Hello there! I too am from Columbia TN. I have been married for 13 years and have two pre-teen daughters. I work as a Veterinary Technician in Spring Hill. I have 10 cats and 5 dogs, all rescues. I have a passion for animals and hate to see any suffer (hence the farm of dogs and cats!)I enjoy my job so very much and each day brings something new, also getting free veterinary care is nice as well. I also love to garden, flowers and plants mostly but also some veggies. we have a shaded, slopped yard with huge rocks that jut out and have made a great pathway to spruce up! I look forward to going to the MTPS in a few weeks!

Enjoy Spring
Jennifer

I'm new here. I've read about the plant swap before and I really hope to attend this year. I am a master gardener and garden blogger. I garden in White House, TN. This year I'm adding a vegetable garden - haven't had one in several years. I love Clematis vines, herbs, heirloom plants, perennials, and easy care roses. I used to own a small propagation greenhouse and sold Clematis vines, perennials, herbs and ornamental grasses locally and via the Internet. Life changes forced me to sell that business but I plan to do it again when I retire in a few years. Like most gardeners, I love birds and have 6 feeders, two humming bird feeders and no telling how many bird houses on my wooded yard. Meal worms growing in my basement container gross out most of my friends but the blue birds and titmice love them! I am married, have 2 grown sons, my husband has 3 grown children and between the two of us we have 7 grandchildren. We share the home of a spoiled Shih Tzu dog, Pookie Bear.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden tips, birding, plant and art articles

This is a good start. C'mon folks don't be bashful. These threads are normally 100+.

I'm Carla from Birchwood, outside of Chattanooga. I've been married 41 years & hubby restores classic VW bugs. Our 12 year old granddaughter lives with us and I have 2 Boxers, 1 cat & 20 or so Buff Orpington chickens, plus a yard/field full of wild turkeys and, unfortunately, deer that come so close to the house that they trigger my front porch sensor light. I work full time from home as a medical transcriptionist & hope to retire in 2 years. I also design jewelry & do craft shows.

I grew up on a farm & have always had a vegetable garden & love heirloom tomatoes. I make pickles, jellies & can veggies. This year I am ordering blueberries, blackberries & raspberries, just hope I can keep the deer from eating them.

I USED to have a beautiful cottage garden, but moved while we renovated a house & "renters" ruined it all. Now I have lots of weeds, a few iris & daylilies & a few hosta. Fortunately, I still have my 40+ year old peonies from my grandmother. They have been sadly neglected but have a few buds on them.

I've got many, many seeds planted & am planning to come to the ETPS this year, plus I've met a really nice lady here on the forum who lives locally & is sharing some plants with me.

Well.....I don't usually participate in these roll calls -- but since my life has changed so much in the last few months I guess I will this time!

Last summer I moved from the middle of Knoxville, where I had lived for 20 years, to 6 acres east of Lebanon. I am sharing my acreage with a herd of dogs (mostly dobermans), cats, caged birds, fish, and lots and lots of CHICKENS. I am slooooowly building chicken pens, which I'm gonna need a lot more of!

I am also slowly filling my new space with PLANTS. I brought a LOT of plants with me from Knoxville, and I'm still in the process of moving more plants from the old property. I am also hoping to start a large veggie garden -- which will have to be in raised beds, since my land is on solid limestone. Also, I recently purchased three used 800 gallon above-ground ponds (and I also have a bunch of kiddie wading pools and other tubs), including lots of plants and fish, so I am going to be doing a lot more water gardening. AND my property has a genuine cedar glade in the back, so I am learning a lot about all the new native plants around here!

There's so much to do that I'll NEVER be done with it all. But it sure is interesting and educational!

My name is Jan, and our campground is where the plant swap started years ago....on the Buffalo River...can't remember how many. Due to our campground and canoe business I won't be able to attend the swap.

I'm afraid I have had to quit gardening due to the fact that my back refuses to let me do much bending. Jim my hubby always has a veggie garden, and I can/freeze everything. Last year I even canned yellow squash. I just filled the jars with cut up pieces, filled the jars with water and pressure canned them for 15 min at 10 lb of pressure. When I open them I just drain them and add them to chopped onions that I have cooked in butter, and add a little salt. Tastes just like fresh.

I play the piano and am also an artist, I taught painting for a number of years. I have 3 grown kids, and 3 grandkids, the youngest is 5 mo old.

Hope everyone has a great time at the swap, Jeff has done a great job and I hope that you will all support the one who replaces him. Let me tell you, IT IS A VERY HARD STRESSFUL JOB. When you get to the swap you just see the RESULTS of what has been going on for 6+ months. Please let him know how much you appreciate his hard work, and let his replacement know you will help in any way you can.

I'm originally from Eastern NC, hence my user name. I've lived in the Sevierville / Gatlinburg area for the past nine years with my wife and 10 year old son. We have a cottage style garden at our business in Gatlinburg (www.timberrose.com) and I have a veggie garden in raised beds in the back yard. This year I'm growing tomatoes and peppers in SWC's made out of totes and 5 gal buckets. Looking forward to a great gardening season!

Hi, I'm Michael from Knoxville. I'm an online news producer for WVLT-TV, and a former radio news anchor. I've been gardening for a couple of years -- since my wife and I first started dating. She loves flowers (so do I), and after helping her with them I decided to plant a garden. It was productive, but I could have done better. This year I started my own seeds, and I've talked so much about gardening at work that my boss made me start blogging about it on our TV station's Web site. (link below)

My wife and I married last October, and we have a silky terrier from the pound named Mac.

My wife expanded her flower garden this year, and I shrunk my vegetable garden. I'm planting in a small raised bed, so it's smaller, but I actually expect a higher level of productivity.

I'm no garden expert, that's for sure. I try things, even when people say I shouldn't. Just read my blog, and you'll see that pretty quickly. My garden philosophy is "it's gardening, not rocket science."

Here is a link that might be useful: TennesseeGardenGuy.com

Hello Everyone! Great post.

I am Lani.I live in west Tn. I am outside Memphis 37 miles. I love both inside and outside plants. Sort of if it is green and grows, I want it. I also have 2 ponds that we dug and I have been working hard on filling with different plants.
I am owned by 2 dogs (rescues), a cat, and a small but growing flock of chickens.Assorted fish, and a spoilt love bird. Oh yea, and the grandson we are raising.lol
My project the last 2 years has been to redo my back yard with natural natives, and perenials.

I hope to be able to meet everyone at some point in the future.

Hi everyone! My name is Dee (bet you couldn't figure that out!) and my husband and I moved to just north of Jackson in 2007. We have planted 13+ trees since moving in and are working at getting flowers to grow. We have iris, clematis, lily, wisteria, tulips, lilacs, crepe myrtle and weeds. We have a small vegetable garden (chiles, tomatoes herbs) that I use for canning salsa. Got a pressure cooker for Christmas so I'll be expanding to canning veggies.

While we garden, it is not structured in any way. We get plants we like and stick them in the ground. If they come up, they come up. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

We are empty nesters who love our pets (1 16 yo cat and 1 17 yo bird) but get our "dog love" from our neighbors dogs now. I tend to take off on the motorcycle for an entire day on the weekends so my dog-mom abilities are hindered.

In addition to enjoying gardening, we both like to cook and think nothing of heading to Nashville to shop at Publix or Trader Joes. Living around Jackson doesn't allow for stellar food shopping (WalMart and Kroger....blech!). We've been married for almost 17 years and are approaching 50 faster than a dandelion goes to seed. We're hoping to retire within the next 10 years but we'll have to see what the economy allows!

I work from home for a large corporation doing all kinds of strange work. My role is systems support for benefits administration.

I'd like to attend the swap but can't commit. You see, if it's a nice day, I'm out riding the motorcycle. I sometimes have to work Saturdays and can't always get away. I will try to make it and will contribute to the pot luck if I do.

Can someone post the website for the MTPS again? I'm sure it's on the board somewhere.....

Hi to all! I have been a member of GW for several years. I haven't posted in quite a while. I use to live in Kingston Springs, a little west of Nashville. Now I live a little more west of Nash in Dickson. I have been gardening for many years. My yard in KS was full of flowers and a small veggie garden. I have been in Dickson a year now and I am slowly building my flower beds up by transplanting plants from my old house. This year I am going to have a really big Veggie garden, with some herbs too. I am going to try to make it to the MTPS this year as I would would love to do some trading and meet new Garden friends! This is a great forum!

Beth

Ask and ye shall receive:
http://www.midtnplantswap.com/

Hi, i'm Stephen, also one of the lurkers. =) I have been married for almost 4 years now. I have a beautiful 3yf old daughter Emily & a monster monkey destructo boy 20 month old son Zachary. I live in the Hermitage area & work in LaVergne at an Ingram company as a Network Administrator. I've been gardening since I was quite young. This is only my second year on GardenWeb though. One thing I hope to accomplish this year with my garden is to figure out why last year 11 of the healthiest looking pepper plants i've had in a long time didn't produce a single pepper thanks to an insane spider mite infestation. I tried all suggestions & more (soap water, liquid sevin, Neem Oil, etc., etc., etc., etc.). Anyways, I live in an apartment, but still garden quite a bit! I'm limited to a porch (not including flower seeds I "accidentally" throw into the dirt outside), but it is about 75% full, hard to walk on & hard to see through by mid-summer! =) I look forward to going to my first MTPS this year. I may have some somewhat common plants, but I will have some to trade (cherry toms, san marzano toms, early girl hybrid toms, serrano peppers, jalapeno peppers, california green bells & a few more).

Peace - Steve

I'm Laura. I'm in West Knoxville and I do the website for the East Tennessee Plant Swap.
I live in a condo and do my gardening in pots and barrels.
I have a whole lot of pots and barrels.
My knees aren't up to doing a lot of in-ground gardening so this suits me. I really enjoy my water gardens as do the neighborhood birds..
I love the stuff I get at the swap and meeting people and having a great day.

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden in 2007

Hi Everyone,

I live in the Dickson, Tennessee area (originally from Maryland) and I'm a newbie. I'm just discovering Garden Web. I don't know if I'll be a lurker or an active participant....have to wait and see.

Married and my husband is with me 100% on our gardening mission. We have 2 wonderful boys and we both work in the transportation/automotive industry (bummer but we're still employed).

My husband, Shawn, has started a small aquaponics setup, built a small greenhouse and has started a compost - worm bin. He's so handy and I'm so lucky!

We've many seedlings in our little greenhouse and we go out there every day to check on things. I can't believe this, but we've been talking to the plants. Is this addiction?

I love doing my research here on garden web. There are so many experienced gardners and so many topics! Recently, I've been reading about companion gardening. Does this make me a lurker?

Nice to meet and read about everyone!

Wendy (loudbaby)

A "lurker" is someone who reads, but doesn't join the forum or post. Welcome, Newbie!

Hey everybody --

I haven't checked in for a while due to lots of life stuff plus a monster catastrophic computer crash (in which I lost all emails and addresses by the way, so if anybody tried to get me and failed I wasn't being snooty!). It's good to be able to get back online.

My name's Marty (female), and I live in Bon Aqua, Hickman County -- not far from Dickson, actually. I've been to a bunch of swaps in the past and recommend them highly. Due to work I won't be able to get there this spring, but my heart will be with you guys.

Hi I'm Shawn. I'm 32 years old. I am married to Patrick who is 30 years old. I am a lurker and have been for years. (Under another screen name) We have 4 children (girls 7, 9, 9, 10). We just bought our first house in Antioch, Tn (outside Nashville). All the flowers in our front yard are from the previous owners. It is exciting to watch as the new plants peek through the earth. True to my nature as things started growing I started buying plants. My hubs says I intend to turn our backyard in to a minature garden of eden. I've bought banana fig tomato peaches nectarines rasberries blueberries pomegranate. (I know I forgot something) Most of my Fruitopia are in containers. Now I am looking to get into vegetables.Also I am looking forward to murdering a gardenia or two this year (lol). I am looking forward to trying my hand at Muscadine grapes if there are any that are hardy to 6b. (If you know of any contact me sphinsa@yahoo.com ) I'm going a little garden nuts. They are going to put me in a padded room.

Hello everyone. I am Faye! and a proud half breed Cherokee Indian. I was born and raised in Cleveland and still living on the old family homesite that we've had for over hundred years. Cleveland is about 35 miles north of Chattanooga and about 70 miles or so South of Knoxville.
It is a nice little community. I did live in Augusta GA when I first got married for about 4 years. I hated it. I was glad to get back home.
I am a forklift operator for Eaton Electrical. I work 11 hours nightly Monday thru Thursday, 8 hours Friday night and then 4 hours in the afternoon on Saturday. It is a rough scheduloe but great money.
I just purchased a Rion Greenhouse and I am trying to find seeds or plants to start in my greenhouse. And because I did just bought it I know need to redo my gardens in the rear yard to center around the greenhouse.
I enjoy gardening very much and do it everyday. It is hard to find the time with my work schedule but I don't have no kids and my husband, Randy helps, some. I have been married to him for 20 years.
I do get a break on my work schedule about once a month. Plus we have our slow months where I only have to work 46 hours a week on night shift.
Gardening is great for stress.
I also have a 6 month old cat that is a Maine Coon and his name is Maineiack. And so far he has lived up to his name.
I am happy to meet everyone here and happy gardening to everyone.

Hey all!
I'm Susan, a longtime lurker. I live in our family homeplace & am lucky enough to have some daffs, peonies, lilacs & quince planted by my grandmother in the 40's, still going strong. I'm more of a birder than gardener but that's to justify weeds. "That pokeweed over there? It's to feed the birds." I'm owned by a basset hound & a basset wannabe plus two cats-all rescues. I'll try to make it to the East Tn swap as I live in Greeneville. I don't have anything too unusual. I have some lovely Asiatic & Oriental lilies & can bring some but I don't know which ones are which colorwise as I didn't mark them when they bloomed.I enjoy reading everyone's posts & hope to contribute as time allows.
Susan

Hi, I'm Gretchen.I'm living in a rented house, but can't resist the temptation to plant and landscape. I'm a little new to it all, only growing tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, pasley, dill, basil before. This year we've made our garden a lot bigger, and i plan on growing veggies i've never grown before- like corn, beans, summer squash, wimter squash. Also onion, late beets, lettuce, carrots late summer on those i guess. Im totally new to this. I also am planning a shade garden on a moist, shady side of northwest wall. Planning some ferns, coleus, impatiens, and some medicinal herbs native to this area. Any tips you guys can share, on ANYTHING will help out. Looking foward to being in touch with other local gardeners.
I'm a big fan of natural looking shade and flower gardens, no formal landscaping, thanks. A little wild, lots of colors, and useful as food, medicine, and to attract birds and bees.

Neil, here, a semi-lurker.....Jason, my partner, and I have been together in Nashville for fifteen years. I come from a Penn farming background but live on an acre lot that's little more than limestone and cedar trees. Therefore, I grow iris (and Jason grows orchids).

I have around 800 iris - standard dwarfs, arilbreds, and mostly tall beardeds. The dwarfs are beginning to bloom now and the peak for the TBs will be mid to late April. I am a test garden for an Oregon hybridizer and am beginning to do a little hybridizing myself.

Unfortunately I am usually out of town during the swaps, but I'll make it there one of these years.

I'm in the Tri-Cities in NE TN. I think it's really interesting how diverse our state is. What works here won't necessarily work in Memphis.

I guess you could say I'm a lurker. I go through phases of posting, reading, or just not even logging on for months. But I'm always outside doing something!

This winter we moved into our newly built house, in the middle of 12 wooded acres. The land has been neglected for about 30 years, so we have so many invasives and poison ivy it's hard to know where to start. Multi-flora rose and japanese honeysuckle and PI are everywhere you turn; some privet popping up, and tree of heaven in the cleared areas. Ugh.

Also having a mud area for a yard presents the other challenge, with no grass and no flowers or shrubs. So I'll be on here seeking advice and such for woodlands and organic lawn care. Seeing the wildflowers pop up in the woods then fade away in a few days has been really exciting this spring.

I love our land and the woods. I have about a 15 year plan for making it a beautiful natural area celebrating the native plants and trees of the Appalachian region. We have a spring that is flowing a little (right now it's covered in MFR) that I'd like to clean up and have a wetland area, and walking trails throughout the woods. Plan to get a couple of goats for the back of the place, and some guineas. Have a lot of beautiful trees: black walnut, cedar, sycamore, beech, oak, maple, and even a few small holly. But, man, we have a long way to go to make it something wonderful.

So I'll be on here for many years to come ;)

Hi, My name is Jennifer and I am new to this site and I'm not sure how all of this works. I just bought a new house and I'm trying to find a way to start some type of garden without investing tons of money. When and where is the plant swap. How can I find that information? How can I find out if there are people in my zip code that would like to swap things? Can I ask for free things like pieces of starters from other peoples plants? Thank you

Jennifer, Welcome to Gardenweb!

Info about the East Tennessee Plant Swap can be found on our website at http://www.easttnplantswap.com/

Info about the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap can be found at http://www.midtnplantswap.com/

Info about other swaps can be found by searching this forum. There's a search box down at the bottom of the main forum page.

You are not supposed to ask for free things on Gardenweb, only exchanges. You can accept an offer for free things for postage, a SASBE, etc.

If you come to one of the swaps, you will have lots of stuff quickly. At least at the ETPS, all you have to bring (if you don't have plants, cuttings, seeds, tools, garden related crafts, or some other garden related thing to offer) is a friendly smile and maybe something for the potluck lunch. Many of us bring WAY more than we want in return. I usually bring a truck full of plants and try my darnedest to leave with only a box or two of new plants. (That's much harder than it may sound.)

There are also places on Gardenweb for exchanges. Near the top of the main Tennessee Gardening Forum is a link to the Exchange Page of the Tennessee Gardening Forum. It's not real active (unfortunately), but you might occasionally find things there. Gardenweb also has a Plant Exchange and a Seed Exchange Forums where all types of plants and seeds can be offered or found. Many other forums (the ones with the circles made of blue and purple arrows, in the link below) have exchange pages for specific types of plants or specific interests.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb Forums

Jennifer since Brandon was kind enough to give you the link to The Middle Tennessee Plant Swap website I'll just add that you can contact me with any questions at jtoothmanindadj@comcast.net.

The MTPS is Saturday, May the 16th at Henry Horton State Park in Chapel Hill. We start at 9:00 a.m. so you may want to get there a little earlier.

hi, my name is amy, i'm 29, and i live in smyrna, tn. i discovered this forum today because my roommate and i are planning our first vegetable and herb garden this year. we will be tilling up the land this weekend and plan to do an 8' by 10' area.

any tips for a first garden are appreciated. we want to start with lettuce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries. also, i plan on doing a compost heap... anyone have insight into this process and ways that i can do it for cheap?

i also want to include my 6-year-old daughter as much as possible. how do some of you do that?

Hi everyone, my name is Tracy and my husband is Hank. We have two teenagers, two dogs (LH Chihuahua and a Pekingese) and a cat. We will be adding some chickens to the list that should arrive in a little over a week (leghorns and bantam cochins). We live in East TN near Bulls Gap. We are close to Morristown, Rogersville, and Greenville.

I am a special education bus driver. I love growing daffodils and am a member of the East Tennessee Daffodil Society. I also have Hostas, Hyacinths, Daylilies, Peonies, Creeping Phlox, 1 Corkscrew willow tree, 1 Kwanzan Cherry tree, some Althea trees, several leyland cypresses, and a newly adopted weeping bald cypress and contorted fuji cherry tree.

My husband is a machinist. His main hobby is his Sebring kit car. He also likes starting plants from seed. We have a greenhouse and hope to get it up sometime this year. He also takes good care of the fruit trees.

I have been registered with GardenWeb for a year now but I mostly just lurk. It has been great reading about everyone. I would love to be able to attend the ETPS this year. I will have to see what my hubby's work schedule is.

Oh, fun! I am so enjoying reading all these! I feel like I have lots in common with many of you. I lurk here a lot...I check in at least once a week to see what's going on.

I live in Brentwood (just moved there last year) with my husband and two dogs. My two passions are gardening and dogs (not necessarily in that order - wink)

I'm an art director for a PR firm. Have been here for ten years this month. I also train my dogs and compete in obedience with them.

I've been gardening for about 15 years - something like that. I'm so excited about having a fresh new yard to start all over! :) My strong suits are garden design (I guess it's sort of like art direction but with plants...LOL), and choosing plants that are tough and won't require a lot of babying. I love the idea of xeriscaping.

A special interest of mine the past year or so is toxic plants, particularly those that are toxic to dogs. I read and research this almost constantly. I know, what a nerdy thing to do... :) But I have Labs, and if you've had a Lab you know that they think everything was meant to go in their mouths. One of my goals for this house is to create a backyard environment that is completely, 100% safe for animals. You would be very surprised how difficult it is to build a garden using only non-toxic plants. Seriously. Wow. But it is kind of a fun challenge :) So any questions about toxic plants, fire away!

My name is Evelyn, I'm forty-something, and seem to be specializing in growing chickweed and henbit. I'm sure the bermuda will be joining them soon. Listen closely, you can almost hear the Round-up fairy.....

I am fortunate enough to live 15 miles from the new swap location and am very grateful for that.

My favorite plants are the spring-blooming ones since that is when the yard is cool and insect-free enough to enjoy. Also, I realized that the blooms last longer and look nicer since the plants and getting lots of rain.

I also have too many daylilies, not enough iris, hostas, and the usual suspects.

I enjoy participating in the MTPS each year and am also a co-founder of the Spring Hill Garden Club (great group), a Master Gardener, and enjoy the heck out of Perennial Plant Society in Nashville.

My husband and I are staff to 2 cats (is it just me or do gardeners seem to have a lot of pets), a Maine Coon mix and a Siamese mix. I only do pound-kitties so I always have mixes.

My other main hobby right now is traveling, which I enjoy in the garden off-season.

Well, that is more than enough. See you in May!- probably with my wagon.

Evelyn

PS Please bring water plants and veggie plants!

A dog trainer! Coolness. Connie please make sure you look me up at the swap. Rhonda

amyrous~ You asked about kids and gardening, I tried to give mine a corner or small bed of their own. They like cherry tomatoes! They like to pull up carrots too, sometimes too early, lol. Radishes make a fast crop.

Norm and Barb here. Too old to be making a post like this, may never finish the durn thing. She likes flowers and I like things to eat. Love my little home made greenhouse. Barb puts me in there, instead of the dog house. We have been married for 54 years, sort of getting used to each other. Got some good rooting compound, the other day that will put roots on toothpicks. Will be trying everything until I find out it doesen't work. Like Brandon said in a post above, I try not to bring anything back home, from the plant swaps, but someone allways has something, that catches my eye.

Hi Everyone!
My Name is Kathi Pulley, and my husband's name is Steven. I'm originally from New Hampshire, while my husband is from TN. I have 4 children, 15, 17, 20, (boys) and My daughter Ashleigh who usually comes with me is 22. She will be getting married this year, and her and her fiance bought a house in November and have been adding their touches to it since than. That included cutting down some trees, removing all kinds of plants, which I happily scooped up, and will bring with me to the swap. Ash will be coming with me again this year, and doing a lil swapping of her own.
Good to see everyone, and can't wait for the swap!

Hey Jeff,

How many are registered for the swap?

Evelyn

Hi gang. My name is Wayne and we live at Cross Plains. Been around here most of my life so far. we live on a farm and i am retired from Dupont. My other half is name Mildred but i have other names for her. We Will be married 54 years June 30th. I am 75 years young and act like an 18 year old so the wife says. We have a big yard and the wife raises flowers. I fool with a fish pond and a little gardening. Yep Jeff i am going too make this one if possible. I got the diabetes under control and the wife also. One thing i can say Jeff it has never been a dull moment around here. The first time i went too a heart doctor i came home told her i had heart trouble and she informed me i couldn't have. Had too have a heart first. We also camp a lot and spend winters in Florida Looking foward too meet everyone in may.

Wayne you sure seem to be living dangerously dude! Does Mildred ever read your posts??? You obviously don't have any loaded weapons within her reach do you? :-)

I can't get Lavonne's diabetes OR her under control but then we've only been married 6 years; you've had a lot more practice than I have! So now I see what I have to look forward to in the next 48 years (as if either of us will still be alive). Who knows, maybe we'll both make it to 98!

My name is Evan, and I live in Murfreesboro. Thankfully, we survived the tornado with only minor damage to the house and no tress lost! I am 29. My wife and I are both teachers, and we have a shi tzu named Max. I have a small yard, but I love growing roses and vegetables, and have just started a shade garden with hostas, ferns, and astilbe.

edb: Good to hear. My aunt lost her house, mo co-worker/friend was stuck in the middle of it (less than a mile from 1st tornado) in his truck with 4 kids. Lots of people lost property or were hurt. :-\ I wwas in LaVergne at the time and watching the live weather constantly. We got nickel sized hail for a few minutes are 40-50mph winds with heavy rain. That's about it.

Hi, I'm Frank. I'm a 36 y/o student at UT Knoxville since 2006, lived in Nashville before that, and Franklin before that (1983). I rarely post on here anymore, but you used to be able to find me on the banana forum. I have interest in just about anything that's a cold-hardy subtropical, emphasis on palms and bananas. I'm usually hanging out at bananas.org or the Hardy Palm and Subtropical Board, but make my way over here every once in awhile. Guess I should make it over here more often! Anyway, I graduate in December of this year. I may go to grad school, but not completely sure of that quite yet. I miss Nashville! I'd really like to go to the UT Arboretum sale this weekend, but I'll be at the SPS meeting in Raleigh. Oh yes...I'm the seed bank manager for SPS also.

Frank

Sorry Evelyn! My mind isn't quite in the game lately. I've been working 16-20 hour days. We've got around 80 registered so far but if each one brings somebody....

We're still three weeks away and I'd bet there will be another 20-30 register. I'm not including those that don't/won't register either; that's usually half the group!

HALF of those who have registered are first-timers so you know more than 40 of the old crew is going to be there!!!

At the risk of alienating some folks...we're trying to get an idea of a fairly solid number on those that are going to attend. It sure helps with the logistics if you're trying to run one of these and prepare. Remember the Ms. Cheap debacle??? I never want to be blind-sided and unprepared like that again. And I'm sure that you guys would appreciate better organization. We are also trying to build our MTPS database. These are the reasons that you are asked to register on the website. Please do me this LAST favor and register if you are coming. Since this is my going away swap I'd really love for it to be very special!

Your next MTPS Director is going to really need your help. I've had two decades (maybe not quite that long) to get use to this but imagine coming in cold and hitting the ground running! We're going to need better cooperation to insure better organization; it's a two-way street.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE REGISTERED!!!

Hey Frank,
You're right, you should check in more often. There's quite a bit of interest in palms, bananas, and similar plants here in this forum. Sorry you can't make it to the sale this weekend. Maybe you can come to the Spring East Tennessee Plant Swap? Hardy subtropicals would go over like gold at the swap. That's always one of the most popular category at the swaps. BTW, what's SPS?

Hi all. My name is Shell. I live just north of Chattanooga with my husband of 7 years, and our 22 month old daughter. We bought a 100 year old home at the end of last summer, and we've been busy making it our own. I like cottage style gardens, and have been working on our yard since we moved in. We're going to attempt a vegetable garden this year in raised beds. This is my first post. I love this site. It has been a life saver for a first time gardener.

I'm Terry, another "lurker" only because I don't always have time to visit regularly. I gleaned some great information from this site; and many of you have been a big help without even knowing it! I grow lots of perennials, daylilies, iris, peony, phlox, etc. on 2 acres in North Anderson County.

Shell and Terry, both of you are pretty close to Knoxville. Hope you can make it to the ETPS! Also, there's a big sale at the UT Arboretum in Oak Ridge this weekend. There will be some awesome plants (including 50 different Japanese maple varieties) available at really good prices and you can help support the arboretum!

Here is a link that might be useful: East Tennessee Plant Swap Website

Hi everyone! I just registered for the swap - hope I can make it. This will be my first swap. I'll be the one hiding behind the trees, lurking, (cause I have nothing to share and I'm shy).
I've been in TN almost 19 years. Born and raised in Michigan. I work as a LPN in a psych environment. I am on 8 hour shifts now, opposed to the 12 hour shift the last few years, so hopefully I will be able to spend a little more time out in the garden taking care of it. I put a garden out a few years ago, but it doesn't take long for things to get out of hand when you got 4 days a week you CAN'T get out there and do anything at all.
I live in Murfreesboro, and will be putting out my garden as soon as I find out how to chase the bunnies away. I had surgery on my hand and was afraid to get it diry (as well as not being able to do anything with it for several weeks) so I didn't get anything started this year. I guess it will be to the store to buy the maters and peppers.
Have a great rest of the weekend and get out there and enjoy this wonderful weather!
Carol B

I'm Debbie and I'm in Middle Tennessee. I guess I mostly lurk and don't ask too many questions. But I have learned so much just from reading all your posts. I have a large vegetable garden with onions, tomatoes, squash, okra, potatoes, canelope, beans and cucumbers. I have flower gardens which include mostly perennials. I went to my first swap last year and really enjoyed it. I am planning to go back this year. It's a great time!! Hope to see you there.

I would love to come Brandon, but we have family visiting from out of town that weekend. I may have to try to persuade them into tagging along. :)

Shell it's only 130 miles to Chapel Hill! The Middle Tennessee Plant Swap is May 16th at Henry Horton State Park.

http://www.midtnplantswap.com/