I think an adjunct FB page would be fun. It should be a closed group so new members would have to be approved before they could see messages.

Haha...the DG mid-atlantic spring swap is also May 9th!

Curious--which state and public or private venue? Bet a lot of former/current GWers went over to DG when the company trades started.

Not sure if a lot of GW members made a switch as DG is a pay site. It's $20 bucks a year but that fee weeds out a lot of the internet trolls, which is well worth it. I avoid the tree and shrub forums over here because some of the members are so rude and condescending it's ridiculous. Our plant swap is at a member's house in the DC area. We usually have a spring and fall swap as well as a seed swap in late winter. There's a bunch of good people amonst us. Where are you in the MD/PA area? I live in Lancaster PA.

Carroll County, MD. I like our MidAtl swap--it's about 1.5 hours drive for me, but I like seeing regulars. I note Larry posted in the Exchanges forum for people to sign up. We may have to start something like a Reunion committee list of members who have attended in the past to let them know the Swap is May 9.

Yeah it is fun seeing the members. I am not often on GW. Our swaps aren't always at the same place, how about yours?

We have been lucky in having one of our members who is willing to host regularly. So, we have ours in Maryland (Burtonsville). We had a lot of people last year.

I missed the spring swap last year, but I hope to be there this year. I believe I have attended 3 or 4. I tend to lurk and not post much - I don't have much to say, but I love reading what others write.

I have read that there have been several people who could not sign in under their old name. I know of at least one person who gave up on GW/Houzz because they did not want to sign up for a new account. I do not like the look of the new format here (too much white space!!!!), but it is not enough to chase me away.

I do not want to move to Facebook - I do not like Facebook.

Connie, I too wasn't able to sign in under my old name. I had to create a new user account. I just added the _4 and was good.

I still have names for the last pre-arranged swaps in 2014. Do you think it would be too intrusive to send those peeps a note in case they were turned off by the Houzz change and didn't come back to this forum?

Personally I wouldn't find that intrusive; sounds like a good idea.

Looks like that is harder than I thought since most just say: gardenweb_user@gardenweb.com.
Perhaps activating an old post from the past using a response?

I tried posting in the 2013 swap thread. I don't think it will be possible to contact people because of the way that Houzz set up GW. You have to be following someone to even be able to message them. The idea of 'following' sounds creepy - like stalking or something.

If I were out of the loop, I would want to receive Plant Swap update information. I think if we can find a way to contact those who are missing they would probably appreciate it.

Some peole here have other people's email addy from previous communication (before Houzz) - maybe we can network it - say if you have somebody's email then you can contact them and let the rest of us know. Or something along those lines.
For example, I am in contact with AlfieMD6 and told her about the 2015 Spring Swap date. I believe she will be there. :)

Lists of webnames show up on the old Haves/Wants lists from previous years but some people don't have the exact same names now. Going over my swap mails I found that most of them were generated by GW where we contacted one another about exchanges and it hid the addresses.

Can someone post the times on May 9th and Henrietta's address again? I was there last year but I just know I won't remember how to get there. Thanks!

I will be at the swap! Thank you so much to all who arrange and of course Henrietta for hosting! Have we figured out how we're doing the haves/wants/food threads?

I will be at the swap. Have we decided if we will be doing a Facebook group since I find houzz not very user friendly, awful design! I keep in contact with some of the "old-timers" and will let them know of 2015 date. Jette/busyasabee

Another thought, have you all considered creating a MAGSWAP MeetUp group?

What does this mean "have you all considered creating a MAGSWAP MeetUp group?" Where would it be created?
I vote NO to Facebook.

Meetup is an interesting option but those are usually for people who want to meet more than once; they get to know each other through these regular gatherings. Meetup also asks you to pick a specific location to begin the process to draw their radius. Unless it can be morphed into a broader MidAtlantic gardener thing I am not sure how it would work for 1 annual meet. I think FB is good to reach people who are already users.

I just created a trial Facebook page for us: Midatlantic Garden Forum. Found some old pix from 2007. I have it at "closed" status at the moment--you can see the page, request to add. I'm not sure if I should make it public or keep it closed.

I am relatively new to Houzz/Gardenweb and was hoping to be able to make it to the exchange this year, but the 5/9 weekend is not a good one for me. I was hoping to see if anyone had any historic irises they may trade. Let me know if anyone is interested in a local trade outside of the exchange. Thanks!

If you can give me specifics of the Facebook page I'd appreciate it.

Would anybody tell me if we can set up HAVE and WANT lists, and also how we can arrange for trades like we did before? This new layout looks fancy, but it seems like it is not serving us well like the old format. How are we going to do our swap on Saturday? Just bring whatever and show up??? I can use some help.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/mid-atlantic-exchange

I may copy these to the FB page.

Sorry to say I have to bail on the swap this year. My day job is so frantically awful I need to use the day to catch up at home. Please tell Henrietta I will try to find some time to teach her beer-making as I promised last year. Have fun!

I made an oops on my calendar schedule, and found I double-booked myself with the KomenDC race. Sorry, I won't be able to make this year's MAGSWAP. If you all see any plants on my HAVES list that you are interested in, just email me, and we can make alternate arrangements to meet in the Gaithersburg/Bethesda area. Jette (busyasabee)

Hey, this is professor dirt I will really, truly honestly be there with a load of "compost" and all I really want are ANY back issues of fine gardening or garden books

unfortunately we have a funeral tomorrow and I will miss the swap. Say a prayer for our friend Beth. Sorry to miss everyone.