Raleigh Spring Swap 2006

Raleigh Spring Swap will be held at Creech Road Elementary School Park which is the same spot we held the swap a few times ago (though I believe it was a Fall Swap back then). The park has a large shelter with bathrooms and running water/electricity. The shelter is a short walk from the parking lot so be prepared to haul your plants to and fro. This town park is a combination Elementary school playground/city park recreation area - so if you can find the school you can find the park. The shelter is at the back of the schools parking lot on your right as you drive in.

Set up begins at 11:00am (though if you show up early and no one has rented the shelter feel free to stake a claim before the madness begins). General Swap begins at 12:00noon and should end by 12:30pm. As soon as the dust settles and weve broken up any fistfights we will all sit down to a pot luck picnic lunch and behave like civilized gardeners. At any time special trades can be conducted either at the shelter or in the parking lot. We have to exit the shelter by 2:00pm - but if we still havenÂt gotten sick of each other there are picnic tables nearby where we can sit all afternoon long if we want. Keep in mind that the shelter rental is more flexible on the pre swap hours as opposed to post swap, so arriving early is highly recommended. The parks staff cleans the shelter so we just need to get anything important out of their way. I am asking that anyone lurking about with nothing to do please please please help the swappers move plants from the parking lot to the shelter (and the reverse after the swapping is over).

You can simply plug this data into mapquest (www.mapquest.com):

Creech Road Elementary School

400 Creech Road

Garner NC 27529

Mapquest will also give you detailed instructions on how to get from your house to the park and back home again. For those of you somewhat familiar with the area, here are the basics:

Garner is a suburb of Raleigh. Downtown Garner is 10 minutes from downtown Raleigh and due south of it. The swap location is just past old downtown Garner on the east side of town, north of Hwy 70. Though many of the roads I will mention are highways, in this area they look and feel more like city streets. Get off of Interstate 40 on exit #299 and head south (away from downtown Raleigh). The road you are on is called Person Street or Hammond Road depending on which direction you are going, as it comes into Garner it becomes Timber Drive (there is no "welcome to Garner" sign on this road). Pretty soon you will approach a large intersection of Hwy 70 and Timber Drive. You want to turn left and head east. There are two left turn lanes at this intersection, choose the right lane of these two rather than the far left. You will go through a few traffic lights. The street Vandora Springs will cross overhead. The next street crossing over the highway is Hwy 50, exit on the right onto Hwy 50 and cross over Hwy 70. At the first traffic light turn Right onto Old Garner Road East and head east. At the next traffic light turn Left onto Creech Road. You will see wooded parks and tennis courts and baseball diamonds on your right. The Elementary School is just after all of them, on your right with a large blue sign. There is only one parking lot. The shelter for the swap is at the end of the parking lot on the right hand side.

Any of the above information can be influenced by excessive amounts of whining or tantrum throwing. Threats of bodily harm and good ol fashioned bribery will work as well.

Keep in mind that we have a collection box to fill with prized plants for our gardening friends affected by Hurricane Katrina. And that during lunch special door prizes will be awarded to the most ÂRed-neck container AND for the seedling/plant still in its original container from a previous swap.