Squirrley, I'd be up for having the trade at my place again. For some time we didn't have space. Well, we had space but I kept thinking any day now they'll come and do some work so I won't book anything.
Well, who knows when any work will be done, so Lord willing and the creek don't rise (literally, that's the work that needs to be done!!!) we can do the trade at my place. Vast, wide open spaces galore :)
-I will have a variety of fancy gingers
-some traveller daylily once given to me by another GWer at a trade (it is a pretty lemon yellow)
-a variety of herbs including thyme, several types of ground cover oregano, true greek oregano, creeping thymes and more
-a LARGE Vietchenblau rose, it's in a 10 gallon pot! Mine divided several times.
-I will probably have annuals from seed and annual vegetables plus I always have TONS of seeds!
-most likely there will be irises.

There will also be more. I would request the trade perhaps in April. There is only one caveat. My mom may need at least one operation in the new year. I'm hoping perhaps they will do it Jan or Feb though but I'll have to be home for some time to take care of her.

Hi GGG,

I didn't mean to instigate scheduling the trade already but it certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings since you mentioned it. April is usually a great time unless we have one of those nasty late late freezes but that doesn't happen too often. I hope your Mom's operation isn't anything serious and I'll go ahead and wish her a speedy recovery even though it's a few months down the line.

Your home and garden are always a joy to visit, thank you for offering it again (that is if the creek don't rise)! I for one would love to see all the work and changes you've done. I'd like to host it one year but I don't even live in Georgia so I don't think that would be convenient for everyone lol. I'm an hour's drive West of Douglasville. We certainly have the room but it would definitely be a trek out to the country for the metro-area folks.

Your plant list just reminded me, I can use some creeping thyme after I revamp my stepping stone paths over the winter....gotta' add that to my wishlist. And I think your Irises are calling to me lol.

Danielle

We could also do the trade in early May, but for some of us, that only leaves a few weeks for planting before heat can be a problem keeping things cool...I also try to schedule things around all my other Spring commitments. I tend to have a lot of clients in May, people worried they are too late at starting a garden. New gardeners tend to get the "bug" only after they begin to see spring unfurl in other gardens!!
I will have many more plants. As I am cutting things down I see so many more things available for trades.
Tons of perennial onions
all sorts of oreganos
perennials chrysanthemums
probably many other herbs. If I can get some bottom heat somehow (i need to build a bottom heating unit) I can get rosemary going....

I would be interested in going to your place for a trade, transportation is my biggest problem now. My hubby works 7 days a week most of the time and usually long long hours. So that puts me behind...why not try getting this trade group really going again and perhaps we can get a fall group to your place? That would be nice too!

Glynis,

April sounds good to me, of course I can't speak for everyone. You're the hostess so your word is law lol. I think most of the past trades were in April.

I think I'll offer to do another trade later in the year, possibly the Fall swap, if a few gardeners are interested in coming out. Since I am not in a central location for most folks I probably shouldn't do an official Spring trade. That's the most popular one, as you said, everyone gets the "bug" in the Spring lol. And I don't want distance to discourage folks from attending that one.

Anyone's welcome to visit my home and garden anytime during the year. My garden beds aren't nearly as nice and maintained as yours but the daylily field is lovely and is usually in its prime in late May/June. But because of the heat it may not be an ideal time to divide and swap things.

The greenhouse is also coming along nicely and is almost finished.

Danielle

That's stunning! and you haven't seen my yard lately..."groomed" lol.

Wow Danielle! Those daylilies are gorgeous! I haven't been on GW lately. I'm hoping to get back out there and get some things done this year. I would love to participate in a swap. No idea what I'll have just yet. And I would definitely love to see GGG's lovely gardens again! Glynis, I hope your mom's surgery goes well and that she has a smooth recovery.

I haven't been on this site in a long, long time, either, but am so thrilled to see some familiar "faces!" I wanna come! Wherever, whenever!

It's been a while for me too! But I just reactivated my account as well, and it's good to see some old usernames around here.
I've been active in the Alpharetta Farmers Market in the past as a vendor, but the last 3 years I've been getting my college degree!
SO alas I am graduated, working, and so happily enjoying being back to take care of my garden. It sure did suffer some neglect over the years, but my mom did a decent job keeping up with it while I was gone, and of course I would come home on the weekends sometimes for garden work days.
Anyways, the point of this post is to say that I would be interested in going to a swap, and would have much to bring myself, to give away... Mostly annise hyyssopp sprouts( I love this plant), german purple bearded iris, and a good bit of seeds, plus probably a few random other things too!( like Raspberries that are so tasty but have taken over some areas so I need to dig them out and find someone who wants them!)
Also, I have a problem with my apple and plum tree's... but I'm going to make a separate post about that here in day or two...

Well howdy friends! Good to hear from ya'll too. It's funny how we all start to wander back at the same time lol.

Unless I manage to kill them between now and then I've got some basil (Genovese I think?) seedlings up and growing well that I just moved out to the greenhouse and should have plenty to share. Which reminds me I need to start another flat! I'll probably have some variety of tomato plants too.

Herboil, I'd LOVE to get some of your raspberry plants!! Now that I've got a row of young blueberry bushes and some strawberry patches going that was the next berry I wanted to have a go of.

Danielle

Danielle,

Here's the deal on the raspberries:
I've had them in my garden for the last 4 years. I started out with just 4 starts and every year I move some of them and all of the shoots they make to new places and even new patches throughout the yard...
4 years later, they are on the opposite side of the garden that I started them at, and grow like crazy.
This last fall, I actually just ripped out tons of them, roots and all, because I was so frustrated how much they had taken over key areas of my somewhat small prime garden area. .. but they still came back where I had done that.. so I transplanted even more of them OUT of the garden to create my second out of the garden raspberry bed.
So this year I will have just one garden spot, and two outside beds.
As far as car and concern of my specific rootstock, they are the red ones, some fancy variety from Lowes, but they are sooooo tasty and like other fruits and vegetables " you've never had one until you've had a homegrown"
As far as pests and diseases, they have been doing ok, but I've noticed because they got sort of overgrown and intertwined while I was in school last year, they did suffer from some fungus damage( so unfortunately) I am going to use a fungicide for the first time in my garden career this year before they leaf out.
I've tied them up, thinned them out, and am ready for spring!
But yeah I have shoots of them everywhere, I just have to say make sure not to put them in prime real estate, and ALSO far enough away from your other berry patches so that just incase mine ARE infected with something there is little to no chance of transfer.

Otherwise, you can have some, for sure! Come spring time the root stock will be popping sprouts and they are really hard to kill, even annoying! lol...
But the birds LOVE them, and so do the chipmunks... I had so many when I came home to visit last summer that during prime time I was apple to pop several handfulls in my mouth... and wow...amazing.

Let's stay in contact though \.. I think my email is listed on my profile, and I live in on the border of Alpharetta/Milton.... so even if one of us can't make the meet, we can meet at a public location so I can bring you some :)

Hi Herboil,

that all sounds find to me. We have property so I'm sure I can clear a nice spot for a nice long raspberry bed where they won't bother anything else. We have large wild blackberries around here that are delicious, but quite invasive as well so that's something I'm used to contending with every year. I've been reading up some on how to grow/maintain raspberries.

I am actually in Alabama along I-20 so a bit of a drive from you lol. My sister lives in Acworth that I visit sometimes but that's probably as close as I would normally get to your neck of the woods. Hopefully we can both make it to the trade but if not maybe I could come out and meet you one day when I'm going to her place.

Danielle

Oh yeah .....you can always just sink a few bucks into some good raspberry shoots at many garden places and nurseries... It's easy for you to get raspberries, and I think you should start a place for them, even before the alluded to possible garden exchange.
You should have them in your land and it's a healing herb, the raspberry, and I think even if you have to buy some, you should have them, because once you get them, they can be like fingernails... they just keep growing and growing, but also need cleaning and maintenance... just like those blackberries of yours...
I thought you lived a lot closer, that's why I was saying that, but my offer still stands for you and others.... I have to say though, the raspberry is much different than the blackberry in that it will grow longer canes over time if you let them go, but much thinner, and will produce much more offspring shoots.
Get them this year, one way or another, Danielle!

This post was edited by herboil on Tue, Jan 22, 13 at 2:19

Okee Doke,

I'll bet the nursery I bought my blueberry stock from also sells Raspberries so I'll plan to check them out in late Feb/March when they start getting their plants in. They sell healthy 1 gallon potted blueberry shrubs in probably a dozen varieties for only $5 as opposed to Lowes that sells the bareroot sticks in a wrapper for twice as much.

Either way I'll take your advice and get started on the raspberry bed.

Thanks for the tips!
Danielle

You are most welcome, and as always, everything I have is a gift from the great lord of all the religions: thus, I can traverse in a land of exile and scorn with a horn of plenty. And throughout it, sow the seeds of good things and upon even the rocky soil: grow a garden of divine purpose.
Even in the most adverse conditions, these plants will grow. So even now I make ready, for the harshest of seasons may be still upon us yet.
Many Blessings

Danielle, where is the nursery? That's a great price for blueberries!

They're not in your area Glynis unless they have multiple locations but if you ever travel down toward Carrollton they're worth a look. I hope it's ok to post this info here:

Southern States (Carrollton Nursery/Blueberries)
(770) 832-3501

I am in no way affiliated with them, just discovered them a couple of years ago by accident while in the area.

It's a small nursery/feed store but they always have a nice late winter/early Spring selection of berries, grapes, heirloom tomato varieties, etc...as well as various ornamental shrubs. I found the shrubs and roses were hit or miss on the prices but all of the veggies/fruit seemed very cheap to me and they can go fast. It's also the only place around here that I can find who carries "Tomato-tone" fertilizer and they carry both the small and large bags. Lowes and the big box stores sell small bags of Holly-tone, Rose-tone, etc...but not Tomato-tone for some reason.

I think I heard the blueberries were going up to $5.95 but I'd still gladly pay that!

I'm actually going whenever their shipment comes in....usually end of Feb or in March. I do my grocery shopping often in Carrollton so the nursery is not out of my way. If you wanted, I could pick some up for you and we could settle up at the swap. E-mail me if you're interested and we'll discuss. They usually don't know which varieties they're getting until the truck actually comes in but I could call you when I go. In the last two years I've bought PowderBlue, Tifblue, Climax and Brightwell there but they had others as well.

Danielle

I'm looking forward to another trade and maybe seeing GGG's garden. I'm not sure what all I'll have but should have some rooted old roses such as Souv. de la Malmaison, a few crinums, Rose of Sharon (standard lavender I think) and some less common pepper plants including very hots. I may have some blueberries since I need to dig some sprouts around my large plants.

My wish list so far:
Figs
Blackberries

If I can make this year's spring trade I can probably bring (depending on how the cuttings root): Curly willows - a small much less invasive decorative tree that can also be grown in a pot, pomegranates - an unknown variety that the previous owners likely purchased at a big box store as there is a twist tie tag holder on it minus the tag, rosemary - which is hardy outside, and yellow brugmansias. I also have some Asian chestnuts in moist soil in the fridge that have started sprouting if anyone is interested (and if they last that long - I'm afraid I don't have tree pots that will accommodate tap roots). I also have a banana pup and a few starfruit seedlings. I could possibly try to root some thornless blackberries and some of what I think are muscadines (pretty sure the previous owners said that's what they are although I have yet to see fruit and don't expect to as I have no idea how to prune them).

I'm just waiting to find out the dates for a few events I will be attending in the Spring, but I'm thinking that the last two weeks of April will be a target date for the trade. I'm afraid to make it too late, for it being too hot to plant our goodies.
I am very interested in old roses. I have many, and hope to eventually have many more. As time moves along I can list more of what I will have for trade. Should also have annuals and herbs, perhaps some veggies (especially a few unusual ones) for people!

Hello Everyone.. it's been a couple weeks since I posted but I am glad to see the community up and thriving.

A quick update and then a question for the community.

UPDATE:
So, the garden bug's got me again.. And since I'm at home now and not away at college like I was for the last 2 years, I got it bad!

I've started 36 Avocado Seeds, and expect to get at least 20+ plants out of them.. Right now they are under weaker light but will move them once they pop!

I've invested in two double 4 foot florescent lights and right now I am excited to say I have many many basil, Anisse Hyssop( bee butterfly bush) and even a few Echinacea(purple coneflower) sprouts!
THese sprouts are are from seeds that I've been growing and saving for the last 6-7 years here in the Atlanta area, so I am confident they are genetically becoming acclimated to this specific region!!

The florous are awesome, 16 feet of lights, but I have them next to each other for super strong light so it's like a 2 foot by 4 foot section of seed raising light, and I can raise them up as the plants grow!!

Also under the lights that have not sprouted yet are 3 mango seeds, and over 40 canna lilly seeds( the classic red ones the humming birds( and those little yellow finches) love!

SO needless to say, I have a small nursery on my hands over here :) I am very excited and every day I carefully mist and water and check my babies :)

MY QUESTION:
( I am going to make a separate post about this eventually)
But I NEED TO KNOW if there is anyone in the north Atlanta area that either has Apple or Plum trees that bloom every year. THe reason I ask is because I have a lone dwarf red delicious apple tree that's doing awesome and has flowered for the last 3 years but nothing to pollinate with. I am looking for someone with a tree that will flower around the same time mine does( and I'm not sure when) someone that I can stay in contact with and will travel to them and meet at location close to you, etc. Just throwing this out there, I'd love to actually get some apples this year because I've babied this tree for so long! I think if I get someone elses apple flowers and pollinate mine with them, it will work! I looked online but they don't sell apple pollen on ebay or wherever.
THe plums are the same deal... I'ts strange, I have two plum trees, and both of them flowered last year, but neither set fruit because I think either they need a different variety or a male plum plant. They are wild plums that I brought from Panama FLorida growing on my Aunt's property, but she says they set plums there some years, so I'm not sure if they are a male/female plant, self sterile, or need another varriety, but I desperately want to find someone with a plum tree around the time mine flowers...

Anyways... that's what's going on with me. I have lots of Chamomile( German, the annual type) growing from volunteers and I've transplanted them to an awesome bed, and I've tied up my raspberries and mulched, etc. And of course my garlic and leeks are doing great.

Cheers everyone!
And thanks for reading/any advice in advance :)

I would love to be included in the annual swap. I attended one some years ago and had a wonderful time.

How is Saturday, May 4th for people?
We'll gather between 10-11 pm, officially trading between 11-1 with a pot luck lunch.
I plan to run this trade as the others i have held:
You can set up personal trades 1-1, please box or bag those separately for the individual you are giving them to.
We have an open trade for about an hour, where people can bring almost anything (I ask that you do not bring chemicals or plants that are considered undesirably invasive - unless they are 1-1 trades, then you can of course do as you wish!!!). You bring 10 plants, you can take 10 plants unless there are left-overs and then you can take more!
we can trade:
plants of all kinds
seeds
fun things like pretty pottery, tools, watering cans, bird houses etc.
books and magazines garden related
helpful items like bags of home compost, or worm "stuff", small containers of neem oil etc.

pretty much anything garden related.
Please bring food to share and a utensil for serving. A chair to sit in outdoors, your plants and your 1-1 trades all individually bagged or boxed, flats or boxes to take your goodies home in!

I will place one specification on the date and trade at my home: my back has gone out. It's only been a week but it's really really bad and nobody can tell me what's going on. If I'm this bad I just can't possibly be a good host to you. If I'm fine then I will do my best to welcome you all and serve you as best I can :)

I supply the place, the toilets (ha ha), drinks, dishes/cutlery/cups and clean up :)

We are pretty much a gluten free household so I can't offer you things like serving utensils but I we have an oven to heat, a kettle....and will have recyclable/compostable goods for eating from and healthy beverages to drink. If you enjoy traditional sodas like coke & pepsi please bring them, we will have fruit soda (and perhaps some snappy -non-child-friendly) punch.
Children and pets: please let your pets remain at home, and please let your small children remain at home also. I'm just not equipped on property (holes in the back yard, etc) nor in the house to have kids younger than 11 or so. It's really not all that fun a day for most kids anyway.
It's all perfectly fine for adults :)

Closer to the trade date, in April I will contact people posting here who are registered GW members who have said they would like to come to the trade, I'll give you my address and phone number at that time, but you must be a GW registered member and I would actually prefer that you have taken the effort to add some information to your personal page. After all, I'm giving you my home address.

Thanks, all!
girlgroupgirl

Is it time to officially move this to the exchange forum?
GGG- I would like to consider myself in, in a small way. Bringing food to share, attending with whatever plants I have to swap/trade, to post later. I am having a MAJOR Spinal surgery, in 1 week, but can't help it I am an addict.
I am not sure about the information on my page.

That date should work for me.

take care gardenhag!

Yay! That date works for Mom and me. We're sooo excited!
Now to figure out what to bring for food!

Sorry to hear about all the back troubles going around. I'm trying so hard not to throw my own back out between now and then. I do so several times a year now, usually gardening.....no fun. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

Pam- Thank you, I love my crocosmia so much, and shared them with many, as they are so prolific, they have to be contained by the concrete walk, I will bring you that daylily. The black and blue salvia, and Sheffield mum are also loved, admired and shared. I have so many plants from my first swap I can't name them all. I hope to see you there this year, too.
I will try to get a few things potted up this week, but if I don't they will be potted by my gardeners in training. I will be hiring any and every young person willing to learn and work with/for me to pull weeds, mix soil, prune, rake, dig etc. I am having the most life changing surgery I could ever dream of. I will be fused and screwed together with rods, from my pelvis/butt to my armpits, a long segment fusion, starting with abdominal interbody disc replacement. All to correct my severe scoliosis, and other defects, and injuries. Yes, it will change what I will be able to do in the garden, forever, but I will still garden. I will be at the Northside Main Hospital at Peactree/Dunwoody Rd. from this comng Friday for about 10 days, having multiple stage surgeries. My wonderful Hubby and Best Friend from Nevada will be by my side, but I would welcome any garden web visitor who likes to cheer people up. I just got an ipad just for the special occasion, so I will be able to stay connected with the world and family. Only a gardener understands why we do what we do, just to be one with the soil and hang with our plants. Really warm hugs and garden love to all of you here.
Lorinda

I'm glad you're enjoying your plants. All the best for your surgeries. Pop in as you are able to let us know how you are.

gardenhag, I'm so sorry for what you are going through, and I really understand. I have one torn disc and at least one lumbar disc buldge and my hips are currently 2" out of alignment. I've been to ER, chiros and Dr.s in the last two weeks and nobody could figure it out until I went to a spine center. I'm also concerned about the date, but with everyone who's attendings help, I'm sure it will be a wonderful day and you are very welcome to come. I will warn you, my chairs tend to be aweful because I have all 50's furniture which is low. Except for a set of kitchen chairs which don't slope much in the back. So please please bring along what you need to make them comfortable for you to sit. I haven't sat for more than a few minutes at a time in over two weeks. After this message I'm back to bed!
My best wishes to you. I really hope your surgery is a success. My husband was just telling me about disc replacement surgery last night. I wish I could come to visit you, but I'm not sure I'd be able to make it. I hope this is the only spring you will ever have to miss being so active in your garden.

If anyone is interested in getting a jump on spring planting (like me- I just can't help it sometimes!) I'm having a little bit of an open house tomorrow for my neighbors, because I'm clearing out some plants and garden supplies and really didn't want to just throw them away. I'd love to save it all for the spring trade- there's tons of plants I'm looking for- but I they're taking up too much room :) Here's a list of things I'm getting rid of, and if anyone would like any of it, just reply for my address and you can come over and get what you want, first come first served! I'm in the Decatur/Emory/Clarkston area.

2 lady banks climbing roses
1 red flower carpet (miniature blooms) standard tree rose
2 unknown multicolored climbing roses (I forget the varieties, mea culpa)
1 unknown climbing yellow rose (excellent repeat bloomer)
2-3 climbing roses whose name I forget but who have white blooms with hot-pink-edged petals, very pretty
1 red climbing rose called Altissimo (single blooms, very bright red)
1 miniature light-pink climbing rose
1 truly enormous climbing new dawn rose. this thing has stems inches across at the base, and until we cut it back for transplanting was probably 15 or 20 feet up in the air. it kills me to get rid of it because it literally blooms all year, but we just took down 4 big trees and I have nothing to support it on anymore. I'll need some help digging it up from whoever takes it.
1 hybrid tea rose that hasn't been blooming well for me, I forget the variety but it has small pink blooms

While I'm at it...

I also have 2 rigid pond liners for a pond that never really got built (these will be a job to extricate, as the area has gotten weedy, but they're pretty nice still)

some pond plants that were growing in the sort-of pond

any number of rose of sharon plants that my husband would LOVE if someone wanted to dig up and take. Want a rose of sharon hedge? We've got you covered. They bloom pink, white and purple and get 6-8 feet tall if not cut back.

strawberry starts from runners

the azaleas in my front yard (they bloom white) are all slated to get removed, so if any of you want a dozen azaleas (or even one!), we would be extremely happy if we were saved the effort of digging them out. They're in a very untidy area, though, with ivy mixed in.

I believe there is also some forsythia mixed up in there that's up for grabs.

And I have some flowerpots too (some are quite large), and some gardening chemicals, which I'll set out in the driveway.

a large, bright-blue rain barrel (spigot not yet installed)

tons of crocosmia

Quite a few grow lights and light fixtures for seed starting

There's probably more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

hi marcy72 just sent you a message about the stuff you want to get rid of wish i could go to a swap sounds like a lot of fun but im just getting my flowers and all started in my yard so wouldnt have much to share maybe i can come to one next yr hopefully organic_gardenhag im sorry to hear you are not doing well hope all goes well im in smyrna so if you r not too far from me and need some help in your garden from time to time ill do what i can

Look forward to it, GGG! One of the highlights of my gardening life - getting together with a bunch of garden enthusiasts!
Natalie

Shane, you should still come, even if you don't have much to share. The people are great, the food is great, the plants are awesome. You can bring other gardening related things to trade, if you like. Garden magazine, books, tools, etc.

I am home, 2nd day. Doing okay, its been a rough road thus far.....Surgery was an ordeal as expected! No complications. I have a big brace, walker, all the accessories. Trying to get up and around, stay on top of the pain, etc. anxious for Spring. My daughters will be here this Fri.. they can get some of my plants potted up,
Guara-white
Monarda -deep. Hot pink
Aster -purple
Black and blue salvia- deep blue
We will see what else

Thanks for popping in, Lorinda! I was just thinking about you. Take care!

Lorinda, take care and DO NOT OVER DO IT! I'm so glad there were no complications, I hope you heal well, and find peace and tranquility during your time of healing and rest.

First, i dont know why my zone is stuck on 10, i am 7 and have tried to change it..many times. Haven' got anything yet, hoping to this week, my Sister, another gardener is coming from Nevada, this evening. She stays for a week, her hands are crippled w arthritis, and she uses oxygen, but she loves me, to come all this way, to help me. Yesterday, I beat a little weed loose with my cane and plucked it out with my dressing aid, not meant for weeding, and i should not have been where I was, unattended, discovered the magnet on the end this am, too bad weeds are not metal. Doing most everything else for myself, not quite as independent as i am accustomed to.
Very Thankful today, for progress made in just three weeks. Cant wait to see you all in May. Lorinda

I live at the south end of the state. 8 miles from Florida. Is there anyone interested in a swap near here?