Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Home Maintenance

How to keep your garden when selling your home

Julie Scagell
By

If you’re planning to sell your home, odds are you’re making sure the inside of your home is picture-perfect. And while you want to showcase all you’ve done indoors, you’re likely not planning on leaving your furniture and decor in the home when you move out. These are your possessions and come with memories, time, and the effort to pick them out.

“For many buyers, a beautifully landscaped yard with show-stopping curb appeal can seal the deal. After all, who doesn’t want cascading blooms, immaculately trimmed shrubbery, and a carpet of emerald sod with their new home?” Realtor.com writes.

Related Videos

They aren’t wrong. According to the National Association of Realtors Remodeling Impact Report, 98 percent of buyers said curb appeal is important when selecting a home. While you’ll want to leave the outside looking as attractive as the inside, there are ways you can ensure your garden goes with you. After all, this space is one that many green-thumbed homeowners have worked tirelessly to grow and maintain.

outdoor flower pots
Reshot

Communicate, communicate, communicate

If you aren’t keen to give up all that you’ve grown because you are moving addresses, there are ways you can bring your garden (or at least parts of it) to your new home. Of course, this doesn’t mean digging up vegetables and fruits from your backyard, but if you have plants and flowers that must come with you, write them down.

The last thing you want to do is move plants in the ground without the new homeowners knowing you plan to do so. Any plants a seller wants to take with them should be written in as an exclusion in the real estate listing and sales agreement. The buyer can ask that any in-ground plants stay with the house or are replaced with the same kind of plant, but everything is a negotiation.

Timing is everything

Make sure you plan ahead, and if all parties agree for a plant or tree to be removed but the time of year doesn’t mesh with the plant being removed, have in writing when you plan to come back and retrieve it. Even the most avid gardeners need to consider the plants’ chances for survival if it is being relocated a fair distance.

If you’re thinking about putting your house on the market, walk around your entire property and decide as soon as possible anything that you’ll ask to move with you. The faster you know ahead of time, the more planning can be put into a plant’s move. If it works with the season, it may even make sense to plant it somewhere temporarily, so there is no back and forth or arguing with potential buyers during the sale.

girl picking fruit off tree
Reshot

Know the rules upfront

If you have concerns or questions about what can and cannot be moved, always check with a realtor in advance. While most buyers and sellers know that fixtures—which are immovable objects in a home such as built-in furniture, fences, fixed bathroom mirrors, and even wall-mounted TV mounts—should stay, the rules are a little more open for gardens and plants.

Unless your listing specifically mentions that you intend to keep a beloved tree you planted when you moved in or a rose garden from your grandmother, sellers should not ever remove landscaping. “I’ve had sellers with specific requests to take certain things that might have been a special gift,” Bill Gassett, a Realtor with Re/Max Executive Realty in Hopkinton, MA told Realtor.com. “Otherwise, you can’t just dig up a plant and take it with you; it’s part of the property.”

For those who put a ton of time into their landscaping and take pride in the gardens they’ve grown, it can be difficult to leave them behind. For many, they are as important as any other possession and, for some, even more so because they’ve grown and cared for the plants over time.

The bottom line is as long as you make your intentions crystal clear before your home goes on the market, you may not have to part with anything. This gives prospective buyers a chance to look at both the inside and outside of your home and decide if they can live with replacing the garden in question.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
How to choose the best fall lawn fertilizer for a lush yard in spring
Here are some amazing fertilizer options to use this fall
Fertilizing lawn

When summer comes to a close, it’s time to find the best fall grass fertilizer for your grass to keep your landscape looking healthy and strong come spring. Winter can be harsh on your yard, and the last thing you want is a barren or muddy landscape once spring finally arrives. Thankfully, there are plenty of "winterizing" lawn fertilizers made to treat your grass to ensure it's healthy and lush as the weather starts to warm.

However, while there are many brands to choose from, not all fertilizers are created equal. What fertilizer should you use in the fall? We’ve rounded up our favorite lawn fertilizers to help you control weeds and maintain fresh, green grass throughout spring.

Read more
The climate change risks home buyers are sleeping on, according to Zillow
Analysis: This climate change risk is the only one that home buyers are worried about
analysis of climate change risks for home buyers houses in houston suburb flooded from hurricane harvey 2017

Climate change is shaping the world we live in. From record-high temperatures to worsening hurricanes and the increase in frequency and severity of wildfires, homeowners across the country are facing more and more threats to the safety of their homes. But that doesn’t mean home buyers are necessarily thinking about these threats. According to a recent analysis by Zillow, there’s really only one risk home buyers are heeding — flooding.

Home buyers are paying attention to flooding risks
Completed in conjunction with ClimateCheck, a climate risk data provider, the Zillow analysis found that flood risks are having a growing influence on home buyers. While home values in areas prone to flood risks continue to increase at a faster rate than other areas, these areas are also seeing an increase in both mortgage denials and potential borrowers deciding to withdraw their mortgage applications.

Read more
This is what you should be planting in fall for a beautiful spring garden
Plant these seedlings in the fall and watch them grow in spring
Spring flowers forget-me-not

If you want a beautiful garden next spring, it's best to get to work now and start planting in the fall. Autumn is the perfect time to clear new garden beds, build pathways, add architectural elements, and of course, plant. Fall is also the ideal time to install cold-hardy plants because pest populations will dwindle, and plant growth patterns will turn in your favor.

The cooler autumn air is much more forgiving, and the still-warm soil offers an ideal environment for deep root development. And although your new garden plants will be going dormant soon, their roots will continue to grow through fall, until the ground freezes. This gives them an immense head start, as they'll have two seasons (fall and spring) to deepen and strengthen their roots ahead of next summer’s dry heat. As you plan your garden for the year ahead, consider planting these seedlings right now.

Read more