Then - and here's where I differ from Molly, based on experience - come fall, sink the pot level with the ground, and add a shovelful of dirt into the pot so it's filled to ground level. It'll overwinter like that perfectly, or I should say: I guarantee that in our Ontario climate hostas survive this process with no ill effect. I've overwintered "potted+trenched" hostas of all sizes this way, from the teeniest to several-gallon sized, over several winters. The only (minor) losses are due to frost heave + critter munching of the teeny ones. A stone or two on top of the roots prevents the former, and some wire mesh could do wonders with the latter, although I think a shovelful of dirt does the job just as well. I make sure to place the trench on the least sunny side of my house, so it stays evenly cool & least susceptible to winter/early thaw until spring really truly arrives.
Another approach, perhaps more labour intensive, is to find/borrow/rent a friendly piece of land and move (ie, move bare-root & plant) your hostas there pending the move, then move them to your new property once it's yours. This is not a bad idea - it separates the plants from the stress of sale+moving altogether, and allows you to move them at YOUR convenience. I did it a few years ago and all my hostas did fine, except that winter winds and critters scattered the tags all over the place and it took me some time to re-label them correctly. In fact, I STILL can't tell which is Elegans, and which is Bressingham Blue! The other 50 are correctly labeled by now
.Bottom line: moving hostas takes some planning & elbow grease but is eminently doable.
Digs.
I can take 20 whole hostas, and divisions of the rest. I thought this was fair. We close a month later than the first, so that takes up any gains in price we made, but over all we are happy with how it worked out.
