HAVE: have/wanted: green elephant woo hoo!

18 years ago

All we had were lilacs and cookies last year, and yet you folks generously showered us with plants.

Our first house now actually has a few garden beds around it, and not just gravel & weeds. It has been such a pleasure to watch things grow & see what they turned out to be. Thank you!

This year we have lilacs! Again! (and lots of 'em), but we also have lots of other things. Things that survived the brutal attack of the landlord right before we moved, and I salvaged the dregs & they flourished here, and lots of things you gave us that have spread enough to be divided.

I haven't gotten it all together yet (will I ever?), but a brief list includes 3 kinds of thyme at least, oregano, lemon balm, several other ground covers, and some other plants that got big enough to divide. Most haven't, so maybe by the next swap I'll have more variety.

We also have roses I rooted from cuttings so I can't say for sure what they are. Should we wait another year on these so they bloom & we can tell people? My labeling system died fast. I do know for sure on a few of them.

Anybody have a quick & dirty labeling system that lasts?

We're happy to swap for many things, but not so likely to have something you don't already have. Maybe I can post a more complete list later or maybe we can just swap at the swap, or we can put these things in the free stuff & take other free stuff, which I thought was really fun last year. It looks like mostly you all plan what you're swapping, is this preferred?

And we have seeds. I need to check whether we have enough to qualify. Could one of you give me instructions for how to participate in the swap? How many seeds of a variety is enough? How many pots should we bring? What size? And what time does that happen (and will somebody walk us through it?)

THANKS!

Laura (and Joe)

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Comments (3)

nezbine
Original Author
18 years ago
Here are my trade lists:

Plants I have to trade:

17 common lilac
8 cotula perpusilla 'brass buttons' -gray, spreading ground cover
8 oregano
9 caraway thyme
2 longwood (?) thyme
5 hairy (?) thyme
3 campanula takiesima 'Elizabeth' -said to be invasive, for me it's just slowly spreading
1 muehlenbeckia axillaris -ground cover
1 scabiosa 'butterfly blue'
1 bronze fennel *warning*: fennel is now on WA state's noxious plant list, so you have to deadhead so it can't reseed.
1 saxifrage 'london pride'
1 burnet
5 lemon balm -invasive, in my opinion. Good for a pot.
1 cyclamen -an outdoor type
1 arum maybe? shield shaped green leaves, about 6" long

Plants I am looking for:

I'm flexible, but here are some I'm hoping to find:
oriental poppy
phlomis
bee balm/bergamot
love in a mist
borage
tarragon
winter savory
centurea -perennial cornflower
geranium himalayense
gladwin iris
ragged robin
penstemon garnet
lavatera novella
gladiolus communis 'byzantinus'
xenox sedum
ironweed? (is it invasive here?)
tree mallows, especially lavatera thuringiaca 'barnsley'
blueberries
flowering quince
tree peony (dream on, eh?)
holboellia coriacia
grrrnthumb
18 years ago
Hi Laura (and Joe). For a permanent Poor Man's label, you can cut Coke cans in strips and punch a hole in the end. Tie a string through the end and around the plant. Write on the thin aluminum strip with a ball-point pen and it will leave a permanent impression. For regular tags, pencil lasts longer than most permanent inks.
Re the rules of the trade, there aren't really any. Trade what you can here ahead of time, bring the rest and trade some there, give away the rest. Even though many people give away many, many plants there, it's generally polite to assume that they will want to trade them first and try to offer them something in return if you can. See you there!
- Tom
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plantknitter
18 years ago
You can use your seed to trade with or just bring whatever seed you have to the winter sowing table.
Have it labeled, people then can just look through other seeds and trade, or pot up on the spot, there will be pots, compost and labels provided for the sowing.
Judy