Sure! If there's enough interest in them I'll pot up some extras, not all will be named, though. I have some growing up in an area taken over by wild roses that need to be removed, think they're Mother's Choice but couldn't swear to it.

Would love some peonies, and also some Lily of the Valley if anyone is bringing those!
I will have some tomato and pepper starts, maybe--if they take off... not having great germination on about 1/2 of the seeds, and didn't have the time to check germination rates before planting. So far, about 1/2 my tomatoes are up and barely any peppers, but I'm hoping a few more. I've got:
Cherokee Purple
Omar's Lebanese (from some seed I picked up at last year's swap!)
Abe Lincoln
Mexico Midget
Spoon (these are hubby's candy when he's watering the garden)
tomatillos
serranos

I'm not going to mention the other peppers until (IF!) they come around. Wish I could post pics from my phone (the upload is broken); Kitty is babysitting the sproutlings for me, as they're in HER patch of sunshine! I'll be moving them under the lights when the rest of them pop up.

Would like to add some day lilies, if someone needs to divide?

I ended up with an extra 4' strip of home made beet tape. The swap sets of tomatoes are mostly indeterminate but a few determinate. There are several varieties of peppers that are in 3"-4" pots that will be hardened off. I put a rhubarb root in a pot but it is not showing much life yet.

I have a couple of daylilies I could divide, I earmarked this one and a couple of others for the fall plant swap but didn't get to attend. I also have 5 peonies potted up to swap if all survive this crazy Colorado spring!

Is anyone bringing any alpine strawberry plants to trade? Would love to try them again, killed the last ones.

I wish i had some alpine strawberries for LizinElizabeth! I have tried them from seed and sets and nothing seems to make it. They have gone the way of blueberries for me. Me thinks it maybe our alkaline clay soils. Hopefully someone else, with way more talent or smarts, can help you out.

You are welcome to take raspberry starts, if those are to your liking?

Absolutely, Luckybottom! I assume they do better here than the alpine strawberries??!! I gave up on blueberries, too-such a shame since they taste so much better fresh. I'll certainly take you up on the raspberries!

Lucky and LizIn,

Just have a minute, but I'll totally forget this if I don't do it now! If you ever want to try the alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca) again I recommend winter sowing them and then plant them in a spot that gets a little bit of sun but not a lot! Mine are planted on the northeast corner of the house where they only get a couple hours of pretty early morning sun, and that seems to be enough for them. I suspect, since they're "alpine," they're used to cooler climes and don't like being in hot sun down here in the lowlands! Don't know positively that that will work for you, but, IMO, they are definitely worth keepin' on trying! They have tiny, tiny berries but they have such a wonderful intense flavor that eating even just one fills your whole mouth with an Amazing Burst of Strawberry!

A couple other things! Mine (from seed) were originally planted in my "normal" heavy clay shortly after I moved in here. They stayed there doing ok until last year when I "significantly" improved the soil AROUND them--without digging them up and replanting them, on the assumption that the roots will grow out into the improved soil. Will see this summer if it seems to make any difference!

Also, the F. vesca does not have runners, so they will "stay" where you plant them, getting slightly larger each year, but they will not multiply in any sense of the word.

And, I have tried to start the yellow ones from seed several times and been totally unsuccessful, so if you do decide to try again I definitely recommend starting with the red ones to give yourself the best odds of success.

If you guys had them in full sun or much/any hot mid-day sun I suspect that may have been at least a major part of the problem you've had with them.

Hope that might encourage you to try them again! They are definitely worth it!

Skybird

Lizin- I would love a peony and a daylily if you have any left. I have been curious about peonies.

I have some grass that I will divide up if anyone is interested. It is invasive- or spreads really quickly. Good if you have an area you'd like to fill.

I like the winter color and will probably pot it up to try some sort of dramatic flare thingy.

I could have some veggie starts, but they are not doing so well, sadly. I don't seem to grow things well from seed. If they survive, I'll post what I have.

About blueberries, I attend an extension high altitude gardening class and this guy has successfully grown blueberries locally. I hope to try honeyberries as a substitute. They are supposed to do well here, just note that you need 2 different plants for pollination.

Here is a link that might be useful: blueberries on the front range

Skybird, thanks for the advice, I'll look for some alpine strawberry seeds and give it a try. Not much from my wintersowing has come up yet (and what did got beat down by the crazy 9 deg weather we had) so maybe I could get them in a container now.

Lesuko, I actually got some tiny honeyberry seedlings 2 years ago. They didn't die but barely got up to a couple of inches last summer. If they don't do something more impressive this year I think I'll plant something else there! I'll certainly check out the blueberry link though, thanks!

I've heard about planting blueberries in a bale of peat before, and if I had room to try it I think I might do it just for the novelty of it! That guy gives really good directions! But if you ever decide to give it a try, be aware that you need to dig a BIG hole to bury a whole bale of peat, and with blueberries you need more than one variety for pollination so you'd probably need to bury at least a couple bales to have enough room! Big DIG job! If you do ever decide to try it we will definitely be waiting for a report on the results--and some pics! Who knows! Some day you might be bringing blueberry samples to a swap!!! :-)

Garden on,
Skybird

I don't know if I have the energy to dig that deep/wide/long of a trench but might try it in large pots! It would be worth the effort for fresh blueberries....And I ordered 4 different varieties of alpine strawberry seeds yesterday, will sow them next weekend. Knowing CO weather we'll still have some pretty cold nights, kinda' winter sowing?

Today I started potting up plants for the swap.

I divided my Greek oregano that was getting out of control. I have 3 6 inch and 3 3 inch pots of oregano to share if anyone is interested.

Tomorrow I plan to divide my common sage if anyone is interested in a piece of it, let me know.

I have 2 kinds of chicks and hens available. A red and green.

I also have purple asters. I'm not sure how many yet, but there are babies running everywhere!

I have yellow yarrow if anyone is interested.

I also some of the old fashioned purple and yellow Iris.

I am looking for any of the following:
Succulents. Any kind except chicks and hens.
Strawberries
Peony
Dahlias
Rosemary
Lavender
lemon balm
catnip
cauliflower
eggplant

Thanks everyone, can't wait for the swap!
~Cat

Lizin- do you know which varieties you have of the honeyberries? I may ask you a few questions at the swap as I was planning on getting 2 this year.

You have to have 2 unrelated varieties to pollinate. I have no idea why.

I was thinking the same about blueberries, just sticking them in a pot with acidic soil. We do not have the space to "plant" bales, nor the energy with all the rocks in our yard! So, I'm leaning towards the honeyberries.

Next week I should have a better idea of what I can bring to the swap. I don't have much especially since I started my perennial garden last year and it's about 10% done.

I divided my rhubarb last fall and I think I have to dig up the piece I put in the afternoon sun spot as it seems it's not doing well compared to those that are in afternoon shade. So, would anyone like a rooting (?) of green rhubarb? It's not as pretty to cook with as the red stuff but I was told it does better on the front range- who knows if that's true and I don't have the red to compare.

Here is a link that might be useful: Honeyberry USA

Cat: I potted some lemon balm up for you today.

There are a few tomato plants and quite a few peppers for the swap. Got a couple pots of hollyhocks, too.

Raspberries will have suckers for the taking.

Lesuko, I don't remember which variety mine are, I bought them together, sold as a pollinating set. I have been completely unimpressed with them so far, though--they're still alive but haven't grown at all. At this rate I won't get honeyberries for another 20 years or so! Think I'll dig them up and relocate if they don't start sprouting up this season....

Thank you Lucky. I would love a hollyhock also. What color do you have? I was given one from a friend, but we don't know what color. I'm trying to get some height in my garden and I love hollyhocks.

Cat, sorry i don't know the colors. The parents are peach, dark maroon and hot pink and all are single petal.

Someone wanted succulents? I have some that are fuschia colored and would be happy to allow cuttings to be taken. They were a gift from a dear friend and i am sure she knows the name but I don't recall.

Lucky- if you have extra on the hollyhock, I would like one and some succulents would be great.

Cat- I'll take a baby aster too or some chicks and hens. I'll wait to see what others request.

Lucky- is there a trick to cutting raspberry suckers, or you just snip as far back to the mother root as possible? I have a few I could bring if someone is interested too.

I wish my WS attempt was more successful. I had hoped to have a few flowers sprouted for the swap but I'm looking at a 20% success rate right now. bummed.

Does anyone have lemon verbena?

BTW, are there 2 conversations about this swap?

Lucky- I was interested in succulents. I have a cracked birdbath that I am hoping to fill with lots of different succulents. It doesn't matter to me what they are called. The color sounds great! I'm open to whatever color the hollyhocks are also. Any of those three sound good. Thanks for sharing them.

Lesuko- I will pot up some chicks and hens and asters for you after the upcoming snow comes and goes! I'm sorry to hear about your ws success rate. Mine was not great either. I had a few things do well, but overall I am disappointed. I will try again next year!

I do believe there are two conversations going on about the swap!
~Cat

This post was edited by catnohat on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 20:02

I'm not able to make it to this swap since I'll be on the road trippin' but I noticed some of you are interested in hollyhocks so just in case Lucky doesn't have enough to go around I made up eight packages of seed for anyone who doesn't get one--or for anyone who wants more than one plant. I'll send them along to the swap with Barb! They're mixed colors/shades of pink (they're singles like Lucky's) and they're very easy to start from seed--if they were started over this summer they'd still be small but would bloom for the first time next summer.

Have fun everyone,
Skybird

Lesuko,

Yep, 2 threads. The other one is for posting what plants you're bringing to swap and how many people you're bringing, what food, etc., so Bonnie knows what to plan for. At least that's how we've done it for past swaps. At this point let's just roll with it!

This thread is for people to say what they'd like to have or have extras of to match up, kind of a private trade. I hope that makes sense. It's past my bedtime, lol!

I have bad news on the Lilly of the Valley. The pips rotted.Yesterday I potted what looked salvagable and will put aside a dahlia for you.

Catnohat, I'd love aster and yarrow if you have any spares.

Barb

Barb, I should have plenty. I would put you on my list!
~Cat

Les: For raspberries, i just pull the suckers that are popping up where i don't want them and get as much root as will come along willingly. I have tried direct placement or potting up till roots come out the bottom and either method has about the same 50% success rate. What seems to have the best results is when i harvest as soon after some soaking moisture from the sky. If i soak with hose then pull out, not so good.

I've got hollyhocks for folks, so if someone wants/needs one, just let me know. I currently have two of them potted up, but I think I can dig a couple more if need be. They are a deep/hot pink-almost maroon. And reseed readily *WINK*
I also dug up several strawberries--not the lovely alpine variety (which I am SO wanting to have some!), but these are all from runners of some that I planted several years ago. Big lovely berries and great flavor, I do believe that they are an everbearing variety and many of the ones that I didn't dig have their first blossoms already
More tomatoes and peppers are up, and a few more than I had originally, and I also planted some herbs. Nothing is really doing all that monstrous--I have first sets of leaves on some, and STILL not on others! So, they'll be tiny, but they'll grow fast if this stinkin' snow ever stops and can get outside in the "wild." They're currently inches away from a grow light and they do love it.
I may also have some purple violets and some johnny jump ups, if they can survive the digging up.
Oh, and lest I forget, I have chamomile. LOTS and LOTS of chamomile. This stuff evidently reseeds READILY and in ANY conditions, and is quite hardy--there were a few that sprung up last fall and never really went down for the winter, and more and more have sprung up since the last snow.
Gotta get back out into the garden now, I have to move the alpines that I have (TWO came up from seed) into the shade. Thanks for the tip, Skybird!

Lesuko, found the receipt from my honeyberries, they are Wild Honey and Honey Sweet. Like I said, I've had very, very little growth on either of them. They have been in the ground for almost 2 years now so I'm not incredibly impressed. They are still alive, I've seen starts of leaves on them already, but if they don't take off this spring I'll move them in the fall.

Mayberry- I sure would take some strawberries. I don't care what kind. I just bought 6 plants, 3 sequoia and three others that I bought from Jose, a local grower out here in Brighton. He didn't have them labeled as to what variety. But 6 plants will no where near fill my strawberry patch, and I would love to have a couple different kinds.

I have never really started my own tomatoes because I always bought them from Jose. For probably 6 years I have been buying them from him because he always had almost knee high, very healthy plants for $3.50 and I only put in 6-8 each year. This year he grew his tomatoes in these even larger biodegradable pots. They are taller than my knees, stems about as big around as a dime already, but he wants $6 each. So I bought 2 of them and he sold them to me for $5 each instead. The point of this story is that I find myself needing tomato plants, and a bit bummed about my loss of a cheap tomato hookup! So any extra tomatoes that show up at the swap will be very welcomed!

See you all soon!
~Cat

Hi everyone. Sorry to say that this is going to be my first spring swap that I have missed in many years. My sisters Lucy and Camille will be attending. Lucy will pick up my earmarked from Liz, Cat if you see this in time I would like some of your yellow iris. I am currently a caretaker for some folks with disabilities, I was going to try and bring them, but doesn't look like this will happen. I will miss you all.

I am looking forward to the swap! I will be happy with anything we get. As usual, I love sempervivums, other succulents, and, well, just about anything. I will take advantage of our gracious hostess' offer to dig up pieces of her established plantings, for sure. Thank you!

I don't know if I have any specific wants besides hoping to score anything interesting. Vegetable starts? More sempervivums and other groundcovers? Anything else new, fun, unwanted by others? I am always happy to get more of the plants I've already received, simply because they are wonderful plants.

What do I have? Cuttings this year, mostly, though some things are starting to sprout outside and I can probably pot up some small pieces.

I can bring cuttings of most of the sedums that Skybird has offered in the past, including Dragon's Blood, Blue Spruce, Coral Carpet, and the variegated Kamschaticum.

I can bring cuttings of a couple of ice plants that have resumed growing this spring. In particular, the yellow iceplant (Delosperma nubigenum) I got from Skybird is doing very well.

I'm pretty sure the zillions of little plants coming up where Skybird's purple asters were last year are newly sprouted asters, so i can dig some up if anyone wants any.

I have Amester's common white yarrow, again newly sprouted.

I have some tomato seeds I can bring. yes, it's late to start them. However, I started seeds this late last year, put out teeny little seedlings in June, and ended up with pretty much the same kind of harvest I get with larger transplants.

Houseplants: Again, almost all will be fresh, unrooted cuttings. I can bring spiders from solid green and variegated spider plants. I just butchered my leggy wandering jew (aka roamin' catholic) into a bunch of cuttings, so I can bring a cutting or two of that. I have the little heartleaf philodendron and the common variegated pothos. I can probably bring small divisions of a couple of unusual aloes (aloe aristata and something that looks like aloe black gem, and maybe one or two more) and haworthia fasciata. I'm pretty sure I have some rooted jade cuttings, though I had a scale attack recently and they don't look happy at the moment. They're tough plants, though. Plus, as always, I can bring cuttings of Euphorbia trigona, the African Milk tree.

I will check again this evening to see what, if anything, people would like me to bring tomorrow.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone!

Poly, I would appreciate cuttings from Dragon's Blood, Blue Spruce, Coral Carpet if it's not too late for you to gather them up. I would also like a white yarrow.

Anything I have that I could mark for you?

Thanks,
~Cat

I have peonies for everyone who said they were interested plus a few extras, will divide a couple of daylilies in the morning before I leave, too. I also noticed I have a ton of obedient plant coming up. It's the pink flowered kind, it's actually in the background of the daylily pic I posted earlier but before it bloomed, only got the foliage. It grows like crazy here. Does anyone want any of it?

Catnohat: I will bring cuttings of the sedums. I also have enough of Skybird's Sedum angelina if you want a few cuttings -- let me know before 9:30-10am if you want that, and I'll go snip a few stems for you (or anyone). I'll bring the yarrow, too.

I'd be happy to take anything interesting you have. I love sempervivums, so would like some if you have extras, even if you've already shared those varieties with me. If you have extra oregano, that would be great.

I don't want to be greedy, but if there are extra hollyhocks, peonies, violets/violas, etc., I'd be happy to take some off of people's hands. Ditto for a lot of the other things, even very small veggie and herb starts.

I would be interested in trying the obedient plant if there are extras. I'm not sure about invasive chamomile, though! Or anything else too invasive!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, though sad that some familiar faces will have to miss the swap this spring.

We will miss you, gjmancini. We hope to see you at the fall swap!

Ladies, bring whatever plants you have to spare. They will find good homes today!

See you in a few hours!

Poly, I would appreciate some of the Angelina also. I will bring you some of my chicks and hens. Maybe they will be some you don't already have. And I have an oregano with your name on it.

Thanks
~Cat

OK, catnohat, I have cuttings of the Angelina, Blue Spruce, Dragon's Blood, and Coral Carpet sedums for you. I was going to pot up some yarrow, but the dirt kept falling off of the new runners. So I'll bring those as bare-root shoots, more or less. Plant them and they'll probably be fine. If not, I can bring more in the fall swap.

Do you want any tri-colored variegated sedum (Sedum spurium tri-color)? I found one of those plantings that is growing nicely already this spring. I'll check back before 9:45 to see. If not, then I'll leave it at home and/or take cuttings to pass on to any interested person. I'm sure Skybird or I can bring it to the fall swap, too.

I am not bringing anything else, I don't think. Speak up ASAP if anyone wants something I can bring, please!