Gotta Garden ... Need a Garden?? Suggestions please

[grasslady]

Have any of you gardening folks ever had to sell your garden??
We have had our home & LARGE GARDEN up for sale since November. In all that time only one gardener has looked at the property

If you sold your garden did you manage to sell it to a gardener AND if so HOW???? It is a gorgeous garden on a 4.5 acre property and sadly I think the garden is scaring away purchasers.

WHERE ARE THE GARDENERS SEARCHING FOR A GARDEN ~ do they even exist?? I need ideas.

hope I have posted to the right forum - I really don't know who to ask ....

[Eeyore]

Is there a Horticulture Society near you? If so, advertise a sale. Gardeners must bring their own tools and containers and take away what they want.
Use the proceeds to sod over parts of the garden. this might help. What a shame to have to do that though.

[everchnginggrden]

It's sad to say but Daisy may be right. My FIL sold his place a year ago, beautiful gardens on a double lot. The new home owners took out about 1/3 of the gardens and replaced them with lawn. Shame of it was they raved about the gardens. If they had said anything, although my FIL moved to a smaller place so wouldn't have taken anything, I would have!

Sharon

[grasslady]

Good suggestions for a 'normal' yard with too many gardens. Ours is a 5 acre piece of property with gardens through-out. It would be a major amount of work to remove & resod any of these, let alone enough to make a difference.
My website shows panoramic pics of the property & get an idea of my problem .....

In terms of suggestions, I was hoping someone might know of a 'gardening related' place that I could put an ad. That is why i searched the Canadian gardening site to begin with. A friend of mine who had a garden in England was able to put a 'house & garden for sale' advertisement in one of the UK gardening magazines -

I'm not necessarily looking for a gardener so much as a 'garden lover'!

[Eeyore]

WOW! I just had a look and it's gorgeous! Your gardnes don't look like they are high maintenance at all and neither is the house! I don't know what house prices are in your area, but it looks reasonable to me so I can't begin to guess what the problem might be. It looks as though you are advertising correctly so perhaps it is just the sheer size of the lot that is throwing people off. I know DH would kill for a lot that size..... and I would kill for those gardens!

[grasslady]

Thanks for the kind comments!
Eeyore - see! You are exactly the type of person I would like to buy the property - someone who would REALLY like to have the gardens. Whether or not you could cope with them or whether they got changed over time means nothing to me - but the initial enthusiasm would be great!

Daisy, we are selling privately at the moment & have additional web coverage with 'bytheowner'. We have professionally made signs on the property & on the main roads nearby. Newspaper ads have been tried but they proved a poor source of potential buyers. Most of our queries have been people driving by & seeing our signs. I did have a list of gardeners from past plant sales but, too many years have passed & many have changed their addresses. I thought they would be a good source of advertising to their friends & family since they had already seen & loved the property. I really wish that I could put an ad in a gardening magazine. Do any of you subscribe? & if so have you noticed a section for garden related sales?? Maybe when the garden is in full bloom we will have an open house/ open garden. It might not be such a bad idea.

If you would like to see a few more plant related pics of the garden I have a series of images that track the garden through 2006 on my photobucket site. I still can't post links but if you go to Photobucket & search for Achnatherum and then click on Garden 2006 that will do it.

thanks for your ideas

[butterfly]

Thanks for the kind comments!
Eeyore - see! You are exactly the type of person I would like to buy the property - someone who would REALLY like to have the gardens. Whether or not you could cope with them or whether they got changed over time means nothing to me - but the initial enthusiasm would be great!

Daisy, we are selling privately at the moment & have additional web coverage with 'bytheowner'. We have professionally made signs on the property & on the main roads nearby. Newspaper ads have been tried but they proved a poor source of potential buyers. Most of our queries have been people driving by & seeing our signs. I did have a list of gardeners from past plant sales but, too many years have passed & many have changed their addresses. I thought they would be a good source of advertising to their friends & family since they had already seen & loved the property. I really wish that I could put an ad in a gardening magazine. Do any of you subscribe? & if so have you noticed a section for garden related sales?? Maybe when the garden is in full bloom we will have an open house/ open garden. It might not be such a bad idea.

If you would like to see a few more plant related pics of the garden I have a series of images that track the garden through 2006 on my photobucket site. I still can't post links but if you go to Photobucket & search for Achnatherum and then click on Garden 2006 that will do it.

thanks for your ideas

You put you house up for sale in NOv?? Bad time of year for most areas

If it were me looking, I would want to see the gardens in bloom before making a move to an offer

I hate using a realistate person because of their high percentage fee but if you are in a hurry to sell, its the way to go

Do you have pictures?? without snow