To take plants from my late mum's garden

[TheoriginalLEM]

My mum passed away just before Christmas and now I have to clear her house.

There are several plants that i would like to retrieve from the garden.

A magnolia bush, an acer and a couple rose bushes.

Will i kill them if i move them now in this cold? Its a council house so i will need to clear it soon.

Any thoughts on how to transfer them?

Well you've got nothing to lose by trying. You need large pots and dig out as big a rootball as possible. This time of year is not ideal.
If you trim back all the branches the plant can concentrate on forming new roots without trying to sustain big branches.

The ground will be hard but the shrubs will be dormant now sk I'd say they stood a good chance. Better now than when they are in full leaf.
I did the same thing when my DM sold our childhood home and successfully replanted a 10 year old stellata magnolia into our garden.
The Acer might be more fickle.

Also sorry to hear about your Mum.

Definitely going to trim the roses right back but worried about cutting the magnolia and Acer, i am the worlds crappiest pruner

I'm sorry to hear about your mum.

I know it's not the right time of year, but could you also take a couple of back up cuttings? Just in case they dont do well after they get moved? Just a thought.

Sorry for your loss
I wouldn't cut the magnolia back - they really don't like it, it can kill them.

Matchingsocks the magnolia is already got leaves on it, i was really surprised when we looked yesterday. I'll give it a go, like you say nothing to lose.

The rose bush was my nans and she died when i was two (im 50)!!

Digging them up now while the plants are dormant will give them the best chance. Dig up a big root ball and soil and replant as quickly as possible into your garden. Sorry to hear about your Mum.

I’m sorry for your loss xx

I had a family member pass away recently too - they also lived in a council house.

We dug up all the plants from the garden - we dug up as much of the football as we could, and replanted into our respective gardens/ big planters as soon as we could. We also took cuttings as a back up.

We’re crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. It may or may not work.... but we tried our best 🤞

Good Luck x

I thought any degree of pruning might be dodgy with this frosty weather we're having but happy to be corrected.

What size are the shrubs?

rootball!!!

Cut the roses back hard, they will be absolutely fine with being moved.

Magnolia and acers are more of a gamble, but worth trying. I would not prune them at all though, they really don’t like it.

I’m so sorry about your Mum The roses will be fine - shove them in a pot or the ground at yours, the Acer should be ok, but you might lose the Magnolia. But as you have to move them you have nothing to lose. Good luck!

From what I know a big rootball is important, to avoid damaging roots. I'm no expert, but I believe that it's the tiny, thin roots that you need to avoid damaging. You could replant them into a pot (protected from frost) and then replant them in a garden at your convience.

Meant to say if you pick a mild day and fleece/bubblewrap the transplants you might succeed!

If they're staying in (large) containers/buckets do you have a sheltered area near the house that you could put them?

When we bought our current house the former owner was really attached to her acer in the garden.

When getting the garden renovated we decided out of respect to her to keep it, but move it from one side of the garden to the other. For the first year it looked dead, but after that it has thrived. Took hubby the best part of a day to dig it out, it’s huge!

I'm sorry for your loss.
I think the magnolia might be tricky to move but certainly give it a go.
The rose should be fine but plant it in as soon as you can.
All the rest, well, give it a go. Maybe take some cuttings too to be on the safe side.
All the best OP.

sorry - convenience

Sorry to hear abut your Mum. Such a difficult time.

So long as the ground isn't frozen, now is actually quite a good time to dig things up as they will be dormant.

You can prune the roses (depends what sort they are how much to take off them, so if they're climbers, you might struggle) and I would only give the acer a light prune. You mustn't prune the magnolia as the buds will have already formed and if you prune it, there's no chance it will flower this spring (the flowers are out before the leaves). As other posters have said, you can put them in large pots or buckets with drainage holes if you're not ready to plant them out in your own garden. Good luck!

If you're pruning the roses would it be worth taking cuttings, too, and putting them into rooting powder?

And sorry for your loss, OP. I hope you can successfully transplant the plants, it sounds like a nice way to remember your mum.

I did exactly this with my mother's house, 20 years ago, you'll need to take care of them but as others have said you've nothing to lose. I love seeing them flower each year, as well as things from my Aunt's garden that I saved.

Do it. I wish I had done the same with my grandads garden, he had collected plants from all over the place (including abroad), my Nan was always taking clipping from things and sneaking them into her handbag so they had some pretty rare plants in their garden including some lovely roses. They iced in a council house and when grandad died the council wanted the garden cleared for the new tenants, I wish I had at least taken some clippings.

I think keeping your mum's plants is a lovely reminder of her. I hope your replanting is successful.

We moved an acer in our garden. It took a couple of years of really looking after it and it has survived, don't give up on it too early