When a garden is about to be cleared, whether for building work or simply a fresh start, there is often a small window of opportunity to rescue plants that would otherwise be dug up and thrown away entirely. A quick word with whoever is doing the clearing can secure permission to take a few favourites before the diggers move in.
Not every plant survives being dug up and moved at short notice, so it helps to prioritise anything unusual, particularly well established, or simply sentimental in some way, over more common plants that could easily be bought again elsewhere. Moving with as much root and surrounding soil as can reasonably be carried gives a rescued plant its best chance of settling in somewhere new.
A temporary home while you decide
Plants rescued in a hurry do not always have a ready spot waiting for them, and a temporary pot filled with ordinary compost is perfectly adequate until a permanent position can be found. Keeping rescued plants somewhere sheltered and watering them generously for the first little while helps them recover from the shock of the move.
Larger shrubs and trees are considerably harder to rescue successfully than smaller perennials, since so much of their root system inevitably gets left behind in the process. Even so, a smaller cutting or a rooted sucker taken from the base of a larger, unmovable plant can sometimes carry its story forward even when the original cannot be saved.
A garden pieced together partly from rescued plants often carries more history and character than one bought entirely new from a garden centre. Each rescued plant comes with its own small story attached, quietly continuing to grow long after the garden it originally came from has disappeared completely.
A few photographs taken before the clearing begins can also be useful, serving as a reminder of where each rescued plant originally grew and what conditions it seemed to prefer in its old spot. That small record often proves surprisingly helpful when deciding exactly where to place each rescued plant in its new home.
