.. in full shade ... you could write names on the bags ...are you trying to save cultivar names.. or just general plant names .... there is a name that plant forum.. for after the project.. if you need to get names back ...

same with the shrubs ... yours arent that foo foo ...

if you had a veg patch.. you could move stuff over there now ... and move it back in fall ... and get the job done in between ...

finally ... if you can make the moving.. an all summer project.. and the cement work done in fall ... perhaps it will be more manageable for you .. rather than making it a 'i have to do this all this weekend' type of project ...

again.. perhaps a pic or two.. might bring other ideas ...

ken
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
8 years ago
When we had our stone garden wall rebuilt after a storm the garden bed was a complete mess from the work. Trampled, compacted and full of cement. I think you'll need to do quite a bit of renovation of the soil before you can replant.
Jim Waneright
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Yes, these people are certainly not going to look at the gardens and plants the way I do. I did not think of cement all over the place but I do picture them trampling everything without sympathy.

I am just too old to see myself doing all this myself and my arms are becoming too short anyway. It looks as if I should hire a gardening contractor for this.