Potential interest here. Where are you located, zenpotter?

I might be interested. Are there any people who bring vegetable starts?

Mid-May through early June, I'll probably be gone out of town too much.

I am in South Minneapolis near lake Nokomis.
Yes people do bring vegetable starts. Especially if they are requested.

I am having trouble getting this site to load right now. If you won't hear from me right away that is why. It isn't telling me when messages come in either.

We're interested!

I would be interested, I think. If no other reason than to share my extras. I'm in NE Mpls.

Me too. :)

I look forward to the spring plant exchange and appreciate the vegetable starts that some people bring to add to my gardens. Last year I brought home peppers, melons, and tomato starts as well as perennials.

I will be watching for further information and hope to attend.

It has been a real pleasure to visit with other gardeners after the swap as we share our enthusiasm about the new season.

Hi, I'm relatively new to this forum and love the idea of a plant exchange. I'm wondering what to do with all these poppies popping up everywhere... I live in south Mpls.

Please bring some poppies I don't have any.

I am starting a list of people interested. Since everything is starting to grow I think we should be looking at an earlier date than we usually meet.

I'd love to be involved! I've got plenty of perennials to share, but no poppies as of yet! :)

Pauline, add me to the list, but it will depend on what date is chosen.

Lots happening this spring including a new grand-baby which will take me to Chicago when the time comes.

I'll come if I can!

Linda

Please add me to the list. I'd like to come if I can. The only weekend I won't be able to attend for sure is 5/19. Thank you for hosting this event again.

I just moved back to the Twin Cities and and a new homeowner, so I am excited to start gardening here. However, since we recently bought a house with minimal landscaping, the only thing I would have to exchange our what appeared to be what were called "ditch lilies" in Michigan -- those orange lilies that spring up everywhere. It seems that we have quite a few of them coming up in our backyard. Would folks mind if I attended anyway?

We also have some black raspberry bushes, which were terrific producers last summer when we moved in -- and they were delicious. However, I have no idea how one takes clippings of those. I'd be happy to get a tutorial however, and bring some along.

Please do attend. We always have so may plants. I am sure the black raspberry bushes will be welcome and the "ditch lilies" will as well. If they are what I think they are they are a native plant that grows in ditches here as well.

Oh I didn't mention for the people new to the exchange we have a pot luck tea/luncheon after the exchange where we sit and visit and exchange lots of information. You will learn a lot this way.

I am interested, but have few perennials. I will have fun named coleus( el brighto/kiwi fern/black magic....) and could plan for extra tomatoe starts,or seed starts. I work every other weekend so could only attend april 13-14,27-28 or may 11-12,25-26. would prefer earlier than end of may.
Sally

Time for me to choose a date.

Is a Saturday or Sunday afternoon better? last year was a Saturday the year before Sunday.

zenpotter,

Hosting a plant exchange is a very nice thing you are offering to do!

I figured I best post here that I am very interested in attending, but I don't know if it is practical for me regarding the driving distance.

My sister, an avid urban-lot flower and vegetable gardener, lives in the metro area and would love to go to an event such as this, but she is not currently a GW member. Would it be possible for both of us to attend and I provide plants to the exchange which both of us could use for trading? We would both bring something for the potluck. The reason I ask is that tying in some visiting time with her and her family could be enough to justify me coming to the Twin Cities. Absolutely no problem with me if her coming to the event is not acceptable.

Barring a calamity, I should have lots of starter plants available of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. I also have many perennials to maintain in my gardens - I have been dividing them to promote health and vigor and I have been throwing most of the divisions on the compost pile to get rid of them. Kind of a waste as I would rather find happy homes for them.

-Tom

We will have some vegetable starts- tomato, peppers (many varieties) and some flower starts to share. Should we look for an email for the date, time and location? That would help me figure out what we will have at the time.

We're hoping to find creeping jenny, if someone is interested in a trade for that.

Take care?

Tom you are welcome to bring your sister, she won't be the first non GW person to attend.

Is a Saturday or Sunday better for you? I am thinking sometime in late April as everything is so early.

Thanks for the welcome, zenpotter!

Either Saturday or Sunday works for me generally. I couldn't make May 5th, but am otherwise unscheduled.

Thanks for offering to host! Please let me know what I can bring.

"Is a Saturday or Sunday better for you? I am thinking sometime in late April as everything is so early."

My response: Your show - you pick the day and date and I will work with it.

One question: Does this event occur rain or shine?

I had it one year when it was cold and drizzly. That is the only time I can remember a rainy one.
We have some people that come a long way to get here so it is hard to reschedule.

Eric and I would love to attend again this year however we won't be able to make it between May 19th through May 27th but I'm guessing the exchange will be earlier than that.

We will try to bring some new/interesting plants. Thanks to everyone from last year's spring exchange, we now have many perennials that are popping up this year. (I can't say we know the names of all of them.) There may be some hope for us older newbie gardeners after all.

We are getting married September 1 and have an ambitious goal to grow our own greens and flowers for the wedding. It will be a rustic/elegant outdoors event. We are also hoping to install a raised bed vegetable garden this year as well as doing more border landscaping.

Please keep us informed and let us know what people are interested in receiving. Thanks for the invite!

A girl named Max.

We would love to participate if the dates work. Given this early spring, April would be wonderful.

We have perennial salvia (May night, rose queen, and white), day lilies, pink and white lilies of the valley, and chives to share. It would be helpful to know how many people could use since I would pot up the appropriate number plus a few extras.

We would love to get vegetable (tomato, squash, etc.) and annual starts. Black raspberries also sound great. We have had great luck transplanting the little runner plants that raspberries send out -- they seem almost indestructible.

Please let us know about the dates.

I'd love to stay in the loop on this! Bad news: due to a move, we have to start all over with our plantings. Good news: we're moving. :)

Mashuga - I have been wanting to acquire pink Lily-of-the-Valley for some time now.

I was kind of wondering the same thing regarding potting - I usually pot up plants weeks prior to an exchange rather than digging the night before and bringing bareroot stock in bags. This is just my preference - I feel if they are dug or divided and potted weeks before then that increases the comfort level regarding folks getting healthy planting stock. The plants will be over any transplant shock and I also weed out any crippled plants. They can also be left in the pots for a couple of weeks until planted if need be - people seem to like having this option.

I have some real nice red raspberries and Winona strawberries that need to be dug up and potted right now. I already moved fifty of each last week and I am ready to dig up and throw away the rest of the volunteers. Peonies, hosta, bee balm, ostrich ferns (these also will be dug up and thrown away if not given away), bloodroots, August lily, iris (same situation as ferns), cup plant, garden phlox, sedums, alpine strawberries, egyptian walking onion, and many others are ready or soon will be ready to dig or divide as well.

My baby seedlings are doing well also, and I have been busy up-potting them. Should have some nice starter plants to bring along if all goes well.

I guess my point is maybe someone can give me some guidance regarding how many plants I should consider potting up to bring to the event, if I can make the date. I usually take fifty or so plants to the New Ulm plant swap with the goal of getting 20-25 plants in exchange (all I really want to deal with at one time). Don't know if those kinds of numbers are too many for this event or not enough or what.

Thanks for any guidance,
-Tom

P.S. I am always on the lookout for hardy, low-maintenance perennials, hosta varieties I don't have, native woodland wildflowers, and any unique stuff that piques my curiosity - be aware that what may be common to you might be something I don't have yet. :)

Tom,

Some people who are just into gardening will bring only a few plants. Others will bring 50 - 100 it basically depends on the plants they have to trade, plus the time and energy they need to do it.

It sounds like you have some nice plants there.

I am starting a new thread that has the date and information about the exchange.

We will be leaving for Zion and Bryce National Parks on April 27th so I will not be able to attend the plant exchange on April 28th -- sadly. However, I may be able to convince my 28 year old son to drop by with plants. Hopefully, someone could coach him on picking up a few plants.

Tom, I could easily send the pink lily-of-the-valley. We got these plants from a friend who had an 1880's circa home on Langford Park in St. Paul. I would pot them up in the 1/2 gallon pots (so they would have eight to twelve pips per pot). Like their white cousins, they do spread but they are very pretty and have a wonderful fragrance. Does anyone else remember the perfume called Muguet de Bois from the 70's or 80's?

I also can send perennial salvia (May night, rose queen) and day lilies (if anyone needs them).

I would love annual vegetable starts, bloodroot, alpine strawberries, Egyptian walking onion, etc.

Should I transfer the message about what I can bring to the new thread from zen potter?

Carol (p.s., Mashuga is our last name, garden web did not want to accept any variation of Carol)

Carol (Mashuga) - you don't have an accessible email address :(

I appreciate the thought, but do not go out of your way to get the pink L of the V to the event just for me. If you do, though, I will make sure something you want gets back to you in trade.

The event date looks like it will work for me - I am waiting on my sister's response before I commit on the new official event thread.

The more I look at the gardens the more plants I see that could be available for trading. Lots of fun work ahead of me the next few days - I can't believe how fast everything is growing. I am going to have to scramble to get plants out of the ground while they are still small to minimize transplant shock.

PLEASE NOTE

For anyone else wondering, for your confirmation please send it to the new thread. I may miss names that have shown interest but then don't let me know if the date works for them.

Carol,
I would like some of the pink L of the V too.
If you send them with your son and he finds me I will put them aside. Make sure you give him a list of what you want if you want him to surprise you with other things let him know that. No one knows what will show up on the day.

mashuga

aliyahbukra

Please send me an email so I can send you my address and phone numbers.

Are there any plans for a fall exchange? I'd love to be a part of it!