oops can't type, you know what I mean-K

Hi again. I am still interested, but cant seem to get this trade started. After 3 years, I cant find any garden buddies in the W-S area. I guess it's just you and me. I have posted swaps at the Get-togethers Forum with little to no interest. Come dig up some Castor plants and take some Castor seeds, too. I checked your list again; I have 3 colors of Castors: pink tint, maroon tint, plain solid green. As for exotic tropicals in wild colors, I wonder if Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate/Polygonum Orientale would qualify? I'd gladly dig some up for you, as I have plenty. They get about 6 ft tall in moist bright shady spots, and reseed like crazy. Anyone else out there near W-S? ...echo... echo...

Here is a link that might be useful: my list

Me, I'm here, in Kernersville - does that count? I doubt that I would have anything that either of you would be interested in, or don't already have in your garden, but I would love to grow some garden friendships! I do have a snowball bush that needs clipping, if any of you want some of that?

Wow,
It's nice to see that we have interest! All plants and people would be welcome, if you don't have things to trade, you could at least come away with seed! I am thinking maybe June 4th or 17th? Ideas?

Thought I'd go ahead and list my available trades ( I am very bad with botanical names and apologize beforehand for many hand-me down unnamed varieties):
Pennyroyal
Forget-me-nots
White yarrow
Amsonia
Lamb's Ear
Shasta daisy
Verbena-perennial creeping
Black-eyed-susan
Blue Billows Hydrangea- layered cutting
White obedient plant
Autumn Joy Sedum
E. Ears-plain green
Canna-coral/peachy/salmon pink flowers-labeled as cherry red but clearly not red
Australia red canna
Phaison canna
Red canna-unnamed
Yellow/orange canna-unnamed
Unnamed canna with yellow flecks on leaves-either pink or yellow flowers as they were interplanted
Unnamed Light yellow daylily (not stella d'oro)
Unnamed Yellow asiatic lily? from mom's garden
Glads-mixed
Something my friend calls penstamon but I'm not sure-has redish purple leaves and yellow flowers-not goat's beard
I also will bring any leftover seed I have, may save some moonflower seed if anyone is interested.
Kara

Adding to the list:
Dragon Blood Sedum
Red Cardinal Flower
Bee Balm-red
Unnamed gray sedum-creeper-very pretty-pink flowers
Unnamed green sedum-creeper-yellow flowers
Hardy red hibiscus I'd trade for hot pink
Hostas-unnamed giant green
golden tiara
white-edged aureo
gold-edged aureo
green -honeybells I think
august moon
passion flower vine
creeping greyish salvia with pink flowers
black and blue salvia

Thanks-Kara

June 4th or 17th? Ideas?

Either one of those is good for me. I have a graduating senior on the 10th and leaving town on the 24th, so either of those works. I could perhaps make and trade some of my crete pots and troughs?

The 4th is sounding good to me so far-the sooner I can get some new plants and give away others-the better. Would Tanglewood or Lewisville Square (or another place in the area-?) be better? Creative trading ideas-bring it on! I would surely like to see your work on pots, troughs.

Okay, more thoughts on the 4th. I don't want to conflict with Charlotte if they have a swap the same weekend, so I'll keep my eye on that post as well. We could still do the 4th if Charlotte doesn't happen, or the 17th. Tanglewood is probably not the place-$75 for their cheapest shelter. Lewisville Square is small, and I'm sure no one would mind a few people w/plants in Lewisville. If this sounds like a good spot, I can put a link to Mapquest. I also updated my trade list on my page, and included a comprehensive list of all my garden plants I am making, in case there is anything that might spur a special trade.

Kara

Hey Kara,

I'm coming - looking forward to it. I may need some directions from Kernersville though cuz I don't get out that way much at all. Can you tell me the name of the park/place so I can find it on the map?

Sorry I just got wind of this thread today. I had hoped to go to the April swap in Lewisville, but ended up swamped with work, and could not. I would like to come to the June swap, but cannot make it on the 4th as my son graduates that day. I could do it on the 17th of June. I'll contact some other Greensboro people who aren't necessarily gardenwebbers, but who may be interested.

There are a lot of parks in the area. With, so far, one from Lewisville, one from Clemmons, one from Kernersville and one from Greensboro, I was looking more at the ones on the east side of Winston-Salem to be more central.

The city of W-S has several shelters in parks easily accessible from I-40. This site gives the list of all with small picnic shelters:

http://www.cityofws.org/default.aspx?mod=Article&id=866
Small Picnic Shelters (seats under 50)
Friday - Sunday & Holidays $35

Available Shelters: Easton, Forest Park, Greenway, Happy Hill, Miller Park #3 #4 & #5, Piney Grove, Reynolds Park #2 & #3, Rupert Bell, Washington #1 #2 & #3, Winston Lake #2
Then there's Forsyth County. Two possibilitites are Union Cross Park and Kernersville Lake Park.
Both have shelters for $45 a day on the weekends.

https://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/Parks/unioncross_shelter.aspx
https://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/Parks/kvillelake_shelter.aspx

And finally, there's the city of Kernersville:

http://toknc.com/pr/kernersvilleparks.asp
They charge $25 for a half day: 10:00 to 3:00 or 4:00 to 9:00.

I have not been to any of these parks, so some of you many know better if they are worth looking into.

Are we making this a potluck, or is it strictly swapping plants?

Kitty

WOW, having it in Kernersville would be GREAT - for ME anyway! LOL The parks here are wonderful, any one of them would do nicely. Since I have never attended such a thing as a plant swap, I'm game for nearly anything - a pot luck would be FUN, but I'll do what everyone else wants to do.

Okay, so I am having ideas and I have never been to a plant swap much less tried to coordinate one, just noticed the Raleigh swap and felt inspired and I'm so glad other people are responsive!So everyone else please feel free to give your input on these thoughts:
-Food is always nice! I was thinking if we did the swap fairly early (10-11 ish, before it's super hot)we could have breakfast &lunch foods-or brunch if we're getting fancy. I'm vegetarian myself which is not something I expect accomodation for, but thought I'd warn everyone in advance if I passed on hot dogs, etc. Food would not necessarily have to be brought but it is nice.
-We could do this the 17th (if that's ok w/everyone) so everyone could attend.
-Possible locations: a link is on the bottom with bubbles you can scroll thru and find location. I don't know every park in W-S, but know several areas that don't really appeal for either traffic, aesthetics, or safety reasons. I tried to take into account access from highway, etc. and here are suggestions of ones I know, and I will put mapquest links on once I hear back from folks and we choose the best site;
Sedge Garden Park is really nice, has a shelter, is out of the way and not so popular, so I'm sure shelter would not be an issue (with only a few people, reserving a shelter may be a bit much, but I could still do that-It's in Kernersville off Linville Rd.
-Salem Lake is also nice and has both the shelter and a picnic area -look out for the ducks though- and is also on that side of W-S. You have to drive a little bit thru town to get there, and it can be popular.
-Bolton park is very nice, has shelters and a huge parking area-shaded much of the day. Is pretty close to the mall-fairly central and easy to get to from the highway, very popular.
-South Fork is on the West side of W-S, is not popular, has a shelter, and easily accessible from highway.
-Lewisville Square is nice and not crowded, but furthest west of these.
Thank you all for your continued interest, this is so exciting!
Kara

Here is a link that might be useful: w-s parks map w/bubbles for info

I'm glad someone knows about the parks. The only reason I would want to go ahead and reserve a shelter is in case of rain, so we could still have it. The ones in Kernersville are the least expensive, assuming we could start and end between 10:00 and 3:00. But if everyone chips in, it shouldn't be that much anyway. I'd be in favor of Sedge Garden or one of the Kernersville Parks (selfishly, I admit), but would go with what the group wants. We should start looking into reservations, don't you think, because it's getting close to the time. (Do we have an exact date?)

I've updated my trade list if anyone wants to check it out. The seeds are ones I actually have, plus I'll probably bring some commercial seeds too.

The plants on my list are not all available, but I've updated the ones that are possible by putting them in bold type; if you like anything let me know.

Besides what's on the list, I have a couple of tulip poplar trees that have come up voluntarily, if someone wants one. Also there are some dogwood babies that I plan to rescue before the first lawn-mowing.

I'm also looking for common orange daylilies and pale yellow ones (not the stella d'oro orange yellow) if anyone has them.

Kitty

Maybe Kernersville Lake Park.

PS: I have nothing to bring and not looking for any thing new to plant now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kernersville Lake Park

Wow! There are folks popping out everywhere! I was just getting ready to post that we could change the date to the 17th so everyone can come if that's alright. If you can't make it, shoot me an email if there's anything I have that you want. I am going to call the Parks Dept. tommorrow to reserve a shelter at Sedge Garden (seems like the best bet)and will update location, etc. after that. Anyone is welcome Basil, just bring yourself if you'd like!
-I really do think food would be nice....morning coffee into iced tea.................

Hi! I'd like to attend also! I've never been to a swap and don't know that I have much to bring (as I just did all new landscaping in the yard), but I could probably bring a few plants and some food!

OK! Got shelter reserved at Reynolds Park , Shelter #3 for June 17th, from 10-3pm. Address is 2450 Reynolds Park Road, Winston-Salem. Sedge Garden and Salem Lake are full. Will update with more details in a few hours-gotta dig up some things for a trade quick.
P.S. All new people, please don't be shy-I'm new to this, too!
Kara

I reserved the Shelter #3 this morning at Reynolds Park (others on that side of town were full)for the swap between 10 & 3 on Saturday, June 17th. Please let me know if this works for everyone. It is $35 for the day (we could stay later if I ask soon...) and it must be paid by May 31st. I will gladly pay it by May 30th if this is a good date, etc, and if anyone else would like to help chip in and help cover the cost that would be great. I would even go for a donation jar so no one would feel obligated-I love trading myself because it's free :). I know that none of you know me personally, but I'm very laid back and am just looking forward to exchanging plants and taking my family to the park for a day.
Food: I say potluck-bring what you like, breakfast, lunch, snacks, whatever!
Rules: I'm not much for those, but if other people want rules or whatever, I'll leave that to people who can be organized. Generally, I think what I read on the Raleigh thread sounds brilliant, and I hate to have a total lack of imagination, but I'm blatantly stealing from them. I humbly bow down to the masters of the Raleigh swap, it seems like they have a good dea, and hopefully this will be seen as a compliment to the vision. It inspired this swap. Excuse the copy/paste/plagiarism, and if there are any Raleigh swappers out there, you have permission to make fun of this newbie:

RE: WANTED: Shout out to the swap newbies
Posted by: trianglejohn z7b NC (johnbuettner@hotmail.com) on Tue, Apr 11, 06 at 14:32

Since these swaps started and have been such a hit, I haven't really needed to attend any other plant swaps so I really don't know how other people run theirs. I like to think of the Raleigh Swaps as a garden club that regularily chit chats here on GardenWeb but meets face to face twice a year with the swaps(a spring and a fall swap).
We have a sort of loose structure and try to keep rules to a minimum. No one is under any pressure to bring a certain amount of any certain thing - everything is handled as a "do what you are most comfortable doing". Some people are looking for only certain plants or plants of a certain quality - the "Special Trades" mentioned on this thread keep that all organized. But we also do a General Swap where everything is piled on the picnic tables and we do a round robin approach to picking a plant. By this I mean that everyone steps away from the tables and I ring a bell - at the sound of the bell you get to race in and grab ONE plant and then leave the shelter and stash your plant in your little holding area. We do this over and over til someone starts to complain and then I move it up to 2 plants per bell ding. Eventually we end up in a free for all and people swoop in and take all the rest of the plants. The beauty of this approach is that everyone gets an equal chance to grab their favorites and in the end ALL the plants find homes. So far it has worked well for us and I am not interested in changing it.

I just want new swappers to not get too worked up about what they bring or how the system works. We are here to share and most of us are pretty flexible as well as propagating fools when it comes to plants - there is always an abundance of plants to choose from. No need to be shy about it - and if you miss out on something you can always continue to trade plants throughout the pot luck lunch or in the parking lot when the swap is over.

For those of you wondering how to advertise or promote your own swap or this swap - we get about 45 people at this swap twice a year which is plenty. I feel no need to bring in more but if more people show up they will not be turned away. I only promote this swap on GardenWeb simply because I don't want to have to repeat the rules and info over and over again to various groups and clubs. But, that doesn't mean that you have to be a GardenWeb member to participate - it just means that there is no contact person to relay info about the swap to. GardenWeb is the only official spot to get the details, who sees it and shows up is not my concern. Bring your friends and family and prepare to share. (end of post)
......Sounds good to me. I know I have enough spare plants for a general swap, and I already got together a few general swap plants. I do plan on trying to label plants the best I can ( will put unid-whatever I think it is on what I don't), and I do personally welcome non-plant trades. I am basically up for anything folks want to do. There's a link to Reynolds Park at the bottom.
Keep it coming,
Kara

Here is a link that might be useful: Mapquest link to 2450 Reynolds Park Road

I'm really looking forward to this. Should we start a food list?

Have you given any thought to how the trade will proceed? I plan to put the names of people I've promised plants to on those plants and keep them separate from the ones for general swapping. I've only been to one plant swap, and that one I arrived at too late to see how it really worked.
Please anyone look at my list and let me know if there's something you'd be interested in. I will bring stuff, but I won't be digging up some of what's listed unless someone says he/she's interested.

Kitty

Kara, apparently we were posting at the same time, but I got side-tracked. Didn't see your last message before posting.
Sounds good.

Skydiva, wow! You have such diverse hobbies. Hope you can come to the swap.

Kitty

Thanks everyone, I also want to take any pressure off people for what they will bring, what they might not have, etc. Hopefully what happened to me today will make ya'll giggle at what a newbie I am and my own feelings of inadequacy - My daughter is with grandparents this week so I have time for all gardening and this swap. I made my first online trade late, late last night (finished about 3am) and got a bunch of stuff I wanted really bad. The person who traded with me had some more exotic things that I wanted, and I've noticed that people that are into tropicals really know them well-and I 'm new to them. I wanted to make sure the trade was worth it for the other person and wanted everything to be nice. I was so excited, woke up and out to the garden. Didn't bother to read the gardenweb page on how to ship plants for trade, I had a pretty good idea I thought, peat moss, a little composted cow manure, soak em down... was ready to ship dirt, pots and all. I lovingly dug up the plants for this special trade, my first, all the while uncertain my plants would not be impressive enough for this clearly more experienced and knowledgeable trader. One thing I never have enough of is dirt-we have erosion/drainage problems at our place-so I probably buy as much peat, compost, topsoil,etc.as I do plants. I got everything so ready for the online trade I made, with the peat in the pots. And then I started potting things up for the swap. I started to run out of dirt (my ususal dilemma), so I crammed as many cannas as I could with hard red clay, came in and checked how to ship plants... Then I found out that I didn't need to bother with all the peat moss pampering for the trade.
*They suggest wrapping the roots in a damp paper towel.
The woman emailed me and very kindly let me know it was OK if the trade was not perfect-she knew I was nervous and thanked me nicely for the plants, she was happy too!

I will try to take this as my cue to relax.

I never been to a swap before myself, just traded plants amongst friends, and I'm not sure how much experience everyone else has. It's gonna be fun, and I have quite a bit for others to take away even if you only bring food. I personally welcome non-plant items and love arts and crafts. I plan on inviting a friend of mine (who has a neurological disorder and is in a wheelchair, has a container garden)that loves plants and will probably have some of her paintings or crafts. Even if she can't come I will likely bring some of her stuff to the swap, and I know she'd be happy with just about anything she got in return. The beauty of bartering. However, I am trying to stop myself from feeling admittedly guilty that I cannot divide my Baptisia for carolina kate. So, no one beat yourself up, I'll probably do that enough for everyone.. for sticking red clay in the swap pots.

All the ideas about the plant swap seem great. June 17th is a good date. If we don't have physical items to swap, perhaps we can also swap garden info. I know I can share some experience. Can't wait to check out everyone's list.

Kara, that's a hoot. I thought I was the only one all tied up in knots about whether my plnats would be good enough to make an equal trade!

Formernygardener, how long have you been in the area? I think the more that come, the better it will be. Bring friends.

Kitty

Alright-I am going to post another forum announcing the swap officially, details to try and lure a few more people in. Is anyone opposed to calling this a newbie swap?
Kara

Newbie, Rookie, W-S Spin Off Swap, (WS SOS for short LOL) you can call it anything your heart desires - I'll still be there. :) lol

I made 2 official announcements on this, and will post a link to the one on the Carolina Gardening front page at the bottom. Thank you so much for your continued interest everyone! I have some more plants to trade and add to the feast and will try to update some of these tommorrow.

I have some non-plant trade ideas, some of which are selfishly things I like. This is a prime week for me to dig. I also can't root cuttings reliably or grow seed from packets too well myself. I will gladly give seeds and offer a cutting of anything I can spare to someone who can conjure up roots.

Non-plant trade ideas: Old Newspaper for Lasagna beds*
Constructive criticism of my plants because I don't use chemicals*
Peat, composted manure (even semi-composted in bags if anyone has horses), natural soil amendments, etc*
Help with planning a container garden or two after the swap um..formerny..I will need a lot of your help*
Organic Fertilizers/Pest control or knowledge*
Non-organic fertilizer for everyone else
Round-up, other chemicals I don't know about
Terra cotta pots
Pots/Planters-something puddleofmud makes*
Garden art-or if anyone sees a little fairy at the dollar tree and will pick one up for daughter's garden I will give you something you want*
Signs
Art work
Art/Craft supplies
Water guns-I think we'll need these anyway in June
And by gosh, if anyone knows of a trustworthy place in the area that does small engine repairs (weedeater, leafblower)that would be helpful to me*
-Kara

Here is a link that might be useful: announcement link

It would have been helpful for me to read at least some of the forum rules before I started posting here. I did say I was not much for rules...I'm glad quirkpod brought something to my attention, which made me look, so I almost want to open a new forum under the exchange page.
We got an official acknowledgement of our newbie swap on one of the Raleigh Swap pages (Thank you... it has pictures of their swap too!). I feel we have legitimacy enough that we can open a special trade page.
-For fellow newbies my understanding of special trades are prearranged before the swap, for people who have certain plants they really want (look somewhere else for more info). I don't know if there are GW rules about trash talking, pleading, etc.with trades, but if there are I'm definately breaking those already on other forums so someone tell me.
If my GW trades work out, I may have some very beautiful new things to share. Frankly I asked some people for things I will grow for trading that I did not want in my own yard necessarily in hopes of materializing a Nancy's Revenge elephant ear one day. People that love tropicals are hard to tempt when you don't know, can't pronounce, or spell most of what they want-much less find it around here. So-I will open up that forum and try to work on IDing my plant list better tommorrow. Before I open up special trades may I say 2 things:

1-If I told you I'd give you something, it may be a good idea for one last reminder right before the swap. I thought I'd label things as I potted them up-yeah right.

2-If anyone gets in between me and a variegated elephant ear, there will be bloodshed.

:)

Kara

Everyone: Hopefully I don't completely scare people away by my thirst for new plants and tendency to be playful and joke around. I have never even participated in any sort of an online chat, much less anything like this so I don't know at all what the boundaries are. I just figure if I try to be cute, maybe I can also send the link to friends from out of town to get them to come, too.

Special Trades are up too:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/carolgard/exch0516454113976.html

Kara

Here is a link that might be useful: Newbie Special Trades

Hey Basil,
You can just bring yourself and have a bite to eat with us...meet some local gardening folks. If this goes well, Maybe we can have another one of these in the fall, hua? Maybe you might have something to trade then.

Hey Skydiva,
I'm glad you can come! I don't have much to bring either, but it'll still be lots of fun!

Hey, Formernygardener,
See you at the swap!

Hey, Kitty,
I'm with you on starting a food list. Whatcha think about keeping it simple - I really don't like to cook - but I can make some potato salad, and bring some paper plates, cups, ice!

How do we do this food list? I'm flying blind here.

Hey Kara?
Are you still with us? Do you know if the shelter has electricity? If we are going to pinch everything we do from the other swap and or swappers, does anybody have a bell to bring and ring?

How many of us are there? Anyone keeping count? Who's the captain of this boat anyway? Kara? O I think I'm getting excited!

After reading the above posted link "Newbie Special Trades"
I am now feeling really foolish. I'm so confused, and I'm sorry this is going sour. A real shame too - I was looking forward to it.

To anyone who has read down this far, we are changing the swap. We welcome anyone from anywhere to come join us, plants or no plants, as long as you're interested in gardening. Please see the new thread here:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/carolgard/msg0522475113363.html

Here is a link that might be useful: New Triad Swap