Morningloree - queso with chips is excellent, but don't try to pass it off as an egg roll. There will be a bunch of Crotons to swap, perfect for shade and partial shade.

Putting the link up tomorrow morning. No sense waiting!

Click on the link below and follow the instructions. You will get a return email with a gate pass to print. See you on the 22nd!

Click here for an invitation.

Yay! I've started some cuttings of a weeping croton and a chenille plant, but they may not have time to root. If they don't and anyone is interested in either, I can bring fresh cuttings to try to root. The weeping croton roots really easily in water. I can also bring baby calamondins, jasmines, cuban oregano, a native red salvia that blooms year round, self-seeds prolifically (and makes my hummers happy) and as many wart ferns as anyone could want - but beware, you'll never get rid of them. Anyone need a century plant baby? What are others bringing?

And Dawn, I'd love one of the passifloras. As much as I fight vines, I'm drawn to that one. Someone else here gave me a native passiflora that doesn't have prominent blooms, but is a host for butterflies and its presence in my yard upped the butterfly quotient very quickly. I have to pull it out of places I don't want it periodically, but it's worth it for all the zebra longwings I get.

And for any newbies - you should seriously feel welcome to come without a single plant if you don't have any to trade. Bring a dish of something yummy and expect to leave with a weekend's worth of planting work with what you take home. Stay to the end - I did that at one of Ricky's swaps when I was just starting my garden. All the cool plants that didn't get takers from the folks with full gardens ended up in my car! Coffeemom alone can fill your car. Five or so years after I first went "shopping" in her yard, I'm still enjoying the things she gave me. (Sweetest pineapple I've ever eaten!)

Next Saturday, I will definitely be eating BBQ somewhere in Jacksonville in sweet harmony and spirit with those of you at the Swap-A-Que! It might not live up to Ricky's grill, it is as close as I can get. I Google-mapped the drive and it would be four hours each way. Ya'll have fun!

Carol in Jacksonville

Be happy to bring passionfruit vines, I put together a few of these just for fun.

Thanks Dawn. And very pretty!

I just realized I'm off by a week - that just means I will have to eat BBQ for two Saturdays in a row. :)

One week from this Saturday. Hope to see a large crowd, at least I'm cooking for one!

Ricky, do you need buns or slaw or both?

I'll take 'em both! Thanks! Looks like several of the old guard are coming. I'm psyched!

What else do you need Ricky ?

A case or two of water and something sweet. Good weather and lots of friends!

I will bring bottled water :)

Thanks D'Ann. See you on Saturday.

Thanks so much for having this! I have enjoyed reading the forum but have not been able to ever attend a swap.

Would anyone want tiny seedlings of sea grape, coffee, or Surinam cherry? What about clusia cuttings? I don't have time to root them but could bring cuttings if someone wants them. What about dragon fruit....I do not know the variety....they were here 12 years ago when we moved here and bloom beautifully but have never fruited. I am just starting to research how to try to get them to fruit. Could bring cuttings for you to root.

We are moving to a property with a small barren yard. I have lots of ideas and lots of challenges.

The back yard is all shade..and dirt...no grass...shaded by a large mango tree which based upon my research few plants will grow under its canopy. But I have visions of vines along the fences and shade plants around e periphery.

The front yard is vacant with just grass. I do have some sun plants I can take from my home to this yard

Look forward to meeting everyone. Thanks for the barbecue and I'll bring something to complement.

Does anyone have a piece of Staghorn Fern to trade? Sounds like there will be a good variety. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Oh my goodness. Totally forgot. Thank God D'Ann reminded me. I knew there was a swap a que sometime. I can bring something sweet, besides hubby of course. :-) I can also take cuttings of things that morning, we've been working on the yard and hubby just built me a mist bed. Well it was supposed to be a mist bed but it turned into a 16 foot octagonal pergola area, with. . . no mist bed yet!!!! But it does have a few nice raised beds on the sides.

Anyway things i have:

Firespike 2 types, a light and a dark purple.

hibiscus schizopetalus cuttings--really pretty, roots very easily.

Portugal fruit, it's a variety of tangerine grown in Trinidad....I have seedlings of these.

That's really about it for now. We've been planting more trees than anything to get some shade. I have a ton of trees...under two feet!

Let me know if anyone wants anything and I will trim up other wise it's going for another week or two.

Morningloree, I'll check my staghorn to see if I can slice a piece off of it for you. It got damaged in a storm that brought its tree down a couple years ago, so it's diminished, but it's happy, so I may be able to carve a piece off of it.
Trini, I'd love to try cuttings of the dark purple firespike, because I need more purple in my yard.
And is Portugal fruit sweet or sour? We've got enough sour citrus in the yard now, but I'd love something sweet. Do you have calamondin? I'm bringing a small baby I potted up, but I could dig a larger one Friday, with the caveat that I just dug this so it might work, or it might not. They grow true from seeds. And I love them in place of limes. I won't do that unless someone is interested.
I can also bring cuttings of weeping croton (not the one in Ricky's picture, but a true croton) and chenille.
And about those wart ferns? They are aggressive but I've seen them used really nicely in a shaded area under an oak, where a lot of other things won't grow. They also go great guns in full sun. But I'll only pull them and bring them if someone is interested. They have to be contained and they will overwhelm many other things in a bed. But if you've got a problem bed you want to fill with something pretty, they're great for that.
speak now.

Oh, and I'm bringing my mother-in-law and her fabulous lemon squares too. Still not sure what food I'll bring. My sweet potato kuegel doesn't travel well, as I discovered at my mother-in-law's Thanksgiving. Maybe I need to make brownie pie.

I don't think I'm going to be able to make this swap after all. :( I've just been sick lately, which triggered my asthma, and thus snowballed into whole lot of coughing and feeling miserable this week. I'm sorry to miss this one, but hopefully I'll feel better for Silvia's swap in April.

-Amber

I can bring any of this on request:
Yellow walking iris,Blackberry lily, coleus starts, everglades tomatoes. pink pineapple(huge) lg, med or sm bromeliads, red shrimp, sanchezia,star jasmine, camphor plant, green wave fern, mexican sunflower cuttings, white angel trumpet.
LMK

Bring 'em all. You already know you won't be going home with them. :o)

Is anyone interested in cuttings of Korean Sweet potato (purple skin with yellow- white flesh) or variegated baby ice plant (green and white leaves with hot pink little flowers? I only have a few of the sweet potatoes in soil, but I could take fresh stem cuttings of both plants.

natives and veggies, I would love a cuban oregano and a calamondin plant.

morning gloree, do you have an extra passion fruit vine, giant milkweed, and/or cleopatra canna?

coffeemom, I would love a blackberry lily, pink pineapple, and/ or red shrimp plant.

Flower glory, I would love a sea grape and surinam cherry and seagrape seedling

Garden gal - I would love cutting of your Korean Sweet Potato and variegated baby ice plant. I'll set aside the seedlings you requested !

Natives and veggies - I would love a calamondin if they are not all spoken for. I would also love the wart fern as I am moving to a house with a large shade backyard where nothing is growing... only dirt.

Coffee mom - would love any of these you choose to bring: Blackberry lily, everglades tomatoes, red shrimp, star jasmine, mexican sunflower cuttings

Morning gloree - the cleopatra canna looks wonderful! would love one or a passion fruit vine if you have one.

Morning Gloree, I'm afraid the staghorn still isn't well attached to its new tree. I couldn't find a piece I could cut off without severing the few places it is attached.
Flowerglory and Gardengal, I've only potted up one calomondin - and then several of its leaves fell off. But I can pot up more and bigger ones tomorrow. They'll be freshly potted (I'll dig them tomorrow) so you'll probably want to leave them in the pots to develop some roots and get over the shock, but I've found this is an incredibly hardy citrus plant.
I'll bring two cuban oreganos with well established roots, and maybe some cuttings too in case anyone else is interested. Like the calamondin, it's a can't kill it plant, and hardy year round, even with neglect.
As for the wart ferns, what I've done in the past is put a garbage bag in a box, with lots of wet paper towels, and then filled that with wart ferns. The last time I tried this, I'm told most of the fern leaves died, but the roots all rooted and filled in quickly. So maybe I should just bring the roots, similarly protected with moisture. Anyone know?
Kristy, I'd love an everglades tomato. I didn't do a veggie garden this year, in spite of my screen name. Too busy with the book and lots of travel. But I've got room for one.
Big gardening day for me tomorrow.
And I'm looking for purple this year. Who's got something purple? I've got too much red and yellow and a good bit of blue.
I'm also bringing:
A plumbago baby that popped up where I didn't want it
A false roselle that laughed at transplanting. Not only did it not drop a single one of its lovely maroon leaves, it didn't drop a bud and may actually bloom for the event.
A native red salvia, that did drop all of its blooms, but seems fine with the pulling and potting.
A baby century plant - if no one wants it my mother in law may take it.
A well-rooted baby of the yellow senna/cassia bush that we discussed on a separate thread.
Small yellow walking lillies that I didn't get from Coffeemom, but probably got from someone who did get them from her.
If anyone wants more of the salvia, roselle, or calamondin, let me know soonest and I'll dig more tomorrow.
My weeping croton and chenille did not root, mostly from my own neglect, but if anyone wants cuttings, they generally very easy to root, as long as you don't let the cat up on the kitchen counter to drink their water. (Blasted cat!)
Oh and I have livesaver plant! Totally forgot about it. I'll bring some pieces. And a funny story about it.

I have extra Cleopatra Canna and passionflower vine. Will see you all soon. The weeping croton sounds interesting.

Suzanne, do you still have the mitten croton? Can I have a cutting to root. The one you gave me is great but needs a buddy.
I have an extra staghorn pup For whoever wanted it.
I can see I'll be in the garden digging tomorrow...and working up an appetite.

Kristy,
I have a very anemic looking version of the mitten croton left. The mother plant did not survive the white fly scourge. The baby I had rooted survived, but it's still looking weak, with tiny leaves. It was completely defoliated at one point, but it didn't die like the mother plant did. And it has maintained leaves up as high as five feet, so it also didn't try to die down to the ground.
I'm going to bring you cuttings (well washed) in case you can revive it. It was always harder to root than the weeping croton. But maybe together we can save the variety.

And I'll bring plenty of the weeping croton cuttings. It's really pretty. The mother plant also died in the white fly scourge, but the babies I have scattered around the yard shook it off. Both mother plants that died were shaded and the babies were in full sun. I think that may be the difference.
And I love that weeping croton, but it's so easy to root it seems a bit promiscuous to me, when compared to the mitten. Ah, how I get judgmental, and a bit precious, about my plants.

Ricky,
I'm sorry that I'm going to miss seeing your beautiful garden and home again. You always do a great job on this event. Hello to everyone. Catch you the next time.
Nancy

DON'T CUT THE MITTEN!!!!!
I can make cuttings from the one I have-no problem.

What is a Mitten Croton? What is a Weeping Croton? Anyone got pictures???

Ricky,
You've identified these both before, but I can't remember the names. One was Thanksgiving I think. Mitten is attached here, though when it's fuller, some of the leaves are actually shaped like mittens, not mittens giving us the finger.
Susannah

And here's weeping.

and looking at the mitten one, yeah Kristi, I think I better not cut it just yet. The recovered weeping one needs a bit of a trim, but the mitten isn't fully recovered yet.

The Mitten one is Thanksgiving. The Weeping one is Johannis. They both take a lot of sun for full color. If anyone wants cuttings of either one, I have plenty of them available.

Thanks Ricky. Since you've got them, I'm not going to bring any. I worry that even well-washed ones might bring my evil whitefly. No one wants to trade me anything for that.

I am devastated. I have looked forward to the swap a que for months. My husband has given me an urgent task to do today and is not sympathetic that i wanted to do this one thing for myself. I am so sorry. Huge apologies to Ricky... was really looking forward to your barbeque. I am so so sorry coffee mom, natives and veggies, morning glory and garden gal. thank you for all your work preparing plants for me. I am so sorry. will miss meeting everyone and again many apologies.

Lee Anna

I had a great time today Ricky ! The food was great , and it was fun seeing everybody again !

Thank-you Ricky for having this swap/reunion and the best pulled pork ever! It was fun to meet new people and catch up with old friends. :)

My mother-in-law and I also had a great time. Ricky, your garden is an inspiration. She lives in a community very similar to yours and now she wants to get rid of every over-irrigated, drenched in fertilizer, full of dollar weed inch of St. Augustine in her yard. A convert! And it was great seeing old friends and new - and getting some new plants!

We had a wonderful time. The food was great. What a beautiful yard, thanks for the tour and lesson on air layering. Thanks to all who shared plants. Loved meeting everyone.

Who took pictures? I came here just to hear how it went and see pictures . I had really hoped to join you. I am glad it went well but of course I knew it would as Ricky is a wonderful host.

Whoever got the passionflower vine, here is what Lavender Lady looks like in bloom

ooh! That's me! I'm excited to see her blooming. I haven't planted them in the yard yet - it looks like there may be more than one vine in the pot you gave me, but I'll probably plant them all together.
I was actually wondering about where to put them. Mornginglorree, do you think the vine will be okay with being in full shade, but in an area where it can grow into full sun? I'm thinking an area by my fence, which would give some structure for it to grow on. But it would be shaded until it found the sun.
For now, I'm coddling it in the pot.
Thanks again for that plant. I'm so looking forward to that bloom.

They like sun, at least part sun. You'll have better blooms with some sun exposure.

Ok. Thanks. I'll find a place for it.

The bloom time is now, I took that picture a few days ago. The blooms have a slightly sweet smell, but I have to have my nose in the flower to smell it. In my yard, it grows well without being invasive, will root well from cuttings. The butterflies like it and it will get munched on, but recovers well. I had my privacy hedge trimmed and the guy lopped off the top of my vine. I tried to save as much of it as I could and filled a few buckets up with cuttings. So you definitely have more than one plant.