And so, I am hope from the 2 week trip to se Arizona to spend the holidays with family and friends. Upon my return, I was delighted to have received more SSS cards.

Big thanks go out to:
Annie (canyonwind) sent a very sweet Guide Dogs for the Blind card and seeds of heirloom melon and tomato varieties. I do so love exploring the realm of heirlooms and trying new things. Thank you, Annie, for the seeds and supporting working dogs who are so devoted to helping their humans.

Nikki (nikkineel) sent a cute little hand drawn card and 2 new heirloom pole beans to try. Awesome! Last year I really got into pole beans. If they did well for you, Nikki, in GA then they should do well for me in MS!

Lisa (ishareflowers) sent a lovely blue themed reindeer card and some seeds I am really looking forward to trying: cream gentian seeds. The entire genus of Gentiana are some truly spectacular specimens and these are a real treat to receive. Thanks so much!

Happy New Year to you all!

Katie

Kym, I will never forget about the ladybugs and every time I see them, I think of her as well.

yes cryptid the folks here are super fantastic and do totally rock
Again I am so glad I decided to join this swap this year. I had forgotten how much of a thrill it is to get cards with seed surprises in the mail.
I totally LOVE this swap and again can not thank Kym enough for organizing it yet again and to everyone who makes this swap work. Thank you all!!!
May your yards/gardens be Blessed this year :)

:) Aqua

Another card in today's mail! Thank you, Heidi (xiangirl) for the candy cane card full of seeds for sunflower Evening Sun and coneflowers Cheyenne Spirit, White Dove, and Secret Affair. I will enjoy having all of those in my garden!

Good Morning everyone!
I figured since Im off today due to the extreme cold =/ i would start taking down the Christmas decorations.
I just wanted to give thanks again to everyone since I have the cards in my hands In case I missed anyone.
This was my first swap EVER! And I must say I really enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone who participated.
Its very heartwarming!

So again, I give many many thanks to you all for the awesome Christmas cards and seeds.

dem_pa
pinkiris
panhandle seed swap
smitties
roper2008
xiangirl
ishare
micrey
debby_1

You all are very generous and believe it or not have really made the holiday season joyful with everything that is going on..

Thanks soo much.
Have a blessed, warm day!

May we all have a great 2014! Peace, dd.

I got one more card in the mail. A nice candy cane
card with 6 different kinds of cosmos! From Heidi
(xiangirl). Really cute how you made the seed
envelopes.

Thanks Heidi, It's nice to get a late surprise.

I also got one more card in the mail from Heidi (xiangirl). It's a really cute Santa card. Homemade ???
Had Cheyenne Spirit coneflower seeds. I love those flowers. Thanks so much.

I loved this swap!! It was my very first round robin that I participated in and I enjoyed it and got so many new seeds to try out in the new year plus lots of joy from all the cards I got! Next year, I'm making a special place to hang all of them and I hope this swap will take place again next year!! Thank you to everyone that sent to me! I hope to have lots more seeds to give out next year and I hope I made a few people happy!
Thanks everyone :)
~Michael

I got a surprise card in the mail today. Just when I thought the fun was over, surprise! Heidi / xiangirl sent a candycane card with 5 awesome packs of seeds, including 2 types of milkweed and 2 types of beebalm! These are so great, Heidi! The pollinators thank you :)

Katie

I got a surprise envelope from Laurie(FryMama) today with a cute Santa card saying "What??! Cookies for me??!! She sent flower seeds for my daughter of hot pink celosia, black-eyed susan vine and bachelor button. Thank you so much!!

I received a card from poisondartfrog today. I couldn't believe it when I saw the postmark. It was December 20th. Where do you suppose the card went between Kentucky and here in Ohio? It's a cute ornament card and contained Ammi visnaga seeds which are something I have not heard of and I am really interested in growing them. Thank you Alana

I had yet another surprise in my mailbox today from Heidi. She had mislaid the card and so it was mailed late but I say better late than never, especially when it included 3 type of coneflower, white dove, Cheyenne spirit, and secret affair. She even made her owl little seed packets which are so cute.

Thanks Heidi.

Woo Hoo came back from vacation and have more cards and seeds.

Xiangirl/Heidi sent a Christmas card with these seeds:
love in a mist
bee balm Jacob cline
bee balm marshalls delight
coneflower white dove
columbine mix
coneflower magnus
coneflower secret affair
coneflower Cheyenne spirit
columbine red star
Persian jewels
Thank you so much Heidi for sharing your seeds with me.

Shirley

Who won BINGO?

Another card. Thank you Lisa (ishare) for the Stokesia
peaches pick, calendula zeolights, and hibiscus Blue
Rover II. I looked them up on dave's garden, very pretty.

Thank you

Wow Roper, that took a long time to reach you! I mailed 3 more that same day that have not made it to their destination yet... crazy!

Apologizing profusely for being late in thanking the following for such pretty cards and seeds -

Debby_1 - an old-timey Christmas tree with old-timey ornaments within white cameo on green - generous pack of pink impatiens and Pennisetum 'Purple Majesty', even though the envelope was only hanging together by 2 corners - looking forward to finch conniptions so much near a big pot of pink impatiens.

NikkiNeel & Sarah Kate sent a cute home-made card with a snowman and Dwarf Blue Curled Kale seeds, so I can give next winter's snowman a green, ruffled hairdo heehee. He'll have red eyes from overdoing eggnog from seeds saved (hopefully) from Sunflower 'Prado Red' and eyebrows from seed saved from Sunflower 'Autumn Beauty'. Clitoria Double White (love white flowers so much) might lend a winter viney necklace from which to hang icicles.

KatKni - On an embossed, cut-out card, Santa is walking down a snowy slope, with a red-capped songbird perched on a snow-laden evergreen, conversing with a toy clown and horse in a brown sack on Santa's back. The murky, dark purple of the hyacinth-bean vine, together with white lace flowers of Cilantro, will wonderfully complement the orange of Calendula and earlier brilliance of moss roses in my garden next summer.

poisondartfrog - A 19th-century homestead opened up into an awesome treasure trove of seeds. I don't know what it is about color shadows on flower petals, but they fascinate me. Papaver somniferum "Giant Double Cream", "Impatiens scabrida, Helianthus 'Italian Green Heart', Mirabilis 'Lemon Swirl" & Tagetes 'Alumia Vanilla Cream' all involve blushes, specklings and swirls of palest yellow shadowing white petals that hopefully will delicately spread blazing deepest gold from Callistephus 'Princess Hilda' to a pale yellow gold dahlia. Agastache mexicana 'Champagne'' will catch a few glitters and Nasturtium 'Alaska Raspberry' will thread its way up through them with darker tones. There will be sky-blue in the vicinity from Blue Woodruff, Nemesia 'Aegian Sea', Viola 'Miniola Heart Aqua' and Platycodon 'Axminster Streak.'. Portulaca 'Happy Trails' will strew its gem-colors at their feet, and Datura 'Purple People Eater' will hulk over the entire ensemble making sure everyone minds their p's & q's. Earlier in the season, Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian; will lurk in tree shadows, and over a sunny, dry wall, pink Lavandula angustifolia 'Pink Elegance' will waft its scent down to passers-by.

Well, obviously I'm not speechless, but I can't thank everyone enough for all the amazing, thoughtful cards and seeds they sent to me. I loved participating in this swap and hope to do it again next Christmas.

ps - I sent 4 additional cards along with the others on 12/21 and hope they made it to where they were going.

Yesterday I got another card from Lisa/ishare with a new pack of mixed black eyed susan vine seeds, with a note saying maybe I'll get a white one (white is on my want list).
I love them even if I don't get a white.
Thank you for so generously sharing your seeds.

I have another thank you to pass along. Sorry I got this card a few days ago but did not have the time to get online to say thank you. My 10 week old grandbaby has been very sick with RSV and we have been awake with her around the clock to help her breathe easier. Anyway she is well on the mend now but unfortunately I now have a minor case. Oh well, as an RN I will do whatever I have to to keep my grandbaby safe.

Heidi/Xiangirl thank you so much for the Reindeer card and the bee balm, coneflowers and 2 types of milkweeds. I know the butterflies will love them!

Sorry for the late thankyou because of snow and flu I could not go out to check my mailbox.

Imogene(cardinalwv 5) sent me a nice card with pic of angels singing with foxglove mix and Hollyhock partygirl. I am so delighted to get this hollyhock and can't wait to try it. Thank you so much.

This post was edited by sji1981 on Mon, Jan 13, 14 at 15:43

Gosh, how did I miss this trade?? Sounds like ya'll had fun. I must have had my head in the sand. I hope this trade takes place again this year so I can join in. Happy New Year and happy gardening 2014.

A big WOW! Upon returning from my 3 weeks trip I received:

ForeverRecycleReuse -- "Lutz" Beet and LOTS of Genovese Basil "Tiny Town" seeds.

nikkineel -- 2 types of pole beans, Sacred Purple Basil, and Dahlia. Also there's a picture of beautiful hand drawn Christmas tree.

SJC48 -- Shirley sent me a beautiful handmade Christmas card with mixed commercial Vegetable seeds.

Xiangirl -- Heidi sent me a very beautiful card, in it I found 2 types of bee balm, and 2 types of Milkweed. I love butterflies, can't wait to plant them all.

Smitties -- she sent me nemophila penny black, a very pretty flower

Flowergirl34 -- a very cute card with seeds of Giant blue sea holly. I like how the seed packet were secured in the envelope.

Ruby_dog -- she sent me Eggplant, bee balm, and Red Yu Choy Sum. Yummy!

rane_grow -- Iris sent me pepper and hosta. I looked them up, they look so beautiful.

MissyGA64 -- a very beautiful, hand-made snowman black card
In there, I received 3 peppers, 2 basils and mizuna. Love, love, love the seeds.

SocalGardenGal -- Christine sent me 3 peppers. Love them all. They look very tasty. So sweet!

debby_1 -- she sent me peter pepper seeds and lots of kidney beans. Can't wait to grow them.

lexiegurl -- she sent me a beautiful glitter wreath card, in it I found lots of California Blackeye cowpea, lots of blue lake pole bean, pimento and Beaver Dam peppers, purple top rutabaga, purple top turnip, and eggplant.

Primrose1x3 -- Karen sent me Bells of Ireland, Dientuhus, 'Violet Queen' Monarda, Basella rubra, red Cli Melabar Spinach, and Salpiglossus Sinuata Chilean Black. Wow! I love all of them.
The post office marked a line across the racking # and wrote: "VH, scanned received". The mails were on vacation hold. They scanned received even though I did not get them till I came back.

Thank you all so much. I love all the seeds and all the beautiful cards. Words just can't describe how blessed I felt.

Our family has been all over the place during the holiday season and so I am just now getting my bearings, but I wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU! to all the folks who sent cards my way. We sold our house just before Christmas and then went to Florida to visit family and then moved into a temporary apt while our home is being completed. If any of your cards got sent back to you, I sincerely apologize and I am so sorry I got some of my packages out late! This was such a fun swap (my first) and I LOVED sorting and sending out seeds. I am so excited to start all of the fun seeds ya'll sent here and plant in my new beds at our new house! Thank you again to all of you lovely people! -Laurie (Frymomma)

Do any of you work ahead? I couldn't resist and bought a package of 24 Christmas cards for 25 cents yesterday and I thought, "For next year's Secret Santa Swap!" Of course, I just have to remember where I carefully file/store them!
Heidi

Hahahaha, funny, Heidi! Talk about being Semper paratus, that is... if you remember where you carefully store them in a very organized, small space. ;)

I see that I have been a complete slacker at providing positive feedback in the Rate & Review forum for members who kindly sent me a card & seeds in the SSS this year. I hope this helps remind others who may have forgotten to do the same.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rate and Review forum