Setting a date for the spring swap

This should give you all some idea of where you're coming to and what's close by. BTW, DON'T look at the map and assume because a town is close as the crow flies that it will be close by road. I'm surrounded by mountains. The closest town is actually Woodstock but it's actually farther away than Edinburg by road by about five miles. Bentonville looks close but there is no road there at all. Front Royal is quite a bit closer by road.

The red star marks roughly where I live. It's actually up the road by a couple of houses.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Detrick&state=VA&country=us

If you zoom the map out a couple of notches, you can see where it is in relation to Frederick, Harrisonburg, Hagerstown, DC, Alexandria, even Richmond.

Chantell, having driven from Richmond up past Fredericksburg here umpteen times, by far the easiest route for you is across 17 through Warrenton to 66 west. That's actually a pretty straight shot and pleasant drive. Just make sure you take 17 around Warrenton and not through it.

Oh, and Ruby, it looks on the map like it's easiest to take 64 up through Staunton. I found that takes a lot longer than going up 29 to 66.

This message was edited Apr 20, 2007 2:27 PM

HI Hart and Everyone - My hubby will most likely be coming with me and he will be the one driving and deciding which route to take. He lived in northern VA many years back and has driven many of the VA roads that I have never been on.

I will tell him that there is fishing nearby. He might want to do that. Even though he doesn't post or even ready here, I read some of the posts out loud to him if I find them interesting or funny. This guy would get the award for doing the most planting in the past 12 months. He has spent hours and hours digging up plants at his homeplace which is being sold and re-planting most of them here. He has set aside some day lilies for the swap.

I have not had the time yet to get outside and do much of anything garden wise. Weather conditions, my psyche and physical body all need to be cooperating at the same time in order for me to venture to yard. The perennial bed that we started three summers ago is doing very nicely. I might have lost a thing or two, but am not complaining.

I have loads of things that need to go in the ground, but it is still a bit early for this area. I have been attempting to get my indoor plants looking good before I neglect them this summer. Most will go outside the end of May when danger of frost has passed. I recall the pleasure that I derived from gardening last year and cannot wait to feel that way again. Seeing something bloom delights me. I am not telling any of you anything new. I am sure that most of you know the feeling I am talking about and don't need it described to you.

I want to thank Hart for so graciously offering her place for the plant swap. It is going to be the high light of my year to meet those of you that I feel as though I have come to know pretty well. Is everyone else getting excited?

Anyway, the weekend is here. I hope that everyone has a good and productive one. Big thing on my list today is a wedding at 4 P.M. Not sure about the rest of the day. It is a gorgeous day to get outside and play in dirt, but I am not sure if I will be able to today or not.

Catch you all later on.

Ruby

Ruby, if you can't play in the dirt, bask in the sunshine like a lizard. After putting on your sunscreen, of course. LOL One of my great pleasures in life is having my morning coffee on the patio under the pergola, listening to the burbling of the waterfall in the ponds and looking at the flowers or the trees or watching Java roll in the grass.

I forgot to mention the fishing nearby does require a national forest fishing permit as well as a state one, but you can get those at the little store right up the road about a quarter mile. Tell him they stock the streams with trout.

It is very interesting. John used to spend every spare minute trout fishing. In the fifteen years that I have known him, he is either fishing all the time it seems, or not at all. Since he has been trying to run his own auto mechanic business at home, he never fishes. It has been several years since he has been.

He asked me recently if I wanted to go back to a little pond that he took me to in West Virginia where you pay by the pound for what you catch. That was only my second attempt at fishing during my whole life. I asked what brought that up and he said that he wanted to see me doing something that I had a lot of fun with.

I will tell him but he has been big time in to planting last fall and this spring, so he might just want to hang and tell gardening stories. Who knows. Anyway, it is going to be a great day for all involved.

Ruby

I am hoping that I can make this. It is a bit of a drive and my summer is booking up fast but it sounds like fun! I should have a ton of seedlings (which should be good sized plants by June) and a few other things to bring along.

Hart: it might be a good idea to edit the first post to note that the date has been set to June 9th.

- Brent

Brent: If I can help drive, I'm happy to. I'm in Chevy Chase. If we can meet somewhere en route, you can leave your car and come with me the rest of the way.

Thanks for the reminder, Brent. I've fixed the top post.

Brent, a really easy way for you to get here would be to take 50 or 7 west (50 would be closer if it's closer for you) and then take 340/522 to 55 West just north of Front Royal. It's probably about an hour and a half or a little bit less and it's a very pretty drive. Not quite as fast as 66. Or of course you can take 28 down to 66.

Hart: Any idea as to time of day? I just focused on the fact that I have a class that morning that doesn't get out until 1:30pm. So I won't arrive until 3:30pm, letting down anyone who was counting on a ride with me, alas, unless they are willing to come later.

Could we do a pot luck dinner, perhaps, if Hart is willing? Hart, if you have a grill and are willing, I could bring hamburgers and chicken to grill. Whatever. . . .

Brent, assuming I make it (will have a better idea closer to the date), I suspect my route down from Frederick will take me to your general vacinity.... I'm sure we'll be putting together a lot of carpool arrangements by the end of next month, so nobody should be shy about asking for a ride!

I was thinking maybe 10:30 am to about 4:30 or 5. I was planning on having everyone bring things to have a potluck lunch. I do have a grill. I'll start another post where everyone can list what they can bring.

I think we'd all be chewing on the plants if we waited until 3:30 to eat. What do you all think? I will be sure to save you plenty to eat if you're late getting here, Happy. Or if we have hamburgers, it's nothing to crank up the grill again.

Is there any way to skip the class one week? Or slip out early?

I'll start another post just for carpooling. How does that sound?

I hate to miss the class -- I think I started doing these classes after the date for the swap was set. I'm taking French, so it isn't something I can pick up on my own! But it sounds as if I should still have an hour or so with you good people.

Yee haw!!! I can smell those burgers cooking now. I dont believe that we used our grill at all last summer. I have offered several times to buy a gas grill for John to use and he always says no, no, no. We have really gotten our money's worth out of a charcoal grill that we bought about 14 years ago at a yard sale for $10.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in June.

Ruby

Guess I'd better bump this one too.

Could everyone who is coming to the swap but hasn't said so here sort of sign in so we can get a rough idea of how many people?

I'm a wee bit on the fence, because of my class that runs from 10-1:30, but I am more likely than not to play hooky. . . .

I am not sure if I have been counted in or not. I have every intention of getting there. Too much fun meeting you guys for me to miss. Each and every one of you have become very important to me over the past year and half. Hubby will be with me also.

Ruby

I am toying with the idea ever since I started following this thread. I'm all the way over to the eastern part of Virginia on the Northern Neck so it would be a hike. In addition, I'm not sure of what I'd have to swap but it would be very nice to meet some of the people I've come to "know" from DG and especially those on this forum. Put me down as a possible. Betty

Wonderful Betty!!! Looking forward to meeting you also. Hmmmm.....I think that now would be a good time to ask hart if it is okay to attend for the fellowship aspect of the day rather than the swapping part so much. Hart????? What about people who don't have things to swap?

I would be willing to guess that after a person attends one, that they can get ideas to use the next time that a swap is planned. I have never been to one either, but from the looks of my front bed, I will have a lot to trade. Now, next question....

Has a thread been started for us to list what we will be bringing? Even though some of the trades will be done beforehand, I am going to try and bring some extras for those of us who might not know at this point what they would like to have and will decide after seeing some of the offerings?

I will take this opportunity to request hibiscus. rcn has offered to send me some seed after the plants die back later in the year, but would love to have a rooting or whatever at the swap.

Anyway, after hart answers the questions, I will go or either come back here and list some of the plants that I will have to trade. I am still excited about this.

Ruby

Put me down as absolutely positively maybe! ;-) I have it on my calendar. I am thinking about working it in with a camping trip with my boys, but I am not positive if I want to commit to camping with all three boys (3, 5 and 7) plus taking them all along to the swap. Father-son bonding or torture? Do you plan on having good weather for the weekend? ;-)

I am growing way too many plants from seed this year, so I would have quite a few seedlings to bring along plus a few other things that I could dig up from my yard and some rooted hydrangea cuttings as well. I am not sure I would have room in the van for any camping gear!

D-Mail me if you have info on any good campgrounds in the area. I would probably use a tent (I have a popup camper but that might be too much hassle). The Winchester/Front Royal area would be ideal. Luray might be a bit out of the way. Searching on the 'net turned up these promising ones: The Log Cabin Campground in Cross Junction and The Cove Campground in Gore.

- Brent

Hubby and I are in!

I had said this a while ago. I'm a bit worried about bringing small children and our ponds. If you could see the layout, you'd understand. From up in the backyard, there's about 4 foot slope that drops down to the big pond. Am I just being a worrywort because its been so long since I've been around toddlers? At any rate, I'm sure you know better than I do whether your children will be safe.

Brent, there's a very nice campground right up the road in the national forest. I'll post some info.
I added the campground info to the B&Bs thread here:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/704979/

Ruby I don't care if someone comes with nothing to swap. I will say the ones who came to the one last year once they got there were sorry they couldn't trade for plants they saw that they wanted. I ended up just giving plants to them.

I don't know if this is a solution, but there are two plant shops in the area, one in Front Royal and one in Woodstock, that have nice little perennials for about $1 a pot. Let me know if anyone is interested and needs details on those. And, as I've said before, you probably have something that you consider too mundane to bother to bring that someone else will say, "Oh, I've been wanting that!"

I just added to the top post in this thread links to the haves/wants list thread, the lunch list thread and the earlier swap discussion threads as well as some general info I posted earlier.



This message was edited May 4, 2007 2:01 PM

Susan51 and hubby
Critterologist
happy-macomb
rubyw and hubby
Chantell
sallyg
HollyAnnS and hubby
Bec-No-Va
VA-Wild-Rose and hubby
Brent-in-NoVa and 3 children
Bseward
larlienda
Gitagal
Miatablu

clee1951, centrava and rcn48? None of you ever said for sure if you were coming.

Betty, you gave to come through Frederickburg to get here don't you? You might want to check with Chantell and see about riding from there with her. I've only been to Kilmarnock once and I wasn't traveling from here but we're about an hour and a half from Fredericksburg if that helps.


This message was edited May 6, 2007 2:25 PM

This message was edited May 23, 2007 12:52 PM

Looks like a real friendly crowd. Can't wait.

Ruby

i can't wait...i'm going to have pot up some hostas to save them from the dogs' feet as i've seen a few trampled.....hart, i planned on keeping my troublesome trio busy at home....i know, i'll mention bunnies to charllotte just before i leave...she fell in love with white bunnies at noah's ark the other day when we were looking at fish tanks....mike will be busy ;-)

Hart, I'm pretty sure my husband Ric will be comming with me. So that is 2 for me. Ruby and anyone else please come plants or no plants I'd love to meet you all. I haven't posted my haves and wants yet but I just have common basic plants to bring and my wants are pretty much the same kind of stuff. Holly

Thanks, Holly. As soon as this board lets me start editing again, I'll fix the list.

Hey there Holly - My list of things to bring is long. I need to find it though. ha-ha I had jotted down things that I could think of the other day and had list sitting on kitchen counter. Hubby commented that it was a lot of plants.

Some of mine will be house plant starts too. I have an abundance of spider plants and wandering jew.

Can't wait!!!

Ruby

Bumping so these threads don't get lost

Diane - not meaning to bombard the forum with threads but what are your thoughts on either starting a new thread or including it in one of the others for Car Pooling? I'm not sure at this point if I'm going solo or car pooling. With the new baby and such I would feel terrible if I had to leave early and that caused others to miss out on some fun.

There's a separate thread for car pooling, Chantell. I'll bump it so it's easier to find.

Thanks Diane - I'd forgotten you'd done one already...ugh, my brain's MIA again

Hey Hart....the 9th is even better now due to some news i just found out.....

for those in or near winchester va/clarke county/frederick county/shenandoah county

the apple valley animal hospital is having a tom-a-thon on sat 2 june starting at 1:00

first come, first served but they are taking names & will call couple days prior

male neutering & rabies shot for strays for $10.....i have two that i'm going to try and take...one for sure & the other if i can get him
this is an amazingly good deal....usually you can look at the $100-$200 range easily

should add phone #: 540-678-0202


yeah :-)

This message was edited May 18, 2007 10:45 AM

Hart...

Did you post directions to your house somewhere? I was thinking you did, but I can't find them.

Thanks.... Karen

Karen, I posted a map - see the mapquest link in one of my posts above. I'll be dmailing everyone specific directions, phone number, etc.

Your best route is to come across 17 to 66 west, take the Front Royal exit, turn left off the ramp, cross one bridge and take a right onto 55 before you cross the second bridge. Go five miles and turn left onto Fort Valley Road. See the map from there.

Thanks Hart! I for one am getting really excited about this! :-)

Me too! By the way, I should have thought to say this but if any of you want to invite anyone else, please feel free to do so.

I asked Gardengirl1204 to pop over and take a look, and join us if she wanted. I hope she'll join in. She is just south of me.

If there is anyone needing a ride going up I81, let me know. Oh yeah, that is if you don't mind being in a car with two cigarette smokers. Will curb the tobacco habit as much as possible during the swap and at lunch. Will be a nice and proper southern lady and go to car when needing a fix.

Ruby

LOL - I can see it now - the "proper southern" ladies piling to Ruby's car to smoke away - with me, the non-proper-non-southerner trailing behind ya! :)

Hart, I've already posted on the Haves/Wants and Lunch posts, but just wanted to post here too that I'm coming to keep your posts organized. Can't wait!

Bobbie