I want to thank the oldies also... i never expected to recieve that many things.. and wow.. its like christmas... i will be so excited to open my present and see what I get... I bet everything is going to be so great... this group of people on this trading forum has made me feel so welcome, I am a fairly shy person.. but you dont feel even slightly unwanted here. you all are a GREAT group of people. I also expecially want to thank Melissa you have put so much work into this. Tammy

I just have to say "WOW!" Thanks to all the oldies (but goodies!)!!! 42 packets of seeds!!! You guys are amazing! I can't wait for the seeds to get here, it'll be like christmas!

And Melissa -- Thank you so much for organizing this, and taking the time to help all of us newbies out!

Sarah :)

I received stamps today from:
happy gardener181
cottageflowers

Thanks!!

I also received some GREAT seeds today from:
Debbya
kilngod

Thank you so much, girls!! I'll have an updated seed count for everyone later.

Melissa

Ok, as of today, we have a total of 973 packs of seeds! YAY!
Pretty Awesome, right guys??? :O)

I have received everyone's stamps, I believe. I have not heard anything from these Newbies:
Bigfoot839
rmbaldez
MaryAnn & Shoan: If you still want to participate, you will need to email me and let me know. Otherwise, I will assume you aren't playing.

I think I've received everyone's seeds so far? If I haven't thanked you on the forum, then I haven't received your seeds. Please let me know if there is anyone I've missed!

Thanks!! :O)

Melissa

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Thats alot of seeds!!! Thanks to all the oldies for giving. I am soo excited. Ya'll are all sooo wonderful for doing this for us newbies! Gardens will be grand! Thanks Melissa for all the time you have spent in organizing this.

Thanks
Trina (pixiesluvplants)

OH wow, this is so exciting! I can't wait and I can't believe how many seeds. Thank you Melissa for organizing and all you wonderful oldies for being so generous.

Thank you Melissa for all your hard work in doing this newbie trade. And thank you to all the "oldies". This just proves that this is the best garden forum ever. Everyone has been so helpful, so kind, and so patient. I couldn't ask for a better bunch of people to help me with my gardening undertaking. I look forward to next year when I'll be able to share my garden with the "newbies". I think that's what gardening is all about. Sharing your garden with others, through sight, scent, or part of the actual garden. You people are wonderful!

Just wanted to say a big thank you!! Got my seeds today!! 4 packs of seeds!! Shastas-Gerbera-Gazania-and Painted!! All Daisy or like them and I love them all!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Distantkin- Who did you receive seeds from?
I haven't sent any out yet, so you still have ALOT coming!! :O)

WOW!! When I signed up I never dreamed there would be so many packets. Not long ago I was worried that it would take forever for me to fill my new beds.Not anymore.Thanks to every oldie that pitched in and certainly a thank you for HNB for hosting such a wonderful exchange.Again many thanks,Letha1971

I received stamps today from SMH78. Thanks Sarah! :O)

hi veryone , i am a newbie , just joined today !! and i have been reading some really intresting stuff, i think i will like it here , but unfortunatly i have very few seeds ,i would love to recieve some and share , i have a handful of sunflowers & some lavender seeds maybe 3 packets of 25-50 seeds to swap , if that helps , i put all my hard work into a garden this year, just waiting for some goodies to come up !!!!
and i love tips and helpful hints for i love to garden & i am a crafter ....bearbeard@comcast.net

LOL-so sorry-the envelope does not have a return addy on it!! This is wonderful!! :o) More seeds!! Yiipppeeeeee!!!!

Welcome, Stormy! Glad to have you on GW!
Unfortunately, this swap is coming to a close. But there are other great options for you on the seed exchange!
Hope to see you around!
Melissa

Hi All!
I received stamps today from rmbaldez. Thanks MaryAnn! :O)

I have everyone's envelopes ready to go. I am waiting on seeds from one other person, and as soon as I get those, I'll have these babies in the mail!!

I tried to give everyone a good mix, there will be some multiples, but hopefully, not many. :O)

Melissa

WOW!!! This is GREAT!!! Just a month ago I had almost nothing to plant in my drab yard, and now, WOW!!! Next spring I want to have a garden that is the envy of the neighborhood.

Thanks to all the oldies for being so generous with your seeds, and especially thanks to HNB for running this exchange. This was a great idea.

Three cheers for Melissa: Hip-Hip Hooray!

Great job of putting this together Bunny.
It was very generous of you to give your time and share your great organizational skills.
Nice work!
Alana

I am echoing everyone's accolades. You did a great thing taking this on. I am in awe of you. I would never do this. Pat yourself in the back. Good job. diene

Aw, guys...Thanks!
But really, I'm not doing much. Honestly, it's all the generous "oldies" that need the accolades. I cannot believe the awesome support for this swap!
It turned out so much better (and bigger!) than I ever expected!
Thank you to EVERYONE!!!
Melissa

I hope we hit 1000 seed packs! (hee hee hee) This has been a great adopt.

Melissa, I took full advantage of your assistance with this seed dispersal. What a great system. The way I saw it, instead of doing the all the labor for little bits of giveaways, I could use all that time to package WAY more seeds to donate.

Like a little assembly line. A virtual "seed gifting" factory :) Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go!

Glad to be of service to you Newbies! Welcome to the trading club, we hope you'll stay :)
--Tina

Hi Everyone!

I mailed out about 1/3 of the newbie envelopes this morning. I'm doing this in parts, so that my poor mailman isn't overwhelmed. :O) And it makes it easier for me to keep track of. (I know, but my organizational skills make sense to me!)
So I will mail out about 7 more envelopes tomorrow, and the same on Monday.

IMPORTANT: If you are a NEWBIE, and I haven't received your stamps by today, I cannot mail you any seeds. Sorry, but I have to be fair to everyone...especially those who were kind enough to be prompt in fullfilling their end of the swap.
So any stamps I receive for this swap after today will be sent back.

Thanks again for all the support, guys!!! :O) I REALLY appreciate it!! :O)

Would it be helpful to you if us newbies that are recieving the packages, to post when we get them?

If you'd like to, that would be great! Just a quick "I got it today, thanks!" would work. There will be way too many seeds in each envie for everyone to list what they got, so you don't have to do that.

Melissa you have done an awesome job. Thank you and THANKS to everyone that sent seeds for us Newbies!!!

Smiles,
Pixie

What else can one say but thanks to all for doing this wonderful thing. Half the fun my whole life of gardening has been sharing and it's just great to find a place where so many like minds hang out.

Ditto Yellowseashel!!! very well put

Smiles
Pixie

The last envelopes of seeds were mailed out today, so everyone should be receiving them this week.
Everyone will receive 35+ seed packs in their envelopes. There were an uneven number of seeds, so after equally distributing them, the ones left over were randomly placed in envelopes. So, that being said, there will be a few lucky newbies who received an extra packet or 2 of seeds. :O)

Remember- Newbies: if I didn't thank you on the forum, I didn't receive your stamps. But I believe everyone sent theirs in. :O)

Thanks again for all who have helped out with this swap!!:O)

I got mine today!!!!! Yipeeeee! I'm so excited! I got an amazing selection and I can't wait to start planting. Thank you again to Melissa and all you oldies who were so generous. I hope to become a regular member of this forum and be able to help others like you have done for me.

Thank you SO much! :)

Got mine today as well, nice selection with about 3 duplicates, and they are all going to be planted! Not going to waste them heh

Oh my, what a lovely bunch of seeds. At 68 there is no way I can use them all but between me and my friends they will all be used and the flowers much appreciated and see by most of us. Thank's more than you will ever know.

Hello everyone. Just wanted to let you know I recieved my seeds today. Yippeeee! I can't tell you how thrilled I am. Christmas has arrived!!! I wanted to let all the "oldies" who donated their seeds know that I truly appreciate their generosity. Also to hazelnutbunny a sincere thanks for planning and organizing this seed exchange. GW is so successful because of people like you. Thanks again. I hope that I can be as generous as all of you. Gardeners are the best!!!!!!

got back from a family reunion and my seeds were waiting - what a wonderful way to end a great weekend! thank you to all the oldies and melissa for putting this together

Wow, Santa showed up in my mail box today and I didn't even leave him cookies!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their generosity. I have spent the last hour (not doing research) looking up plant pictures to figure out what everything is. Now i just need to figure out how to make spring come TOMORROW!

Heather

Of I forgot to thank all the oldies and especially hazelnutbunney! Thanks a ton y'all

I got mine today as well.... THANKS so much!!! I have a huge area that I am going to be planting in.. and this will help SOOOO much.... Thanks..Tammy

Hey, Got my seeds this morning.Great mix.I am soooo greatful to HNB and all the oldies for doing this.I can't say thank you enough. Letha

Hey I got this very nice package in the mail today!! Thank you to everyone for doing this!

I got my package today and I just have to say-thanks everyone! It is a wonderful bunch of seeds that I am going to have a lot of fun with! I can not wait until next year already so I can plant these. A few I had to look up on the internet so that I could see what they looked like, but for the most part I knew most.
Thanks HNB for your hard work and sending these out-

Aggie

I got my seeds today, and what a great selection. My yard is going to look fantastic next year.

Thanks to all the oldies, and especially thanks to HNB, I will definitely try to get involved with any group exchanges she hosts in the future.

Thanks for letting us know you've received your seeds, guys!! I appreciate the feedback!! :O)

I think this is definitely a swap we'll do again in the future. I've had a lot of fun!

I would like to encourage all the newbies to post when they receive their seeds. HNB has spent a tremendous amount of time and energy and a "thank you" feels great. I am glad this was such a success and I would encourage all the newbies to remember this for the future. The old gardening adage of you "reaping what you sow" comes to mind. Have a great day everyone. diene

OMGOODNESS!!! Thank ya'll SOOO VERY MUCH!!!! My garden is going to be soooo beautiful!!! All of you oldies went to alot of work packaging those seeds for us newbies and Melissa you did sooo good sweetie. I got my seeds to day and OMG I bout fell over at all of them!!! Thank you all so much. I am taking off work and gonna plant some for fall thats forsure (here we have very mild winters so I may just have a garden year round eh??? I LOVE YA"LL!!!

Thank you again,
Trina (pixie)

Hey Newbies!

Enjoy your seeds! Here are some great links to help you with them (and every other seed you ever have):

Super germination info for most kinds of seeds:

http://www.backyardgardener.com/tm.html

http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/

http://tomclothier.hort.net/

To find the latin name of a plant (which you need for the above links)...or other "kinds" of that plant..and lots of "user" info on growing it:

http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php

And our fabulous Wintersowing forum - a seed starting method that saves a LOT of time, effort, and grows stronger plants:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/wtrsow/

Have fun!!
-Tina

HNB Received my seeds today. Thank you so much! Wow! What can I say?!? Thank you for taking the time to put in all the hours necessary to pull such a thing off. Thank you for caring enough to do it in the first place. It took me forever to log them all in my garden spreedsheet. (Yeah, well I'm only anal about some things, not all.) LOL! So many wonderful flowers, vegetables, bushes, vines, etc. to plant. I will be one busy beaver this winter.

"Oldies" Thank you so much for thinking about us Newbies and sharing the fruits of your labor. Having started harvesting seeds for the first time this year I realize how much time and effort you put into it. Thanks so much.

Once again, a great big THANK YOU to all of you. It is really and truly greatly appreciated from the bottom of my heart.

Becky

Tina, Thank you for those sites, I know they will be helpful! Thank you all again sooo much!

Pixie (Trina)

I almost fainted today when I opened the envelope!! All I can say is WOW!! My kids thought I was crazy when I opened it and turned it upside down-I was doing a happy dance all around the house!!

Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!

I love each and every packet! You guys are the greatest!!
Distantkin-aka Robbi

Yeheyyy!!! I got the seeds today. Thank you so much to all the oldies and especially Hazelnut for organizing this seed exchange. Our yard will gonna look so awesome next year with all this great selection of seeds.. i got a lot of perennials which i really want. I really appreciate all the effort and hopefully next time i can return the favor when i am one of the oldies too :)

God bless
-Bel-

Tina-
Thanks for putting up those sites! That helped me out quite a bit, too!!! :O)

~~Hope everyone is enjoying their seeds!! :O)
Have fun!

Melissa

Just wanted to let everyone know that I planted some seeds yesterday and today, only those that I know will bloom before January/Feburary, usually when we have our winter which is mildly cold and mostly rainy. I can't wait til lil seedlings emerge!!! I am soo excited and sooo thankful. I will be posting pictures and want to just let all of you know how appreciative I am of all this love you have shown us newbies!!
Pixie

WHOOOHOOO the red cypress vine seeds that I planted have sprouts WHOOHOOO I planted them up against some lattice that we have in s S. corner and they love it there whoohoo!