Rock Swap

A lot of folks have shown interest in a rock swap. To work out the particulars, please post here if you may have rocks (mailable size) that you would like to swap.

Here is the thread this thread inspired:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1059565/#new

Me!!!
This one is not for trade, it was my Mom's rock. Some day it will go to one of my children. : )

Out in my rock pile I have many of these rocks uncut, in their natural state. : )

How cute is that! He looks like a puppy.

I knew you all could do it. O.K. will go and find your rocks tomarrow.
Lord knows I need the exercise and we can always start out with the small
mailing box for small rocks. How about that???
RRM

not sure if i have as many colored stones (rocks would not be mailable) here in the NE as lynn does in big D (Cowboys fan here since 68). most are just grey with some white quartz. i will keep a look out for some nice ones.

i do plan to go to the ocean here in the next couple of weeks weather permitting and grab a few 5 gallon buckets of stones worn down by the waves so maybe i'll have some good ones - in fact i know i will.

The small boxes should work great. Keeps the size to a manageable and convenient size as a guide to how big.

I think person to person would be good so as to keep down on postage. So if someone sees something they like they could just ask for it and use this thread to connect to a trader. How about that?

So we're talking the small flat rate priority mail boxes, right?

Hmmm. I wonder if I have anything worth swapping. Mostly we just have boring river rock.

Pony, it would be from WA and from a new gardening friend. That makes it special. I have some just plain old rocks here that mean to world to me because of the memories connected to them. There is no such thing as a bad rock, only bad people that use them to throw at some one. I'm sure yours are very well behaved. : )
So that's the $4.95 box?

What may be boring to you may be of interest to someone elsewhere. post a pic and see.

I'm going down to the waterfront and see if theres anything down there of interest. Will post pics soon.

I will wait until tomorrow and take some pictures now that I know what size I'm looking for.
See you all tomorrow.

Night Lynne!

Oh my gosh! I cannot believe you guys are all rockhounds as well! Rocks were my first love, even before plants. I have rocks all over my yard from all the beaches up here in the northwest and from all the places we've traveled. We do have beautiful rocks here, especially when they are tumbled by the sea. I have beautiful rocks from British Columbia up in the Gulf Islands. I'll have to look around and collect some to see if anyone is interested in trading. We have tons of colors of jasper, as well as petrified wood, and even jade. Most of the rocks I have that are small enough to send would look great in a bowl with water. That's how I display mine. I'll have to take photos. Can you tell I'm very excited?
By the way, Petrified wood is our state gemstone. That was a lovely hunk of it on the other page.

Hi Pixie!
Welcome. You sound as excited as the rest of us! Can't wait to see your beautiful rocks. You and Pony are in the same area so we should see some great representations of your state. Pictures of your displays would be great too.

I've been hearing great stories of how rocks bring back memories of places and people. So interesting. I think we should post those here too. Even if they are not for trade.

I am not an expert and tend to pick up rocks that I like without knowing what they are. So am hoping some of the knowlegeable folks here can ID as well or lead to some info on what we are swapping.

Looking forward to the pics!

How will this be done? If we're thinking in terms of smaller rocks, we could load up flat rate boxes with, say, 10 rocks and send to a hostess with enough postage $ for a flat rate box in return... the hostess would divide up the rocks, and we'd each get 10 different rocks in return. ?

Or are we arranging individual swaps?

I love rocks, but I'd have to see what I could round up "out there" before signing up.

What fun! I just went through the other thread and it sounds like some of y'all have some really gorgeous rocks!

I envy those who live in areas with pretty quartz, slate, river stones etc. I really love rocks, but unfortunately Florida is mostly sand, shell, coquina and coral. I don't have any nice rocks to trade, but I do have a few pieces of fossil coral and sea shells that I've collected over the years from different beaches around Florida and the Bahamas. Would that be suitable to swap for a nice rock or two?

I wonder if you could find pieces of coquina tabby...

(I love shells, too... need to find a good way to display them... I've thought of embedding a whole bunch in a plaster wall or something... Lynn's lovely porch reminded me of that!)

plantlady - i like shells and coral too:)

i think think should be an individual swap. what size in inches are we talking about swapping. i would like something that can be seen, not marbles:)

critter i put mine in large clear glass vases and put saranwrap over them and cut off the excess. you do not even know it is there and it keeps the dust out.

My Goodness, you al have been busy. I went to bed last night Early.
I got to go get a pic of my rock and tell you the story behind it. jadajoy,
want me to tell these folks. Give me time to go get a pic and I will.
Charleen
RRM

I like shells and coral too!
Was thinking this might be too heavy a job for a hostess :-) and cost wise too. but its up to you guys.

How about if we just mail them to the one promised??
That is going to be a lot of postage too? We got to figure something out.....maybe with all our brains together ,we will figure something out.
jadajoy, here is the rock I was telling you about. It is laying under a cedar tree
and the pic is great. When I went to take the pic, it looked so pretty laying there with the needles in the little crevices. Aw, sweet memories.
I grew up in Missouri. My sister and I would go fishing or just riding around. We carried this rock upthe bank, from the Grand River and it took the both of us to get it to the car. We were laughing so hard we almost didn't make it. My sister has passed away but I still have this wonderful rock to remember the good time we had. There is no telling how old it is, cause I m 63 and have had it way over 35 years, at least.

RRM

RRM, love that rock, I not sure but I think it's older than you. : )
You all tickle me so, I'm sitting here all by myself laughing at what you have written.
I agree that it would be better to make trades between individual because of the cost involved.
Here is one idea for shells and coral. They look really cool on the outside of hypertuffa pots also. So many ways to use them. This is getting really fun.
We can post our pictures of what we have to trade, that way if some one wants something bigger they can opt to trade for larger or smaller items. What do you all think?
I will take pictures today and post them.

Lynn
Wonderful story! The rock pattern looks like a maze in a formal garden. A very nice keepsake. I have a mental picture of the two of you trying to move that rock uphill.

That is a wonderful display of shells!!! Love it. Did you make that?I want to make one too.

It would be nice to have a rock from each other and Name and State.
Memory rock garden. I love the Shell display.
You Girls ROCK!!!!
RRM

RRM I love that idea!
That way we could gather the number we need and think of someone in particular and send them a nice specimen. We would need to then just list who is participating and get to it. Pics would still be nice thou.

We might need to follow the new rules for swaps in the swaps forum. Anyone want to look at a sticky over there on the rules and let us know?

Anyone know how to "Borrow" it?
Make a link.....
That way we can keep it in mind.
I don't know how to do all that stuff.
I do good to have pic and keep my fingers on the
right keys.☺
RRM

Well I looked over there and there were no stickies. I'm thinking so long as we follow the trading rules we'll be ok. After all its not a coop or anything.

also I saw something for secret santa which might be something else we could consider to make sure everyone gets a specimen. It might be late for xmas but January sounds good too as a kind of round robin.

Here is a link for trading. It pertains primarily for seed but you get the general idea....

http://davesgarden.com/tools/trading_primer/3/

Hey Critter! I bet there is a lot of "Tabby" around this area but I don't know where I'd have to dig to find it. For the curious folks out there, "Tabby" is a combination of lime, sand and oyster shells mixed with water and used for buildings in the southern coastal areas during the 18th and 19th centuries.

ridesaredmule: That is a neat looking hunk of rock, and what great memories it holds for you! I have a brick that holds sentimental value to me because it came from my grandparents first home that my grandfather built in the early 1900's. When my grandfather passed away the brick went to my mom's sister who knitted/crocheted a cover for it and used it for a door stop! It went to my Mom after my aunt passed and then came to me. The cover is looking very ratty but that brick has history, so it's still here to be passed down to one of my niece's after I'm gone!

valleylynn: Love your colorful shell wall hanging, what a great idea! We have friends who have a vacation home on the waterway here in Florida and she decorated it beautifully and tastefully with a tropical motiff. I've seen some themed rooms that are kind of tacky but she did a lovely job of their vacation place. In the powder room on the first floor she hung a small fish net on the wall that has shells and sand dollars attached. On a shelf behind the toilet there is a starfish and pretty artificial flower arrangement with tropical flowers. I gave her a glass jar with sand and shells that she put on the shelf as well.

I bought this covered glass container about three years ago and first planted it up as a terrarium. The plants got ignored and began to look awful so I dumped the plants, washed the container thoroughly and it sat for awhile until I could figure out what I wanted to do with it! I have done the sand, shells in clear glass vases over the years so decided I'd use this container for the same thing. It sits on a table next to my husbands 150 gal salt water aquarium. This isn't a great photo, the water from the fish tank is reflecting off the glass but you can get an idea of how it lookw ...

Again, not a great picture ... my house is dark and it's cloudy, dreary and rainy here today. This is a wire bowl thingy I bought at Wal-Mart years ago. It's had pine cones in it, some of those round grapevine things and even Christmas Ornaments displayed in it over the years. For the past two or so years it's contained the shells, coral and piece of driftwood.

A glass vase with shells, sitting on top of the aquarium ...

Very pretty Ideas. I like them all.
I believe shells and rocks all go together.
Well, I love rocks, DH gets aggravated at me for moving them.
I figure as long as I don't ask him, he shouldn't worry about it.
Huh? Girl? But he did help on a couple of these. ☺
RRM
Charleen

Very nice Charleen!

I agree that shells, rocks ... and plants all go together!

I took this, this morning.

Goofed up, hit the wrong button.
Where's the rocks??? Under that Gargoyle.
Have a lot of rocks here. Seems the old house that was here was sitting on rocks. They didn't have concrete Blocks when the housewas built, or they just couldn't afford them (know that feeling) anyhow it was sitting on all these great rocks and when DH tore house down, I was busy moving rocks. I love it. Must be something wrong with me. Can't figure it out but Now I know I am not the only one. Bless you all.
We are not alone.

Ah, I was thinking that doing a centralized swap would cut down postage costs, assuming we each wanted to trade with several different people... one outgoing flat rate box, and one incoming flat rate box.

You can fit quite a bit into the new large flat rate boxes. From one of Gemini's co-ops, I think he was figuring at least 50 asiatic lily bulbs would fit into a large box, so if we're only trying to fit 10 rocks into a box that's definitely something larger than "pebbles." :-)

But I'm game for whatever works out. January would be better for me... more time to hunt around and find some goodies after the holidays. I like the idea of doing it secret santa style, with everybody finding one neat specimen to send to somebody. Round Robin might also work, if the person starting it could put in several different types... Either of those methods would involve paying postage just once, too.

I love all the shell display ideas! I do have several covered glass containers (and a glass lamp base) filled with shells, but I never thought of saran wrap to keep out the dust. I just brought back an old fishing net from my parents' basement, and I may try to hang that up somewhere an tie shells to it like Lynn's wall hanging

We need to know how many are in it too.
So many questions, got to find answers.
RRM

I'd love to participate, but to be honest, I can only afford to send one box. I'll look around and see what kind of rocks I can come up with that'll fit in the $4.95 flat rate box- I reckon I can find a few nice ones. Who it goes to is the big question.

My head is spinning with all the wonderful pictures of ways to use rocks, shell, etc. What a creative bunch. This is getting more interesting by the day.
I think Jan. would be a great time to exchange.
Even smaller pieces of rocks or pebbles can be used in planting succulent bowls or other potted plants as a miniature landscape feature. Smooth pebbles can be used as plant makers (saw that on another thread). So many things one can do.
Lynn