First Seed Swap Of 2010 - How It Turned Out

Why do i swap seeds? Partly because i like to get something for relatively nothing - yes, i do a little work to prepare, but i'm still not handing anyone money for what i get. It's also partly for something to do during the "worst" time of the winter; that is - when it's STILL winter, but you want it to be Spring so badly that it's almost a physical pain.

But a day like today reminds me of why i really do it. It's certainly not wanting to crowd into a roomful of people and having to wait several minutes at times just to MOVE 3 feet! It's because of what kind of people they ARE - gardeners! Almost everyone had the same look in their eyes - here we all are(the day after a snowstorm), surrounded by seed packets, seedlings, plants, plant paraphernalia, and although we do know a new season is very near, an event like this reinforces that promise. Did anyone complain about being crowded? No. Everyone was pleasant, considerate and smiling. We were all given paper grocery bags, and as we collected packets, bags or cups of what we wanted and put them into our bags, several of us could be heard commenting that we felt like we were collecting goodies at Halloween!

Didn't take my camera, but this looks close to our swap - just add about 50 more people into this picture!

Because this, 20 days before the first day of Spring, was a happy day for all of us!

Some of my "take" today, laying in a large cast Tobacco leaf i just finished. That package of black radish seed touts, "Popular Snack With Beer and Dips" - although i got nothing against beer, radishes sure wouldn't be my first choice as an accompaniment! i now have seeds of Resurrection Lily, "Rose" and "Cherokee Purple" tomatoes, an "experimental" variety of snap bean, and "Rattlesnake Master" Eryngium. Plus quite a few red Canna rhizomes that i promised i would get for my friend Diana, who is still recovering from cancer treatment, and, as a result, probably hasn't got the best of immune systems and i'm sure wouldn't have wanted to get into a crowd like that!

Treasured "Weeds"

Petasites japonicus (Giant Butterbur) - Mine's not QUITE this big yet....
Went to the semi- annual Perennial Swap in my city (the one and only, far as i know), the proprietors of a small sub shop on the outskirts of our Downtown area started organizing it several years ago. i discovered it about 4 years ago, and have attended at least the Spring swap every year since then. As i mentioned before, there is a strong group of gardeners in my city, but unfortunately, there are not many of us, relatively speaking, considering we are in a fairly large city.

This is also one of the events i whined about in my rant, " Seed Swaps". A lot of folks show up with nothing and take plants, and that bothers me, BUT i realized this year that, if you are a real "plant nut", chances are you'll be there -with your plants-earlier than they are, and will more than likely find some treasures anyway! So i was calm, collected, and in a good mood when i showed up this year. The weather was about perfect (it's usually windy, rainy, cold, or all three!), about 65-70 degress F (19-20 C), sunny, not windy, and all in all, a pretty day! i arrived with a large purple leaved Honeysuckle that had taken over my garden one too many times, (but would be great for someone with room for it), several divisions of "Yellow Sword" yuccas, a yellow- leaved Forsythia, and several pots of Blue Sedge. I left with 4 Hostas (two for me, two for my MIL), a Jack in the Pulpit, a Chinese Lantern (that i have had difficulty starting from seed), another start of a Giant Butterbur -Petasites japonicus- (gotta have those big leaves!), that i may try to put in the pond, and my

Rose Acacia
"treasure" this year - a Sweet Pea tree, or Rose Acacia (Robinia hispida). i had managed to transplant one from my hubby's grandparents' farm years ago (they are very hard to move), and had to leave it when we moved. It took me years to find out what it was (this was in the Eighties, B.I. {Before Internet}).i Think it's a pretty little tree, but it does send out runners and may become weedy, so i am thinking i may keep it in a large pot. i'm happy to have one again, though!

! RANT !- PLANT SWAPS

i have attended quite a few plant and seed swaps in my day, at least, as many as i can find (alas, this is not a popular area for gardening enthusiasts)! But there are some things that bother me...First off, if you want plants or seeds and show up at my garden, i will probably give you more plants than you can carry away! We gardeners are like that. But, when i attend a SWAP (i.e., TRADE), i expect everyone to bring something in exchange for the other items they are interested in. Well, in my city, the plant and seed swaps also welcome people who bring nothing to swap (and there are many folks around here who want something for nothing), i believe primarily to promote this wonderful hobby/lifestyle, which i am all for. So i am happy to see folks show up who are beginners, or people who just don't want to bother to bring anything, that is, IF there is a time period provided for the 'swappers' to swap first -the ones who actually have dug the plants up, divided them, potted them, watered them and labeled them, and/or collected seeds, dried them, packaged them, labeled them and transported them to the swap! That is a lot of work, but for the possibility of finding something cool or rare or pretty at the swap, it's worth it to me.But don't show up with nothing, run in ahead of me and grab the only variegated lilac, or Butterbur,or speckled violet that i had been looking for, when you don't even know what it is and didn't do anything to warrant your having it! Plus most beginners don't realize that if two or three of you want one plant, most of them can be divided! But the "something for nothing" people just grab a huge bag of Cannas or grasses and run, not realizing that a lot of gardeners just bring them in that way, thinking everyone will take a part of them. So it has bothered me enough that i have contacted the people who organize these swaps and given them my opinion on this (whether they wanted it or not- LOL).

AND it always seems like those are the people who complain the most- "Oh, it's awfully crowded", "Why doesn't this have growing instructions?", "This is an older packet of seeds, someone's trying to rip us off!" All actually heard from a young (non swapping) couple near me at the last swap!

Please, if you don't have plants or seeds and want to go to a swap, at least go to the local dollar store and buy a few packets of seeds, or ask a gardening neighbor if they have anything extra you could bring. It's only the considerate thing to do.