Raleigh Spring Swap 2012

Saturday April 28th, 2pm til 4pm

Pine Shelter - White Deer Park - Garner, NC

Everything will be the same as in past swaps. Don't show up too early because the shelter isn't available til after 1:30pm.

For first time swappers "Raleigh Swap Newbies" - we don't care if you have weeds (natives) or high dollar orchids. If you have plants to give away and want thems to go to good homes, this is the place to be. We trade anything and everything. If you don't have much, don't worry - we don't have rules about that either. It would be nice for everyone to bring snacks or food to share (this usually gets organized on a separate thread titled "Food for Raleigh Swap" or something similar). We average about a 1000 plants and 30 people so everyone goes home with more than they came in with. There is a group of wild and crazy gardeners that have been coming to these swaps for a million years and we can get kinda loud - it tends to scare people on their first visit, don't worry, we've all had our shots and are completely harmless. All we want to do is spend an afternoon with fellow gardeners and trade plants. For anyone wanting to bring gardening stuff that isn't alive you are welcome to do so, plants are the main focus and non-plants tend to get overlooked so don't be surprised if you end up taking it back home. People have traded bags of chicken poop, old gardening magazines, stacks of plastic pots, statues...you get the picture.

How it works: You show up early and place your plants in with all the other plants (there are no sections - we do this on purpose). You find a spot away from the shelter were you can stash the plants you grab during the swap. I stand up and welcome everyone to the swap and ding a bell, you get to grab ONE plant and take it to your stash zone. We do this two or three times before we change it to TWO plants per ding and then THREE plants and finally we have a free-for-all where everyone wrestles for the left overs. Then we break into the food - luckily the bell is retired and we can just eat like civilized people. If you have something that is extra special you may choose to arrange a "Special Trade" with someone (usually a separate thread is started for this). Special trades are handled before and after the general swap to avoid confusion. We have the shelter for 2 hours and everything is pretty much over with in that amount of time.

Here's the town of Garner's web page about the park:

http://www.garnernc.gov/Departments/Parks and Recreation/Parks.aspx?ID=25

An easy way to get there is to take the Beltline to exit #299 and turn South (away from downtown Raleigh). The road you are on is Hammond or Person (it has two names). Stay on this same road as it crosses Hwy 70, by now it has changed names to Timber Drive. Take Timber Drive all the way to Aversboro Street and turn Right (this intersection has a Wallgreens, a CVS and a Lowe's Foods). There is a small city sign showing how to get to White Deer or Lake Benson Park. White Deer Park is on the right side of the road. There is a church on the opposite side of the street. If you see a big wooden sign for Lake Benson you have gone one short block too far.

Once you enter the park take the first turn to the left and drive until you see the big parking lot. I think the parking lot is one way. Our shelter is after the turn and right up against the parking lot. Look for the small sign that says "Pine" up on the eave of the building. There is a map on the park website above.

The parks address is: White Deer Park 2400 Aversboro Street Garner NC 27529