Biddaddybondo,
Glad to have you coming back. We did have fun last year didn't we. What kind of tomatoes did you start this year? Did you start them indoors or outside?
I started mine outdoors via WS and they are just coming up now. 10 different kinds. Seedlings will be really small, no doupt at the swap, but I know what happens with them once they are planted. Mine from last year didn't get into the ground or pots till after july 4th and where only about a foot tall. They grew to 4-5 feet by beginning of August and I had tomatoes on them then as well and was still picking ripe ones in mid Oct.

Gillian, no quivering in a corner allowed,LOL. We are a really nice friendly group of people and we love to help each other, especially Newbies to gardening.

I'll have those lily of the valley for you, tons of them all potted up and ready to take.

Here's a tip for you too. Most any full sun plant will do well in a part sun spot. They may not grow as large as in full sun, or bloom quite as well, but they are fine in part sun. I have been doing it all the time for over 25 years with both perennials and annuals and more than happy with the results.
If your full sun areas are not ready for planting this year, you can always put some annuals in pots and put them out that way for this year. I have lots of dwarf varieties and you can do the same for perennials this year and then just stick them in the ground to overwinter and dig them up and move them next spring. I do that with all my herbs. They never seem to grow well in my gardens, so I dig the herbs up in the spring and grow them in pots. In the fall they go back in the ground to winterover.

Fran

I have TONS of lily of the valley too- Is anyone interested, or do you think that you'll already have too much??
Also,Lysimachia clethroides ( goosenecks)
and Lysimachia ciliata "firecracker" -redpurple foliage w/yellow flowers- pretty and these are plants that spread themselves in a shade bed.
Oh- and white violets- the kind with the heart shaped leaves- ( sorry I don't know the variety)
And maybe others-I have to see...
will bring juiices???? Are they needed still?

Macrina, by all means bring the lily of the valley. Sounds like several people want all they can get. Are yours the white ones too?
Would love a few of the white violets.

Juices still needed, especially if it's going to be warm and sunny. Hey the sun and warmth has to come some time, doesn't it?

Fran

Oh, macrina, I would love some of the Lysimachia ciliata "firecracker"!

Fran, do you really want violets? I have lots of white and another one called "Freckles" -- white with tiny purple speckles on the flowers. I can dig some of them and bring them if you want.

Alison, thanks for the offer to dig up the violets. My neighbor has me having second thoughts about them right now as they can be so invasive.
I'll be walking around the side of my yards and see if there is a good spot to put them so that I won't have to worry about their spread.

I'll be potting up seedlings this week and next and will post what I will have as I get them done.

So far we have the following people bringing to the swap.

Alison Coffee and the fixins for coffee, maybe munchkins

Michelle, "bad for you treats" sounds good, we can work it off planting all our seedlings.

Gillian, bagels and toppings

Marcina, juices

The following are still up for grabs unless someone has them already for sure.

ice
napkins
plates
cold drink cups unless individual drinks are brought
knives, forks, spoons if we will need them for any food.
sharpies
name tags
something for plant labels incase we need them
Any other goodies anyone wants to bring.

Now everyone just keep their fingers crossed that either Saturday or Sunday will not be pouring rain. If we have to postpone the dates of the swap because of weather, (remember, keep those fingers crossed), that's fine with me, we will just go the following week.

Fran

Fran

I'll also bring the sharpies, name tags and something for plant labeling

Michelle

I will bring napkins, plates, and cups.

Thanks greening, sounds good.

Dug out the lily of the valley.
Have them potted up in 8 inch pots with about 15 or more plants in each one. there are 7 pots of them.

Also have one self seeded hosta plant, small and how it got to the back of my yard I'll never know. All the hostas are in the front yard. Someone can thank the birds, I think.

Will be potting up seedlings tomorrow and will list those after they are done.

Macrina, bring more hosta's as it sounds like we will need more of them for the swap.

Fran

Anybody interested in any Lysimachia clethroides ( white goosenecks) ?? I will be removing them ( they do tend to spread a lot in sunny areas) and have no home. ( they need a warning, will spread!!)
Also, some yellow siberian iris.??
Any takers?

I'd love some yellow siberian iris! They'd look lovely with the purple that I have.

But um..........no thanks to the gooseneck. I have enough trouble with some wayward dianthus and rampant violets!

Michelle

Marcina, including Michelle, there are at least 4 people coming who would love some of your yellow siberian iris.

I have some bright purple with a yellow center siberian iris if anyone is interested. Lots of people dug them out of my beds last year and more than welcome to do the same this year.

Any takers on the forsythia cuttings? My plant needs a good prune and will hold off till after the swap so anyone that ones some of the pieces can take them fresh that day.

Terrene are you bringing more of those beautiful yellow and white iris?

Fran

Want to post the DEFINITE established plants that I can bring to see if there are takers:

Evening primrose (yellow)
Agastache (mexican mint)
Anise hyssop

Will have a better idea of the wintersown seedlings I'll bring next week.

Michelle, I'll take some of your evening primrose, please.

Fran, did your other dwarf blue balloonflower ever show up? I have a couple of extra clumps of dwarf blue seedlings from winter sowing. Actually, I'm pretty sure they are from seeds that you gave me a couple of years ago.

I'll have a better idea of what I'm bringing over the weekend, when I've started to make more of a dent planting out the seedlings I want to keep.

I think I will have some burgundy gaillardia, and some knautia macedonia. Keep in mind these are winter sown seedlings that will probably not bloom till next year.

I am also going to pot up some of my "Freckles" violets.

Alison

Alison, my to original plants are up and growing like a weed and the seeds have germinated finally. I know I gave you some seeds last year. Sure I'll take a couple of the Freckles violets and I put aside some seedlings of the salpiglossis chocolate royale for you already.

SO HERE'S WHAT I HAVE POTTED UP NOW AS OF TODAY FROM WINTERSOWN SEEDLINGS. THEY ARE SMALL NOW, BUT AM BETTING THAT THEY WILL BE TWICE THE SIZE AFTER LOTS OF WARM AND HOT TEMPS OVER THE NEXT WEEK AND SUN TOO. THEY CATCH UP TO THE SIZE YOU CAN BUY AT THE NURSERIES VERY QUICKLY ONCE THEY ARE PLANTED AS WELL.

Blue thimble gilia
marigold disco flame
toadflax unknown kind and color
toadflax rainbow
dahlia stargazer
zinnia pinwheel
zinnia sombrero
livingston daisy
lemon basil
thai basil
painted tongue
salpiglossis chocolate royale
gysophilia covent garden
snapdragons petite mix
portulacca
bachelor buttons dwarf blue
lychnis angel's blush
poppy danish flag
poppy hungarian
nicandra splash of cream
alyssum gold queen
monkey flower mixed colors.

Will have more to post next week. Should have some annual and perennial hibiscus, tomatoes, easter egg plant, cosmos,
more dahlias, alyssum, sunflowers. Just not sure which ones yet and how many.

POTTED UP ESTABLISHED PLANTS

Lily of the valley
1 small hosta

Can did up the day of the swap, bright purple wih yellow center siberian iris

Forsythia cuttings fresh the day of the swap, all you want, easy to root in just water.

Fran

Hi Fran,
I will be able to bring in some lamb's ear (non-flowering ones), Hosta if anybody wants some.. I am hoping I can bring in some seedlings as well.

Please send me directions..

Thanks.
prats

Dear Fran,
Are you sending directions? I am afraid I won't be able to get there till about 11- but I am coming!!!!
I will bring another sister too, if that's ok ( we are greek orthodox nuns- our habit is black, just so you aren't startled) :-)
Thanks !

Ok, I was panicking! I thought the swap was tommorow! Talk about confused!!

Macrina, no problem. The heat today has gotten everyone by surprise and our brains are not working well. I spent all day today thinking it's Thursday, not Friday and was waiting for my daughter to stop by like she does every Thursday after she finishes teaching for the day. Wasn't until a neighbor stopped by that I realized that today was Friday and "my baby" was here yesterday.

Thanks for your concern about being startled. Must tell you though that nothing can startle this mother, she's seen it all and feels like she's been through it all.

No problem about not arriving till 11am. None of us are going anywhere.

Could be really hot again by next weekend. Heard one forcaster say that the day before the swap could be in the 90's. So sounds like we may need lots of ice and cold drinks. But that's a week away.

I will send directions to everyone by e-mail.
SO EVERYONE, JUST E-MAIL ME WITH A GENERAL IDEA OF WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM AND I CAN GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS FROM WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM.

I'M EASY TO GET TO FROM 495, 95, 128, ROUTE 3, ROUTE 2.

Fran

Janice, you didn't provide a way to e-mail you on your member page. please e-mail me from my member page about directions for the swap.

Fran

Fran, I got your email but couldn't reply to you-- my ISP is being blocked. Can you send me your address? (I don't need directions, I'm reasonably close by.) The email address you used a few days ago is fine (I just can't send from it).

more seedlings for the swap, all for the taking

Texas red star hibiscus annual
Yellow hibiscus annual
White hibiscus with red eye perennial
zinnia barney lilac
zinnia swizzle
easter egg plant
cosmos picotee
cosmos daydream

more coming, have to get them potted up.

Supplies and goodies being brought;

Allison coffee and fixins

Gillian bagels and fixins and toppings

Michelle bad for you treats

Macrina juices

Greening napkins plates and cups

Still needed for sure

name tags
sharpies
ice
something to use for plant tags incase someone needs them

Anyone besides Alison to bring munchins?

Did I miss anyone's offerings?

Anything else anyone thinks we should have?

Fran

Here's the last of my list of seedlings for the swap

Alyssum carpet of snow
dalhia figaro
chinese forget me nots.

Tomatoes. These seedlings are very small, but very vigorously growing. Only about 2-3 inches tall. this is what they where at this time last year as well. Below is a picture of what one of the seedlings looked like on July 31 2006, growing in a 12 inch pot that was way too small. All of the seedlings where this tall on the same day, 4 feet tall.

This is a close up of Warren's yellow cherry
{{gwi:342776}}

Tomatoes for the swap

Sweet 100
Black cherry
Warren's yellow cherry
Julilee
white wonder
large cherry red
rutgers

Still looking for the things listed in the prior post to be brought to the swap

Fran

allison,
Jean, Heidi and I would love some of the knautia macedonia seedlings. Are you bringing some of the aster plants that you have in your yard. we'd love some of those too.

Fran

Fran

I've offered to bring nametags and sharpies as well as bad for you treats.

Plants/seedlings that I'll bring
Yellow Evening primrose
Agastache (mexican mint)
Anise hyssop
Jack-be-little
carrots (new small seedlings)
Cosmos (i think there are 2 varieties)
malva (winter sown seedlings)
blackberry lily (winter sown)
butterfly weed (winter sown)

I think that I have more...just can't remember right now!

Thanks Michelle for the name tags and sharpies. Knew I missed someone bringing something.
Must have been those "bad for you treats" that caught the eye and nothing else.

So far, so good with weather forecasts. Not to hot, not to cold, and chance of thundershowers in the afternoon.

Fran

Since it sounded like a lot of people were interested in the yellow siberian iris, I dug up a bunch more..I guess it's been a long time since I divided them, and they were overdue...but the rhizomes /roots were so big that I hated to break them to fit into gallon pots...so I have 5 5-gallon buckets of iris.... YIKES! I hope there's enough interest for that!
I can bring something for plant tags...but what do you suggest? not masking tape, but something to stand up in the pots?

See you Saturday!!

Fran,

I will bring several of the knautia then for you and Heidi and Jean, as well as the aster from my garden. I have two big clumps of the aster. Thanks for setting aside some of the chocolate salpiglossis for me. I am frantically trying to dig and pot up stuff, as well as sort my winter sown seedlings into things I'm pretty sure I have room to plant, and things to bring.

While weeding my shade garden today I found two self-sown bleeding heart seedlings, so I'm potting them up to bring too.

Umm.....not making much progress on digging up those two rhododendrons, and I'm not sure they'd fit in my car even if I did get them dug up. I might try keeping them another year and see how they do. They had a bit of winter damage, and never even bloomed.

Looking forward to Saturday!

Macrina, I have some wide craft sticks we can use for plant tags, have them left from labeling my seedlings.

Drinks that can stand up to ice will be good. I think someone is bringing ice.

Looks like it's going to get hot on saturday and thunderstorms in the pm.

Thanks Allison, and don't worry about the rhodies. Are you bringing munchkins as well as coffee.

Fran

I so want to come, with bagels, toppings and I can also bring paper goods as needed . . . but I don't have directions. Have I missed something important?

Fran, can you email me directions? Thanks so much.

Gillian

I'm planning to come to the swap, barring any unforeseen circumstances. :) If it's Sunday the rain date I would only be able to come by quickly and not stay long.

I have a few things potted up -

Tall Bearded Iris - Lemon Yellow & White
Siberian Iris
Helianthus Lemon Queen
Red Bee Balm - Monarda didyma
Beardstongue - Penstemon Smallii seedling
Phlox - Nora Leigh seedling
Gray Dogwood seedlings
Azalea seedling - flowers are pink
Variegated Miscanthus (one division)
False Solomon's Seal (one small pot)
Daylily - flowers are peach (this is large and could easily be split)

I could also easily pot up some of the following small seedlings if anyone is interested - let me know.

Cleome - flowers are lt pink & white (self-seeded)
Cilantro (self-seeded)
American Mountain Ash - Sorbus americana

Hey Fran, don't forget to email me the address please. Is there anything else I can bring?

I would love a cleome seedling!

Fran, I will bring munchkins too. No problem. I know I'm leaving it till the last minute, but tomorrow (Friday) I will have a finalized list of which seedlings I'm bringing.

Hi Fgirl I will pot up a clump of them then - they are very small right now (not even an inch high). They self-sow quite rampantly, but I LOVE them so I transplant them where I want and weed out the rest. They look gorgeous mixed in with tall perennials like Phlox, ornamental grasses, Coneflower, etc.

Here's pic of what the cleome looked like last summer - the self-sown seedlings look like the pink ones.

{{gwi:275299}}

Do you still want some of the Monarda Fgirl?

Terene,
Sending you an e-mail with the address

Heidi and I would love some of the cleome and I know a couple of people will love your yellow and white iris, including me. I'd love the variagated miscanthus.

Gillian, emailing you now.

Fran

This is the list so far of who is bringing what, other than seedlings and plants.

Dawiff coffee, fixins and munchkins

Fgirl21 bad for us treats, name tags and sharpies

terrenne bagels and toppings

Macrina cold drinks

Greening napkins, plates and cups

Mimi more cold drinks and ice

I have coolers to keep ice in, a 6 foot table to put the goodies, coffee etc on, stuff to use for plant tags if needed.

Is there anything else we might need? any thoughts.

Going to be hot they say, I have a carport we can be under for shade as well.

Looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new.

See you all on Saturday.

Anyone have questions or need directions, e-mail me. I think I have sent them to everyone now.

Fran

Fran - no email as yet? But it's no big deal because I still have emails from last year.

And have I been assigned with bringing bagels and toppings?? :)

Terrene~

BEAUTIFUL picture and just what I want to accomplish!

I have a big empty spot right next to a LARGE delphinium. And another spot next to a buddelia and another spot...LOL
I love those flowers - just never got around to growing them. I thought I planted some seed once but nothing germinated

And thanks for the offer of the monarda too. Happy to have a clump to add to the butterfly bed

Michelle

Terrene,
My error,

GILLIAN ARE YOU OUT THERE, you offered the bagels and toppings. Are you still bringing them?

Terrene, you can bring anything you like. will send e-mail again now.

OK off to see if there is anything more I can put out for the swap.

Fran

OK, here is a list of the plants that I'm bringing to the swap.

Wintersown Seedlings:

3 Scabiosa Ebony & Ivory
3 Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
1 Salvia superba 'Blue Queen'
1 Salvia superba 'Rose Queen'
2 Penstemon strictus
2 Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage)
1 Golden Gaillardia
4 Dwarf Blue Platycodon (Balloon flower)
1 Penstemon tenuis
1 Echinacea Big Sky Sunset
3 Knautia macedonia

Keep in mind these are all perennial seedlings, and will probably not flower this year. They are also still in the newspaper pots that I sowed them in, so they will need to get in the ground right away. Sorry I didn't have time to pot them up.

Potted plants that I will bring:

16 Viola sororia 'Freckles'
2 Bleeding Heart
1 Culinary Sage
1 Dwarf Oregano

I may go through my winter sown seedlings again later today and find more, but it's too hot out there right now. And I need to get my DH out there tonight to dig up the asters. I'll put them in a pot to bring them.

Alison

Fgirl - that's exactly what I did - I had a big empty spot last year where I grew these cleome - meant to plant a shrub there but didn't get around to it until this year. Then I put 2 or 3 here and there in between the other shrubs and tall perennials whereever there was an empty space.

I like tall and showy annuals and perennials, and cleome is light and airy so it blends in very well without being overpowering.

Okay Fran - don't know if I will bring anything else besides plants - but let me know if you need something specific.

Terrene,

I'm thinking and extra bag of ice might be a good idea since it's going to get really hot. Not sure how many bags any one is bringing, so I'm thinking the more ice the better.

Fran

Everyone, don't forget to bring something to take all your seedlings and plants home in.

Fran

Hi, yes I'm here and yes, I'll be bringing bagels and toppings. Fran, I'll be emailing you too, because I haven't got the directions yet and I'm not sure you saw my other post.

Gillian

Terrene, I would *love* some cleome.

Gillian, I have about a 20" across patch of hosta that I was going to compost... it's just plain hosta, not even variegated, but do you want it?

I also have two yucca plants... they were evergreen all winter.

I'll also have some heirloom pepper & tomato plants.

Also napkins, plates, and cups. ;-)

See you guys tomorrow!

Fran,
Can you please send me directions. I also send you a mail yesterday.

Thanks.
prats

Hi Fran and all:
I just remembered this swap is happening and really wanted to come, but since I remembered at 11 p.m. tonight, I think I am too late. (I went on a field trip with my students for a week, and boy did I nap this afternoon after I got home from the airport!Meant to contact you for directions and I actually just woke up! Wow, can teenagers keep you running!)
If for some reason any of you are late-nighters like me, I would love to attend. If not, have a wonderful swap and I will have to catch you all next year! I'm sure I will be talking to you all on the forum for all the advice I need with this new yard! Thanks
Kathy

Prats,
Just sent you a 3rd e-mail with directions and a phone number as well in case you need it for directions. I sent the e-mails to your addy that was on your e-mail.

Kathy, sent you the address and phone number if you need it for directions.

Fran
Hope they both go through and you get them

oh no!
I think I'm too late! Sorry I thought the directions had already been emailed to me. HOpefully someone will read this and can email me the addr in time today. I have GPS so I don't need directions just an address will do.

Thanks,

janicedevereux@gmail.com

Well, it looks like I missed it. It rained a lot yesterday. I just saw your posting. It looks like will rain again today (Thunder Storms).
If by any change you host another swap in the future please let me know!

I hope it all went great!

L.

Dirtonmyface, there will be another spring swap next spring.
Watch for my post next year and hope to see you there.

Fran