Spring plant swap

4paws -- if you can swing it to a local airport -- you name it -- I'll pick you up and delivery you back to the airport. Not sure you would want to stay at the chaos that masquerades as my house, but you could do that too if you like.

Hey Guys, I'd really like to come. I'll try to make it but I'm not sure I'll have anything much to trade. I'm just starting to get interested in Propagation. I got my seed table and am ready to give it a try.

Hey HollyAnnS! I've only been starting seeds inside for a few years. I think it's fun to watch the little plants come up. Began with easy annuals and a few veggies, mostly tomatoes. This year I'll try some of the more difficult ones: impatiens and begonias and some perennials. I got a seed heating mat and thermostat for Christmas. I'm looking at seed sources online right now.

I've been a lurker for quite a while and would love to participate in the plant swap. I'm trying Winter sowing for the first time this year and hope to have plenty of seedlings to bring with me.

It looks like it will take about 3 hours to drive from here. Anyone else in the southern PA area interested in carpooling?

Joanne

The more the merrier!!!
I've done seedlings a number of times- My suggestions, altho you probably have read alot-
Flourescent light, very close and not window- window too variable heat and not bright enuf
Start bunch of seeds in one small pot, them divide into sixpax, pick them up by a leaf so you don't pinch the stem.
Don't mix varieties in sixpack, you'll get some that grow faster then it' s a pain to keep them watered the right amount.
Annuals seem to takee a long time to get to bloom size for me,
I have a coldframe now so I'll probably try using that for seedlings this year.
Now that Xmas is over, I can get the seed catalogs out of hiding and let visions of seedlings dance in my head!

June 2nd and 9th look good to me. I've started thinking about what I have to dig up. Mostly pretty common plants but there is really more than I thought. I was thinking that camping out might be alot of fun and anyone opting for camping might want to try and get campsites in the same area. Holly

Sally, I did see the other offer after I D-mailed you. I'd just hate to see you stay home. I have friends who are a little interstate shy, too.
Netwiz, I'm right in your area.
A lot to think about 1 long day or a nice overnight camp out? I have a station wagon with a good bit of room or we could break out the Explorer and hook up the trailer. How many plants can we carry?
;} Holly

should we have a 'wish list 'thread? I must remember to bring tigerlilies for hart. I have a number of daffodils and could move them by that time. Catnip overflows for me, but somebody else may be ready to start with it, it's a good one for beneficial insects.

Or we could all update our DG trade lists, I guess- might be easier

This message was edited Dec 26, 2006 8:04 PM

happy, that's a very kind and intriguing offer! I'll be keeping an eye on things here... Sounds like it will be great fun.
:-)
Laura

Hi Holly,

I didn't notice that you were from Dover! We lived there before moving to Eastern York last year. I would be fine with either camping overnight or doing just a day trip. We also have a mini van that could fit lots of plants once I took the seats out. It would be great to have company on the long drive!

Anyone else in the area looking for a carpool?

Joanne

Look everyone, don't think you have to bring lots of plants or stay at home. This is as much for us to socialize as to trade plants.

And don't worry that you don't have some wonderful, exotic plants to trade. My advice is bring some of whatever you have plenty of. At the swap last spring, the things I thought no one would want like pineapple and apple mint and antique irises, were the ones everyone wanted. Next time I'll bring plenty of the things I consider "too common."

I'll bet no one thought to bring bugleweed or lamium, and I'd have loved to have gotten as much of those as I could get. Trying to cover a long slope that's impossible to mow. Another one that everyone liked was yucca. Well, heck, the stuff grows here like a weed. I could supply the state. I only brought a couple because I didn't think they were very thrilling plants.

I think many of us appreciate your comment! what do I have lots of? lamiastrum, liriope, catnip, grlic chives, a bubby bush, daffodils, holly, giant red cannas, salvia farinacea and lyrata, four o clcks,..and tiger lilies for hart*

Hart,
I am so glad you posted this for I was going to tell you that I could not come... I am new to this and thought I did not have anything to bring.. Well I will bring what I have.. I have a white crape mytle, rose of sharon babies, cant think of the name but it flowers little yellow flowers every year... is a bush... got tons of those..LOL I am just happy I dont have to back out of coming....
Hugs,
Susan

Personally, I want my garden to be full of plants that will come back year after year and form nice little colonies that are not too terribly invasive. So what I want are the things that the rest of you might find too common -- the plants that are wildly successful for you.

Glad to hear yucca would be welcome. I could probably bring 20 or more if anyone is interested. I'm also over run with vinca, orange daylilies, honeysuckle and liriope. I'm still hoping to have plenty of wintersown seedlings to share as well. This will be fun!!

Joanne

Oh hart....what great fun we'll all have!!! How's your DH feel about all of us "dropping by?" LOL

Hello All,
I for one would love some of your vinca... They are hard to find around this area... I love them and the Japanees(Sp)Beetles dont like them...
Susan

Tis a shame there aren't more PA DG'ers here. Sigh.

Buttoneer...........I'm here, and I'm from Pa. The spring plant swap sounds like a good time but "my here" is just too far away from " there". :( It would be quite a drive down there from NW Pa.


early_bloomer

Closer for me but with the price of gas & all and I'm still working. LOL. Not retired yet.

There are a few of us around and talking about a carpool. We should be able to firm things up closer to the Swap. Holly

I've got this thread bookmarked and I'm keepin' my eyes on it! I think you'll find that a lot more people will show an interest as the weather gets warmer in late Spring.

S-H-I-R-L-E-Y!!!! How are YOU?!!!!

So, we do a VA based swap this spring and a PA based one later--hee hee MD is in the middle!

Hi Shirley, how are you doing? Long time no hear. Let me tell you about my knee replacement.

Hi Everyone - I am excited that so many of you are so excited. ha-ha Yes, I bet this will be a fun time for all. Netwiz, glad you spoke up and joined in. For those who dodn't think of coming because they didn't have anything to share, come on anyway. Hart has so graciously opened her home and heart to us.

I saw some things that are listed as being there that I a interested in. I will definitely take some yucca and sallyg, please put my name on a couple of the red canna's.

I leave here in a couple of hours for vacation. I am taking the laptop and hope that I will be able to check in with you folks. If not, will see you when I get back home. Have a good weekend everyone.

Ruby

Have a safe trip, Ruby!!

Hi Chantell & Buttoneer! It's great to see you here too!

Ruby: Have a wonderful, relaxing & safe vacation.

If I may make a suggestion, please start a new thread for plants, bulbs, vines, seeds, gardening supplies, gardening magazines/books, etc., etc., etc... It will get buried here and members on dial-up will be screaming at their computer screens! :~0 We can't have that!

It will realllly help if we can set the date for this round-up.....my 2007 calendar is filling up rapidly! I don't want to miss it!!

Shirley, I don't think we can set a date until some people know what their kids' spring sports schedules will be. We're aiming for very, very late May (nothing at all has emerged here before then) or early June. If you really want to come and your schedule fills up that far ahead, I'd suggest trying to keep those weekends open.

Hart: It seems to me it would be useful to set a date early so people can plan around it. There's no way you'll be able to accommodate everyone's schedules because stuff always comes up at the last minute, but if you wait too long, people will have scheduled conflicting events that they can no longer revise. At least this way, folks can try to clear their calendars. I think May would better than June -- once you get into June, vacations start. Memorial Day weekend (May 28) is no good because so many people will already have planned vacations. May 13 is Mother's Day, so it is out for many of us. And June can get hot.

So how about May 20? If you would rather wait to schedule, I completely understand, but as one of the Moms with unpredictable schedules, I wanted to at least throw this out as a possibility.

Then once a date is set, you can publish it on the "round up" thread, if you are interested in making a broader invitation. Though you might also want to keep it smaller. . . . .

May 20 is too early if you want to have it here. I don't see any sense in having a plant swap here when nothing has emerged yet. As it is, by the very last weekend of May what is up is tiny but at least I can find them.

All of this was discussed months ago and last weekend of May, first weekend of June were the dates we came up with. I really don't think it's a great hardship to set aside a couple of weekends around the very last weekend in May, very first weekend in June.

If no one wants to come on Labor Day weekend, we can hold in the first weekend in June. If you want to hold it earlier than that, you'll have to find another place to have it.

Hart, I'm pretty new here and this will be my first swap. I'm pretty open as far as dates go. A lot of people are very busy on the Holiday Weekend and earlier some plants just aren't up yet. I liked the idea of June 2nd or 9th. But I'm very flexible. I know you want to accommodate as many people as you can but please accommodate yourself first. Try not to let this get too stressful. We want you to enjoy yourself too.

Agree with Holly, hart...what days work best for you. I think your idea of first weekend in June sounds perfect IF that's a date that is good for YOU. If my son has baseball that weekend it will be his father's turn for bball duty...LOL!!

seems to me June 2 or 9 will be while schools are mostly still in session, so those with school kids won't be on trips yet``( then again the lucky dogs w/o kids in school may be going to take advantage of that)

Ok, no problem!

Let's make it June 2 or 9 then. Either of those dates is fine with me.

Hi, I've been watching this thread for a while and am going to try to make it to the swap, but I've never attended a plant swap before and would like to know how it works. Can someone explain the process (or point me to a thread that does so)?

I have a very young garden (2 y.o.) and am not to the point of being able to divide plants, but I am going to start several perennials from seed this winter, so I should have several seedlings by June.

Hi All,
Well I plan on being there so long as nothing happens in the mean time... Even if hubby has to work that weekend I'm still coming ... will just bring my sister in stead....LOL I am so excited....
Do any of you have Hoyas? Well when I found out kevin was going back to work I ordered a Donkey's Tail off ebay... paid 12.99 plus shipping ... Well I am not a shopper but hubby needed something that I could not get at a Lowes....LOL so I went to Wal-Mart... Welll they had just gotten a whole new shipment of plants... and I got 3 Donkey Tails for less then I paid for one...LOLOLOL My luck.. I also picked up two diffrent Hoya's that were beautiful.... So that was my outing for the week...LOLOLOL... No I go to work tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it for we were closed since Friday and all heck will break loose...LOL...
Happy New Year everyone....
Hugs,
Sue

Hi, i plan on making the swap :-) not sure what i'll have although on sunday i was able to get some baby yellow lilacs from the house we are selling as well as some carpet buggle and a climbing hydrangea that is spreading quite happily...have some other baby lilacs from early last year and possibly some hostas from the house we just moved to and plenty of raspberries....i may try to start a few plants from seed and when spring comes i'll find out what is on our new property....i can't wait! lynda

I didn't realize that so many people would be interested in attending a plant swap. Since only a hand full of us post regularly I guess that I was thinking that there weren't too many people reading these posts. I am really glad to see all of the new names on this thread and am especially looking forward to meeting some of you face to face.

Hart, thank you so much for offering your home as the meeting place. Very gracious of you ladybug. Thank you wrightie for asking the question about what all goes on with the swap. For those who have ever attended them, maybe they can pass along some tips to those of us who will be attending a swap for the first time.

Thank you also for starting this thread hart. I am hoping that some of the members who have posted on this thread will begin to post more often and let us get to know them better. I am bored with hearing about myself. ha-ha.

Anyway, every one have a great day.

Ruby