I guess I'm the only one. I have so much "junk" I want to clear out of my house. The Garden Exchange would be a great place to do it if more people knew about the forum.

One of the problems is that there are too many scam artists hanging out on GW. Since there is no feedback system and reporting bad trades is against the rules, they can run amock.

I have traded plants on the plant forum. On one trade, I sent someone several hundred dollars worth of daylilies. The person never sent their part of the trade until I threatened to turn over all correspondence to the postal service for fraud. I then received a few things I probably could have bought at one of the box stores. I would have been happy to receive something worth half, or even a third, the value of my plants, but got zip until the postal threat.

On another occasion, I sent someone daylilies just for postage. I never even received postage. She claimed her daughter was sick. A year or two later, this person was posting on the Forum about all the nice daylilies she had. She had much more expensive plants than those I had. I sent her an email inquiring about her daughter's health. Her daughter was well and she said she was going to send me the postage - didn't want me to think she was the type person who would not pay. Never heard from her and she hasn't posted in a very long time.

I don't trade any more. After having rust, I feel I cannot send plants to anyone in the South unless they have had rust. If I do send anyone plants, it is usually just a gift. After all, as seen with the seedling picture I posted, people have been very nice to me.

I'm sorry you had such bad experiences. I have been trading hard and fast here for years! Out of the 100's of trades I've done, I've been stiffed about 15 times. I learned to trade my most precious plants only to people I know and have traded with before. I also learned that if I give something for postage, get the postage FIRST, then send the plants. Many people who request something for postage often fail to follow thru. I have a paypal account, so if they want immediate shipment, they can send an instant payment by paypal.

Oh gosh, you wouldn't believe what all I've gotten in trades. I've received tons of wonderful new plants to fill my gardens, scrapbooking supplies, a set of Time/Life Garden encyclopedias, other garden books, DVDs, painting books, videos and supplies, ink cartridges for my printer, magazine subscriptions, Round up and Preen, birdhouses, and so much more. People who do in-person trades with me have brought wooden headboards and footboards which I'll use to make garden benches, manure, sawdust, mulch, bamboo canes, etc.

Really, I've found the scammers to be few and far between. I'm pretty active on several of the conversation forums here, and I like to trade with people who talk about themselves. You get to know what kind of people they are from their posts. And like I said, I don't trade my rarer plants to just anyone. If I do, I ask that they send their end to me first. Once I get it, I'll send my plants to them. But I rarely do it that way.

Do you ever do in-person trades or go to group plant swaps? They can be a lot of fun too. I've hosted two of them myself.