Very good job!! You all even have swap site weather links, now that's thinking.

Big round of applause for Rebecca Holder folks!

And another one for our wonderful Swap Nazi, Jeff.

Lots of good information there. This is the best swap site I can find on the net. In fact, I've already found several that have obviously copied text straight from ours.

Crikey! I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this one I just stumbled across is almost word for word the same as the MTPS FAQ page.

Well done guys!

Tngreenthumb,

Well, it's great, but I like the East Tennessee Plant Swap site too! The East Tennessee Plant Swap site has all the local events on it, a map to the site, and a really great swap forum built right in! The swap forum is a fantastic resource to set up pretrades, ask questions, etc. Maybe you should check our out too!

Brandon you're correct as usual and I struggled with the idea but there are two reasons that I didn't add a forum. First of all I want to direct the trade stuff here on GW since most of us are on here anyway at a central location and I didn't want to dilute our wonderful TN Forum by having a second niche forum. I'm pretty sure that Cheryl Morgan was first with that one and quite sucessful. But all owe everything, as far as plants swaps in Tennessee are concerned, to GW in general and to Jan Hobbs specifically. Without those two I doubt that we would be talking swap websites or TN plant swaps right now. The other reason was because I don't want Bec to hate me anymore than she already does for working her fingers to the bone and driving her nuts! :-)

I really do like ya'lls forum deal a lot though and I see the plus side to having one! It is simply a variation in viewpoint and IÂm not saying that one is right and the other is wrong by any stretch. ItÂs just a perception; some folks like vanilla ice cream and some like chocolate but IÂm a homemade peach guy myself. IÂm all for diversity! I canÂt say that I agree with everything he stood for, but Felix Adler once said something about people being different pieces of a puzzle and each one of us having a different shape while matching the rest and in the end it brings out the whole picture. I feel that all the swaps, local & national clubs and annual events are all different pieces of the same puzzle and when we put ourselves together we make quite a cool picture indeed.

I'm still contemplating the local events thing. I want to promote and encourage everyone to attend all the plant swaps in TN not just the MTPS!!! I would like to see the other events and local clubs (Daylily, Rose, Hosta, Iris... all the "Societies" as well as the Master Gardeners and the annual shows) promote our swaps too and that is something that I'm going to address this year as the clubs start meeting again. IÂm going to be doing a bunch of visiting. I just think that ALL gardeners of every type and interest should help one another to promote all the cool stuff we have in our state. Some may see it as competition but I don't; we're all torn from the same cloth and I would like to see all these events grow and be successful!

Bec is still working on the Directions Page and the Registration Page. As I said, we still have a lot of tweaking to do before the site is set but I was just so excited that I had to share what Bec had already done; leave it to me to open the Christmas present early!

At some point I would like to move into the realm of having local business sponsors. Cheryl Morgan was way ahead of her time with that one too on the East Tennessee/Mountain Madness Plant Swap!

We already have our special guest lecturer lined up but I'm just ornery enough that IÂm not going to give it away yet. Suspense is a good thing! :-)

Jeff, I understand your viewpoint. However, GW just doesn't have a good setup for complicated trading arrangements. It really makes pre-swap trading a lot simpler if we can occasionally use a separate forum that has the proper software for it! And we only use it for a month or two preceding each swap, so it doesn't detract from our GWing over all.

Rebecca has done a great job with y'all's web site. This is just something additional to think about!

Rebecca, you are amazing...you have produced a wonderful swap site. Fantastic. Thanks for the hard work.

Jan

Yep, Doc I agree and we may utilize that in the future but you get where I'm coming from.

I was down at HHSP today checking everything out and it was a beautiful day in the Park! I really think that everyone is going to seriously dig coming there for the MTPS. I'm going to miss Jan & Jim and Buffalo Canoeing more than anybody but this is a sweet set-up at HHSP.

BTW, spring and summer are just around the corner, right?
I bet that you folks and your families are going to do at least one or two short weekend vacations, right?
I bet that your church group or youth group are planning outings, right?
I'm pretty sure that your civic groups and the companies that you work for are going to do a weekend or one-day excursion, right?
Well if you don't consider going to Buffalo Canoeing then you're missing the boat! How hard is it to put a bug in somebodyÂs ear or cruise on down to see Jan & Jim for a day or two? You all know the place inside out and you know that they are probably going to cut you a deal so what's the hold up? Get on the stick and make some reservations!!! Take a minute and think about what they have done for us over the past seven years. If you don't feel like we owe them big-time then your head ain't right! Do the right thing and make some phone calls, send out some emails or inter-office memos.

Jan IÂd like get a BC&C referral check too. Nothing gaudy, just something simple with a handful of zeros attached to a whole number. :-)

Jeff, so you want a check with a whole number followed by a bunch of zeroes, do you? Did you realize that zero is a whole number? (0,1,2,3,4...)So, let's see..a zero followed by a handful of zeroes is still zero. Jan, you're safe!

:-)

Thanks a lot Ann! I was hoping that would slip by. Guess I should have said counting numbers huh?

You need to hit the Roll Call.

Great job!

Thanks guys for all your comments and suggestions! Jeff and I are not done yet! We are still working on some changes and will update everyone when we do.

Rebecca

I just got the Stat Sheet for last week... 73 First Time Visitors to the MTPS website; that is fantastic!!!

96 First time visitors since Friday!!!

Ya'll are just awesome.

Holy Moly! Check out what Bec has done now...

http://www.midtnplantswap.com/

It just keeps getting better. I can't imagine how cool it's going to be when she's finished.

Mrs. Holder -thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you!!!

One thing is for sure, Doug; Norm; Jim and I married up.

Sweet. Clean and fuctional. Navigates pretty fast too. Looks like everything but the photos page will load quickly on dial-up. And even that comes across pretty well. Good optimisation on the pics. I approve. *grin*

AWESOME! The site is artfully arranged, easy to navigate, and enhanced by Joe's pics. Terrific job, Rebecca.

Awe, now you all are making me blush. I do really appreciate everyone's feedback, be it positive or critical :).

Joe, I am am going to work on the pics page and make them all clickable thumbnails so they will load up quicker and look better.

Rebecca

If someone is critical, maybe they just logged onto the wrong site by mistake. The site looks extremely impressive.

LOL! No one has been critical, but I welcome it anyways! I am always learning and I appreciate someone pointing out a negative so that I can approve upon it.

Rebecca

Becca,

I mentioned to Jeff I can generate whole web galleries in a flash. With or without Flash in fact. *grin*

Let me know if you'd like to take a look at some examples. Might save you some time.

Great site Bec, and Barb spotted that little red headed girl again. Better watch that girl I think Barb might try to steal her.
Norm

We are tweaking the site and it gets better every day. We still have the Registration Page to complete, add the Special Guest Lecturer Page and Joe is hooking us up with more pictures but it is very close to being a done deal. Please visit and email me with your feedback. I'm always open to suggestions.

Hey we're just 11 weeks and 2 days away from getting together at HHSP for the MTPS!!!

111 pageloads last week and 65 were first-timers! We are still adding to the site daily.

The latest that Bec is working on are aerial shots of HHSP so that you can see exactly where we will be located and where to park.

If you have Google Earth it is very easy to see. If you don't have Google Earth get it because the download is free.

Rebecca is also adding our Guest Lecturer page for Mr. Holman with his picture and bio.

Rebecca has our Registration Page up so everyone needs to get on there and sign up!!!

She also has an aerial map of the Park so that you know where to go once inside.

She has done an incredible job on the MTPS website and I hope that ya'll appreciate it as much as I do.

Hold your horses Jeff! The registration is not working yet. I am having issues with it getting sent through email and removed it for the time being. I'll let you guys know when it is up and running.

Rebecca

So I'm NOT registered? Dangit!

Joe, I didn't know you were coming! ;)

Ya'll be sure and thank Jeff for those aerial pictures. He personally went up in a small prop plane to take those for us. That's how dedicated he is.

That was my cover story but actually I've got deep connections with Skunk Works at Lockheed so I got a lift on the Atlantis STS-122 mission and took the shots while we were in orbit. :-)

Got hits off of 85 "first-timers" last week!