2026-10-24 · 6 min read · Mattapoisett
The Gardens Were Beautiful. I Do Not Miss Them.
Everyone assumes I miss them. I don't.
I am Susan Gorden Ryan, a REALTOR® with Jack Conway in Mattapoisett, MA, and a Certified Home Stager. For 21 years I lived on a lot and a half with real gardens, the kind of gardens people slow their car down to look at. Beach rights came with the property too. When I sold that house and moved to a two-bedroom on the water, almost everyone assumed the gardens would be the hardest thing to let go of.
They weren't. I genuinely do not miss them, and I think that surprises people more than it should.
What a garden like that actually costs you
Gardens that beautiful do not happen by accident, and they do not maintain themselves. Weeding, dividing, mulching, pruning, watering through a dry August, the seasonal rhythm of it was real work, every week, for two decades. It was also genuinely mine, something I built and was proud of.
Pride and workload are not the same thing, though, and I think a lot of longtime homeowners confuse the two when they picture downsizing. They assume giving up the thing they built means giving up the satisfaction. What actually happens is you give up the task and keep the memory.
What I got back instead
Weekend mornings that used to start with a mental list of what the yard needed now start with coffee on the water, nothing on the list. That is not a small trade. It's not about less house, it's about more life, and for me the gardens were the clearest example of that trade working exactly the way it is supposed to.
I am not telling every seller they will feel exactly this way about their own yard, their own garden, their own thirty years of work on a property. I am telling you that it is allowed to feel this way, and that nobody talks about it enough.
If you are standing where I was
If you have spent twenty or thirty years building something beautiful on your property and the thought of giving up that yard is the thing holding you back from even having the conversation, I understand that completely. I also want you to know it is possible to let go of the upkeep without grieving the memory, because I have done exactly that.
Get in touch and we can talk about what your own next chapter actually looks like, gardens and all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it normal to feel relieved instead of sad about giving up a large yard when downsizing?
Yes. Pride in what you built and the ongoing workload of maintaining it are two different things, and it is common to feel ready to be done with one while still treasuring the memory of the other.
How much work does maintaining a large garden property actually take?
It varies by property, but a garden large enough to be a point of pride usually means weekly, seasonal work: weeding, pruning, dividing, mulching, and watering through dry stretches, year after year.
What do downsizing sellers usually say they miss least after the move?
The upkeep itself, most often. The memory of what they built tends to stay; the weekly task list is usually the first thing people realize they do not miss.