I’m going to leave Charlene’s thread on top so people can read what she posted, and start another thread here to see if there’s any interest in having a Spring Swap or not.

There are a lot of newbies around here, so I’m gonna start with a little history for those who weren’t around here when we’ve had past swaps!

After having been to a swap in Denver (‘05) hosted by someone who no longer posts here, in spring of ‘07 I started a thread asking if anyone on RMG would be interested in having one. I suggested having it in June sometime, and that I’d have it at my house at that time. Others wanted to have it earlier in spring so they could bring extra seedlings they had, but I couldn’t have it here that early so I suggested having it in a public park somewhere—and at that point Charlene jumped in and said she was willing to have a spring swap at her house.

Since then Charlene has hosted the Spring Swap at her house in Castle Rock each of the past three springs, I had the Fall Swap here at my house in ‘07 and ‘08, and the Fall Swap last year was at catladysgarden—an RMG member who rarely posts.

If there’s enough interest and no one else is willing to host a Spring Swap this year, I’d be willing to have another one at my house—BUT.........

If I’m working, I don’t find out until late in the month what my schedule for the following month will be, so the actual date couldn’t be announced until probably a couple weeks before the actual swap, making planning pretty hard for everyone! Having said that, I’ve been off work (again) for the last few months and don’t know at this point when (or if) I’ll be able to go back again, but I hope to as soon as possible, and if I do it’ll probably be pretty abruptly, so even tho I’m off now, I still wouldn’t be able to make any definite plans until much closer to the end of April or beginning of May—which is when it usually is! But if enough people want to have one, and no one else wants to host it, we could go back to the plan to have it in a park somewhere, and if I happened to still be off at the time, it could be moved here! (I’m in Thornton, north end of Denver, for those who haven’t been here before!)

For up-to-now-non-attendees of a swap, here’s the basic info on how we do it!

The Spring Swap is usually on a Saturday in early May and usually starts around 11:00 a.m. and ends sometime mid afternoonish. Plantwise, the Spring Swap usually includes both divisions and starts of perennials along with extra seedlings people have of both veggies and annuals. (The Fall Swap is usually more just perennials!) So everybody brings whatever they have that they’re not gonna use, AND nobody needs to bring any plants if they’re new to gardening or for some other reason don’t have any they can bring. There has always been way plenty at each of our previous swaps for everybody to get a bunch of stuff! Yes! You get to take plants home even if you didn’t bring any! And we get together as much to meet each other and discuss gardening and what-not-all as we do to swap plants!

We also bring something for a potluck and have an eclectic lunch together before we do the actual plant swapping. If we wind up doing it at a park, I think we’ll just forgo the potluck part!

After hanging out eating for a while, we go around and each person who brought plants briefly describes what they brought, then we pick numbers and for the first "two rounds" we go by the numbers and everybody gets to pick the two things they want the most. Then we open it up free-for-all style, and everybody just grabs whatever they want from what’s left!

So that’s what our plant swaps are all about!

Who’s interested in having one this spring? And is there anybody around here (somewhere in the greater Metro Denver area) who’d be willing to consider hosting it at their house?

Skybird

Spring Swap - 2009
Yeah! It's mostly girls! But boys are welcome too!
:-)

Fall Swap - 2007 - Free-for-all part!

BTW, I think a potluck in the park would still work ... everything's better when food is involved : )

Bonnie

I'll attend any old date and time as long as it isn't in July.

I'm happy to help get it rolling by calling a park to reserve a space with tables and shade or...I dunno, cleaning up at the end?

:)
Jennifer

Unfortunately, my house is not suitable for hosting it.

I've attended events held at the community rooms of various local libraries. They're usually OK with a potluck. We can probably minimize the dirt or clean up afterwards. Many libraries have community rooms that will easily accommodate several dozen people. Some are free for the public. Others have a fee, about $25 or so for a few hours.

Here is a link to the Douglas County Library system's policy on meeting rooms.

http://www.dpld.org/Locations/MeetingRooms

And here's a link for Jefferson County:

http://jeffcolibrary.org/pdf/meetroom.pdf

Denver: http://denverlibrary.org/about/meetings/index.html

Angel

Welcome to RMG! Have you been lurking around here for a while or did you just find us? If you get a chance, sign in on the Who’s Here in 2010 thread and tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Thank you for offering to host the Spring Swap. Since Longmont is about as far on the north end of Denver as Castle Rock (Charlene) is on the south end, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work out just fine. So maybe this year we’ll do the Spring Swap on the north end, and the Fall swap on the south end!

I’ll be glad to tell you anything you want to know about it, and can send you links to all the past swap threads if you’re interested in looking them over for just "general" information. Either enable Private Messaging on your RMG account (that’s a way that people can email you through GardenWeb without finding out your email address unless you choose to respond to them), or PM me by going to my bio page and then click on send me an email. If you PM me, post a note here so I can be watching for it—for a while in the past the PM system wasn’t working for me—and if I don’t receive it, I can let you know (I do seem to be getting them now). And make the subject something about Rocky Mountain Gardening or RMG, or Spring Swap, so I know for sure it’s not junk.

Or if you enable PM’ing for you, I’ll PM you—with a similar subject.

To answer your one specific question, the Spring Swap tends to have about 20 people who actually show up. The Fall Swap has varied from 34 people at the first one (but we were combined with a group of people who don’t post on RMG for that one), to only 10 in ‘08 (the smallest one), and about 20 at the fall one last year. I think between 15 and 25 would be a pretty good guess. So far I’m counting 8 people that are interested in this one—and maybe Bonnie (who drives all the way in from Silt!) if her situation changes and she’s able to make it again this year. There are always people who say they’re interested, and then can’t or don’t come at the last minute, so it’s never as many as we have on the list the day before the swap!

The only thing we need the inside of your house for is the bathroom! Otherwise we’re outside the whole time. If it’s possible for somebody to use the kitchen sink if they need it for whatever food they bring, that would be nice—but most people bring something they can just plop down on the table the way it is!

If there’s some sort of a covered area in your yard where we could all huddle together in case of rain, that would be nice, but if there isn’t we can bring umbrellas, or hooded rain ponchos—or big trash bags! So far, at past swaps, we’ve been really lucky and have had pretty good weather!

PM me or enable PM’ing for you, and we can email with more information, and I’m glad to answer any and all questions you may have. I can send you links to the pictures from each of the swaps too, which will give you more of a "visual" on what happens at the swaps.

Skybird

Anybody else interested in coming to this one?

Skybird

(Serpent Moon is with me, by the way -- you might remember meeting her at our last few swaps.)

We are not that busy but it sure turns into a game of commitments and conflicts.

I can tell already that this is a great group!! I'm definitely interested in attending the Spring Swap - sounds like fun. A park, library room, or community recreation center (there is one in Westminster near where I live) sound like great possibilities for holding a swap - but wonderful angelinagardens has volunteered to host at her house!

Looking forward to it.

but i REALLY REALLY REALLY liked last year's (both of them) and i hope we have one this year :D

I have no plans in May so any old weekend would rock, Friday, Saturday or Sunday are all good.

Thank you for offering to host it, Angelina!

I don't have anything fancy like folding tables or chairs but I'd be happy to help set them up and put them away, especially since I won't have to spend so much time in the car.

Jennifer

Angel

What does everybody else think?

Angel, you’ll need to get together a list of email addresses so you can email everybody your address and directions to your house a few days before the swap. We don’t ever post specific addresses here online.

EVERYBODY ELSE: Angel has PM’ing enabled AND has her email address shown on the Send Me an Email page, so go there and PM or email YOUR email address to her. Put Spring Swap in the subject so she knows it’s not spam, and be sure you include your RMG screen name in the email so she knows who’s who!

I need to start getting some stuff into pots!

Skybird

Thanks.

Thanks!

ProvoGirl

The Spring Swap will be SUNDAY, MAY 23rd at 10:00 a.m. IN LONGMONT.

Angel will email her address and directions to her house about a week before the actual swap, so EVERYBODY, be sure you send her your email address by either emailing or PM’ing her thru GardenWeb. You can get her email address or PM her by going to her bio page and then click on "send me an email." Whichever way you do it, be sure you INCLUDE YOUR GW SCREEN NAME so she knows who you are.

Angel, if you have any questions or concerns, email me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~ SO HERE’S ALL THE BASIC INFORMATION! ~~~

~~ We start the swap with the pot luck. Your dish can be absolutely anything! Hot dishes, cold dishes, appetizers/finger foods, salads, sweets—anything you think others would enjoy! Homemade dishes, if you have time, are always good! I haven’t verified this with Angel, but I’m guessing we can use the microwave if something needs to be heated when you get there. Please bring a serving spoon if it will be needed for your dish, and also please make some provision for it to be covered—a lid if it’s that type of dish, or plastic wrap, or whatever. One other request! I love sweets, so I definitely don’t want to put too much of a damper on the dessert type things, but at a couple of the swaps we seemed to wind up with mostly sweets, so if you’re trying to decide between that or something else, lean toward the something else!

~~ After eating and talking while we eat we do the actual swapping. Before we start picking plants, we’ll once again have everybody who brought plants briefly tell what they brought so everyone knows what’s available to help them decide what they’d like to have. Then everyone draws a number for the first and second rounds of picking plants—that way everyone has a pretty good chance to get the one or two things they want the most. Then we open it up to just walking around and picking out whatever anyone wants—the free-for-all part!

~~ Please be sure the plants you bring are labeled one way or another. Either stick a tag in the pot, or staple a piece of paper with the name onto the pot, or just write the name of the plant on the pot with a marker or crayon—at past swaps some people have made up adhesive labels with the plant name and basic information and stuck them on the pots—I make up little strips of paper on the computer with the info and include one with each plant. Anything to ensure the person getting the plant will know what they have when they get home. It’s easy to think you’re gonna remember the names of the things you take home—and even easier to forget them by the time you do get home!!!

~~ AND—our primary RMG plant swap rule! Nobody needs to have any plants to be welcome at the swap! There are always plenty of plants to go around, and we get together as much to swap gardening talk and friendship as to swap plants—so come regardless of how much you do or don't have to bring!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ll be starting a separate thread soon where we can list the things we know we’ll be bringing—or hope to be bringing, and we DO allow "earmarking" of plants before the swap, so when people start listing what they might have, just post to let them know if they have something you want. If you don’t request it "ahead" on the forum, you need to wait for the "picking of the plants" on the day of the swap and keep your fingers crossed that somebody else doesn’t pick it first! There’s no "early picking" on the actual day of the swap. Everything that isn’t earmarked for somebody before the swap goes into the pool and gets picked starting with the first two rounds. If somebody says they want something you’re bringing, you mark it with their name and make sure it gets to them the day of the swap.

A couple other things!

Angel, do you have a couple fairly large tables to put the food on, or would you like people to bring some extra tables? And how about chairs? Should some of us bring some extra chairs?

Here’s a list of things we’ll need for the potluck. We need to be sure somebody will be bringing this stuff.

Beverage — water, iced tea, something else?
Styrofoam cups
Paper plates
Napkins — I have gobs of these and I’ll bring a bunch!
Plastic silverware
Will we need ice?

I’ll be bringing the sign in sheet, name tags, and numbers for us to use!

Did I forget anything?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s the list of people I have down so far that have said they plan to come. One comment! Everyone is welcome to bring other people with them, so if you’re having company or have a friend you’d like to bring along, just let us know so we have an idea of how many people to expect.

AngelinaGarden - Angel
AutoDidact
BindweedBenders
GreenBean08
JCLepine - Jennifer
KarengGrow — Black Forest, willing to bring others from the Colorado Springs area—if the date works for her!
LuckyBottom
MstyWoods
PolygonumTinctorium
ProvoGirl
SerpentMoon
Sherri09
Skybird
TreeBarb

And here’s the list of "not sures" so far:

SingCharlene ? – I couldn’t tell if you were gonna be able to make it or not, Charlene, but I hope you can!
HighAltTransplant ?
Mooseling ?

Remember to send Angel your email address!

Thank you for being willing to host it, Angel!

Skybird

I should have some veggies to swap--peppers and tomatoes--so I'll keep an eye out for the updated thread and wait until a little closer to see exactly what I'll have.

Angel, do I need to contact you again?

Only one thing I think you left out and that is to make sure your plants are well watered before arriving at the swap as they can get wilted sitting outside while waiting in tiny pots to be brought home.

I'll bring utensils including knives, forks and spoons.

Jennifer

Jennifer’s right! The plants everyone brings need to be watered the day before the swap (if you wait till the morning of the swap, they’ll be all drippy in your car), but we had some things wilting pretty badly at the first swap—especially small seedlings in plugs or tiny pots, so everybody needs to be sure their plants are wet enough to make it till at least the evening on the day of the swap! And a suggestion for anybody who’s planning to bring divisions of established perennials or other dug-up plants. Try to get them put into pots fairly soon so they have some time to recover from the transplant shock and to root out a little bit before somebody else gets them. Also, if you’re bringing things like raspberries or iris, they don’t even need to be in pots. You can just dig them a day or two before the swap, wrap the roots in wet newspaper and stick them in a plastic bag. They’ll transplant just fine that way.

I’ll try to get the who’s-bringing-what thread started in the next couple days.

Anybody else planning/hoping to come?

Skybird

-T

Sorry you can’t make it to this one, Tobaira, but be sure to keep an eye on RMG in August. The Fall Swap is usually early in September, and the only way we "advertise" it is here on RMG! (And we do post a picture thread after the swap, so watch for it in the week after the swap.)

I just started the thread where everybody can list what they’re planning/hoping to bring, and can get dibs on things others are bringing that they’d like to have. Check it out, and if I’ve posted something you want, let me know—and if you know any or all of the things you’ll be bringing, post a list for us. I’ve linked it below.

And just to keep the information separate, please post that you’re coming and all other "general" swap info here, and post "what you’re bringing and what you want" info on the other thread. Mixing up info between the two threads gets very confusing!

Six weeks till the swap,
Skybird

Karen

I planted a lot of stuff thinking some of it wouldn't come up, and well, it turns out I have great seed this year. I have a TON of (heirloom!) peppers and eggplant, and likely will have plenty of toms and other stuff too. Though, some of it will need to be in the ground by then (the kales, and broccolis)~

I'm SURE I'll have plenty of stuff to bring to share.

Random note, for those that might not have lots of little pots to plant them into and don't want to go get plastic cups to do so... You can make pretty simple 4" pots out of newspaper! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW4t_6dTAvA (general idea, play with it and see what works for you. I improvised a bit for mine)

Quick question though, since this will affect things for me. Are kids cool to bring? Any age range preferred? I may be able to leave one of mine with the hubby (who won't want to go, he enjoys his boring days inside on his days off LOL)~ but I'll likely need to bring at least one of them. Mine are 5 and 7, if that helps, and are generally not terribly insane. :)

I hope to bring some houseplant babies (varigated spider plants, heart philodendrons, and maybe some extra winter sowed plants, if all goes well...

Thanks,
Skybird

AngelinaGarden
AutoDidact
Azura
Bekajoi (COS)
BindweedBenders
Cyndigo (Boulder)
GreenBean08 (Falcon, NE of COS)
HighAltTransplant (Sorry, Bonnie! Nobody in Silt to carpool with!)
JCLepine
KarengGrow (Black Forest, willing to bring others from the COS area!)
Laura42 (Ft, Collins)
LuckyBottom (Kersey, east of Greeley)
MayberryGardener
MstyWoods
PolygonumTinctorium (near Monument Hill)
ProvoGirl
SerpentMoon
Sherri09 (Boulder)
Skybird
TreeBarb (near Ft. Lupton)

Still not sure about these two!
SingCharlene - Charlene ?
Mooseling ?

Since it’s still 5 weeks till the swap, I suspect a few more people that have been to past swaps might be checking in here yet!

If you haven’t already, be sure you PM or email Angel with your email address so you can receive her address and directions shortly before the swap. And, again, be sure you INCLUDE YOUR SCREEN NAME in your email so she knows who you are!

Here, again is the list of things we’ll need for the potluck.

~ Beverage — Iced tea, something else? Maybe a few different people can bring something!
~ Styrofoam cups
~ Paper plates
~ Napkins — Skybird
~ Plastic silverware — Jennifer/jclepine

The things that don’t have a name after them — need a name after them!

I’m also bringing the name tags, the sign in sheet, and numbers for the first two rounds of picking! (And can bring some tables if Angel posts that she needs some.)

Five weeks and counting,
Skybird

Thanks to you both for organizing this. Looking forward to it :^)

Marj

Angel

Wow! I think this may be the biggest Spring Swap we’ve had yet! I’m delighted to see so many new people signing up to come this year! Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for good weather!

Angel has the "official" list, but here’s the list as I have it, so if there are any additions or corrections, please let me know! I’m again including locations for those not in the immediate Metro area, so if anyone wants to try to carpool, you’ll be able to contact others near you. If you haven’t already, I encourage all of you to go to your profile and enable private messaging so others can contact you about the swap if they want to. If you just enable private messaging, your email address will not be visible, and no-one will get it unless you PM them. If THEY PM you, they won’t get your address unless you reply! You can also make your actual email address visible if you decide to, but you don’t need to!

AngelinaGarden - Angel
AutoDidact
Azura (with son and possibly guest)
Bekajoi (has a van for possible carpooling from COS)
Bexay6211
BindweedBenders
ButterCup 2010
Cyndigo (Boulder)
GinnyTrcka
GJMancini (and sister)
GreenBean08 (Falcon, NE of COS)
GreenShark (COS)
H Geist
HighAltTransplant - Bonnie
JCLepine - Jennifer (Nederland)
KarengGrow — Black Forest, willing to bring others from the Colorado Springs area!
Laura42 (Ft, Collins)
LindsyinEvergreen (Evergreen)
LuckyBottom (Kersey, east of Greeley)
MayberryGardener
MstyWoods
PolygonumTinctorium (near Monument Hill)
PowerMuffin (+ 1 or maybe 2)
ProvoGirl
SerpentMoon
Sherri09 (Boulder)
Skybird
TequilaGirl (Castle Rock)
TreeBarb (near Ft. Lupton)

So far I have 29 people on the list—not including significant others and guests! I’m assuming there will be a few more before the actual swap! I repeat! WOW!

Here, again, is the list of things we’ll need for the pot luck. We still need somebody to volunteer to bring some styrofoam cups, and I think we probably need at least a couple more people bringing something to drink with as many people as are coming. Some version of iced tea? Some kind of punch? Any other ideas?

~ Beverage
MstyWoods
LindseyinEvergreen - Thai iced tea
~ Styrofoam cups
~ Paper plates — MstyWoods
~ Napkins — Skybird
~ Plastic silverware — Jennifer/jclepine

AND EVERYONE! THIS IS IMPORTANT! There are always a few people who miss this part!
If you haven’t already done so, PM or email YOUR email address to Angel. She will NOT be going to each individual’s bio page to private message anything to you! That just takes too long! So if you don’t send her your email address, you will NOT get her address and directions to her house! And BE SURE you include your SCREEN NAME in your email so she knows who you are!

Less than four weeks now!
Skybird

Because of moving prior to the swap I won't have much to offer except some seed packets. I am willing to bring other things, like picnic supplies and/or food/drinks. Just let me know. Can't wait to meet you all!

Angel

We still need a couple more people to volunteer to bring some kind of a beverage, and with this many people we need two or three people to bring tables for the food. Also, if you don’t want to sit on the ground, we need more people to bring some chairs. With 31 people planning to come, and a bunch of guests, surely there must be some people who can help with these things!

Here’s the current list of who’s bringing what. Please post if you can bring any of the things we still need.

~ Beverage — lemonade, iced tea, something else? [Need some more names here!]
MstyWoods
LindseyinEvergreen - Thai iced tea
~ Styrofoam cups — TreeBarb

~ Paper plates — MstyWoods

~ Napkins — Skybird

~ Plastic silverware — Jennifer/jclepine

~ Ice — Angel

~ Chairs: 4 treebarb
[30 - 40 people and four chairs! We need more folks!]

~ Tables: [Need 2 or 3 people bringing tables to be sure we have enough for the food!]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you still haven’t gotten the email from Angel with her address, she’s posted HER address just above, so email YOUR email address to her. BE SURE to include your screen name so she knows who you are! If you don’t send your email address to her, you WILL NOT get her address for the swap! (And if you sent your address already but didn’t get the email from her, send it again!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s the list of people who are, or hope to be coming as I have it right now! I’m once again posting locations for the people who’s locations I know that are out of the immediate Metro Denver area so if anyone wants to arrange to carpool, they’ll know who’s near them. [And I once again encourage all those who haven’t yet done it to ENABLE PERSONAL MESSAGING on your GW account! Aside from posting a message on the swap thread and hoping the person sees it, PM’ing is the only way to contact somebody should the need come up! Enabling personal messaging DOES NOT make your email address public! There are a LOT of you who still don’t have PM’ing enabled, and there is absolutely no way to contact you should something come up!]

If you’re not on the list but should be, post or post again that you’re coming—but even more importantly, send Angel your email address! I’m keeping an unofficial list of attendees, but I am not keeping a list of email addresses this time, so Angel is the one you need to get your email address to!

AlmondStriations - Erie
AngelinaGarden - Angel
AutoDidact
Azura - (with son and possibly guest)
Bekajoi (has a van for possible car pooling from COS)
Bexay6211 [may not be able to come – Bexay, how’s your knee?]
BindweedBenders
ButterCup 2010
Cyndigo (Boulder)
GinnyTrcka (and friend)
GJMancini (and sister)
GreenBean08 - Amy (Falcon, NE of COS)
GreenShark (COS)
H Geist
HighAltTransplant - Bonnie (Silt!)
JCLepine - Jennifer (and significant other?) (Nederland)
KarengGrow - (Black Forest, willing to bring others from the Colorado Springs area)
KvenKat (and maybe husband)
Laura42 (Ft, Collins)
LindsyinEvergreen (Evergreen)
LuckyBottom - (Kersey, east of Greeley)
MayberryGardener
MstyWoods
PolygonumTinctorium (near Monument Hill)
PowerMuffin (+ 1 or maybe 2) (Longmont — guess you don’t need to carpool! ;-) )
ProvoGirl
SerpentMoon
Sherri09 (Boulder)
Skybird
TequilaGirl (Castle Rock)
TreeBarb (near Ft. Lupton)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If somebody is finding this for the first time, it’s not too late to decide to come! As long at there’s still time to send your email address to Angel and get a reply from her, it’s not too late! So even the day before the swap should work, but by the actual day of the swap everybody is going to be too busy to be responding to anybody!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the past we haven’t done this, but Angel has said that she has a grill (two actually, one gas, one charcoal) that we can use, so if anybody wants to bring something to be grilled, that works too this time. Just be sure it’s something that wouldn’t take too long to heat since eating is the first thing we do!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~ HERE, AGAIN, IS ALL THE BASIC INFORMATION! ~~~

The swap is on Sunday, May 23rd at 11:00, at Angel’s in Longmont!

~~ When you arrive there will be an area designated to put the plants you’ve brought, with a separate place to put the plants you have earmarked for someone—and, of course, there will be somewhere to put the food! [Just a hint for those of you who have earmarked plants! I’ve found it works well to write the screen name of the person on a paper bag and put the plants in the bag. If there’s more than one bag for someone I just write "1 of 2" on it to be sure nothing gets missed! It makes it easy for everyone to find the ones that are for them, and it’s easier to carry the bags than to carry a bunch of separate pots. Small boxes would work too!]

~~ There will be a table with a sign in sheet, and it’s fun to keep track of who actually showed up, so please be sure you sign in! There will also be name tags on the sign in table, so please make a name tag for yourself (and your guests) which includes your RMG screen name—so we know who you are! [Put YOUR screen name on your guest’s tags too—so we know who they belong to!!!]

~~ We start the swap with the pot luck!
Your dish can be absolutely anything! Hot dishes, cold dishes, appetizers/finger foods, salads, sweets—anything you think others would enjoy! Homemade dishes, if you have time, are always good! Please bring a serving spoon if it will be needed for your dish, and also please make some provision for it to be covered—a lid if it’s that type of dish, or plastic wrap, or whatever. One other request! I love sweets, so I definitely don’t want to put too much of a damper on the dessert type things, but at a couple of the swaps we seemed to wind up with mostly sweets, so if you’re trying to decide between that or something else, lean toward the something else!

~~ After eating and talking while we eat—and perusing the plants that are available—we have everybody who has plants earmarked for others make sure the plants get to the right people. This also happens to some extent during the arriving/eating/talking/perusing part!

~~~ Then we do the actual swapping!
Before we start picking plants, we’ll once again have everybody who brought plants briefly tell what they brought so everyone knows what’s available to help them decide what they’d like to have. Then everyone draws a number for the first and second rounds of picking plants—that way everyone has a pretty good chance to get the one or two things they want the most. Then we open it up to just walking around and picking out whatever anyone wants—the free-for-all part!

~~ Please be sure the plants you bring are labeled one way or another!
Either stick a tag in the pot, or staple a piece of paper with the name onto the pot, or just write the name of the plant on the pot with a marker or crayon—at past swaps some people have made up adhesive labels with the plant name and basic information and stuck them on the pots—I make up little strips of paper on the computer with the info and include one with each plant. Anything to ensure the person getting the plant will know what they have when they get home. It’s easy to think you’re gonna remember the names of the things you take home—and even easier to forget them by the time you do get home!!!

~~ AND—our primary RMG plant swap rule! Nobody needs to have any plants to be welcome at the swap! There are always plenty of plants to go around (I have just over 200 myself!), and we get together as much to swap gardening talk and friendship as to swap plants—so come regardless of how much you do or don't have to bring!

~~~ Please plan to thoroughly water the plants you’re bringing the DAY BEFORE the swap so they’ll have time to drain well enough to be easy to transport, yet be wet enough to not be wilting at the swap or while people are taking them home!

One more thing! It’s a really good idea to bring a box/tray or two to carry your booty back home in! If the plants you’re bringing are in something, don’t let anybody else snag it, and you can use that to refill with the new goodies!

If there are any questions, NOW is the time to be asking them!

Pray for good weather—and NO wind!

See you all soon,
Skybird

I will definitely be there! Thanks for hosting, Angel. I will PM you with my email address.

We get to adopt the girls!!! All of my legal stuff is done except for the actual adoption process which is now in the works. Thanks for all the well wishes :)

Can't wait for Sunday and I will bring some type of salad to share.

Charlene

And glad you’ll be able to make it too, Bexay—even if it is in a wheelchair or on crutches! And I’m sure there will be a couple other significant others there that are "less than enthusiastic" about gardening, so your husband should be able to find somebody to hang with!

I have 31 people down on the list that plan to come, though a few of those haven’t posted here for a LONG time, so some plans may have changed. In addition to RMG members I’m counting about a dozen "guests," but I haven’t been keeping very close track of that, so there easily could be more!

I’ll post the updated list of who’s bringing what over on the FOOD thread, since it’s shorter, so if you haven’t checked out that thread, please do!

If you don’t have Angel’s address yet, you’re running out of time! Email YOUR email address to her so she can send her street address to you!

Skybird

When I started plans to host the swap, I was anticipating a significantly smaller group than has now RSVP'd. I can't wait to meet everyone, but I don't think I can accomodate this many people in my little yard, so I am going to change the venue to a local park. I've made the reservation for us to have the tables at Blue Skies Park in Longmont (http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/parks/park_list/overview/blueskies.htm) We have this space for the entire day. It would still be great if people could bring folding tables/chairs to be sure that we have more than enough space to put plants, lunch, etc. Since the new venue has a $35 charge associated, I'll put out a change cup. I know many of us are driving a ways to join the group, but I think with all the many people who are attending, if we all throw in a dollar or so, we should be able to cover the costs. (I will take the cup away once we hit $35 - I'm certainly not trying to make any money!)

I hope this won't change anyone's plans to attend, but I think the extra space will be much easier for everyone. Several people have also mentioned that they will be bringing children (as will I), and now we have two playgrounds available to help entertain the little ones. Also, I have a dog and a cat, and this will allow those who have allergies to come too. (I have had a few emails about this.)

I hope that this is ok, and I look forward to seeing everyone there. I will contact all the people who have sent me email to make sure they all know. I'll post a sign on my front door, with directions, in case anyone slips through the cracks. And I am going to post this message as a new thread, just to be sure that everyone sees it.

Thanks again,
Angel

I’m posting this at the bottom of each thread to try to be sure as many people as possible see it!

Angel has changed the location of the swap. If you don’t already know about it, go to her "IMPORTANT - location change for Sunday’s Spring Swap" thread and post or email if you have any questions, and I’ve posted possible directions on my "Final Spring Swap 2010 Information Thread," which I’ll be trying to follow today to help if anybody has questions!

Skybird