Tansy - LOL! Ooops! You learn very quickly, if someone has 50 pots of something, u should probably PASS! I always took my reference books with me. Put my name on the front cover & left them for all to browse. I've been to the swap from here (GW) a few times when I lived in Columbus, OH. It was awesome and I still remember the great people, plants, and food. I would love to find a swap close enough to attend where I am now.

There would be a pot-luck meal first, then the plants. Gives everybody time to "shop." I liked the way we would do the actual swap - have rounds. Each person picks 1 plant for round 1, 2 plants for round 2, 3 for 3, etc... We also agreed that non-plant items were viable trades to bring: books, pots, unused packs of labels, hooks, etc... Then there's the after-trading through email & such, & visiting other's gardens that gets going after those good long conversations. "Oh I didn't know anyone would want that, so I didn't bring any." That kind of thing. The park where we did it had free shelter use as long as you call & reserve it. Probably a lot of parks do that. There was a playground nearby, too, which was good for the tons of kids that came.

Yes I've been to half a dozen swaps here in the Boston area. Also, I hosted one in 2008. They are lots of fun. I've gotten some terrific plants and most of them are still doing well in the gardens. I enjoy sharing plants (and seeds for that matter) and also enjoy the fact that when you think about the plant, it reminds you of the person who gave them. Gardeners are such nice people for the most part!

Going to a swap next weekend actually, and am preparing a bunch of pots of plants, and potting up some extra winter-sown seedlings for people.

I've participated in two local plant swaps and helped to organize one of the two. We had someone whose husband was in a supervisors group where they work, and we were able to get a small picnic shelter for free.

It was a great time, and I'd love to do it again sometime. We had a pot luck lunch too. The first time we had hot dogs on the grill at the shelter and everyone brought a side dish or a desert and their table ware. The second time, I made a crock pot of sloppy joes, and someone brought buns. Then the side dishes and deserts were the pot luck.

My husband gave a small talk on making plant tags from aluminum cans and that went over well. We had one member of the group who brought tons of seeds that we could all share.

I remember getting some TB irises, a few daylilies, & Black Jack Sedum. I know I've gotten other plants too. I agree with purpleinopp - if someone brings lots of something, don't take any. It's probably invasive!

Linda

I go to one in NH each summer and fall. When I started in fall of 2009 I was a new gardener, and at first thought nobody would want the piddly things in my garden because surely everybody else already had what I had. I was pleasantly surprised to see people actually WANTED what I had! On top of that, all the wonderful ladies were so generous and gave me lots of overflow so I left with quite a good deal more than I had brought. Much of it had no name to me, but they have all been a blessing (with one exception). Now I go with a small number of things I want, but prefer to just trade for what's there because they all have great taste and share things with me that I am unfamiliar with and end up being fantastic. This year I actually got two peonies!! My two daughters, ages 11 and 8, also go with me to get plants for their little woodland "city" they've created, and the ladies are also generous with them when it comes to the overflow. They love the swap, and I'm hoping it gives them some ownership of gardening so it's not just something mom does.

It is getting to the point where the same things are going around the swap because the ladies have traded with each other so long. I look forward to the things I've grown from seed getting mature soon so I can bring "new blood" to the plant choices.

Yes, I go to one that originated in the Upstate NY forum. We just had our 8th year. Many of us there from the start have become good friends. We do get new people too.
Our is like a house party. Everyone brings a dish to pass. Gardeners are good cooks so we all go home very full! We also have a garden gift swap (for those who want to participate) which is fun since gift stealing is involved.
As far as the plants go, some of us make prearranged swaps like Gottagarden(some of you may know her from here) and I do every year. For the party itself, everyone picks a number. Then after everyone gets a chance to see what everyone has (not counting the prearranged stuff,) we start the plant picking. Oh and people sometimes bring other items like gloves or garden magazines. For a few rounds of the numbers, we let everyone pick one plant. Then we go to 2 per round, then three, then we have a free for all. It goes quite well that way.
Remy

I swap by mail with a lot of ponding friends I met on another forum. We swap aquatic and land plants. I have driven to Vancouver BC three times to connect with my pond friends. We have dinners, tours of public gardens and such but can't swap back and forth across the border. I hosted one ponding weekend for the same group at my house in OR.

I've had some people from GW come to my house and pick up extra plants but have found no local plant swaps to go to. There are some very active swappers in WA that post on the PNW swap forum but they are hours away.

Yes, we participate & have enlarged gardens with mostly free plants. We surrounded some fruit trees with the spreaders at the back of the lawn so it would be much easier to mow. These plants are going to duke it out this year, so we'll see who wins! Bee balm, Japanese anemone, almost 50' of staggered ribbon of ditch orange daylily, foxglove, peach leaved bellflower, ajuga, various Lysimachias (yellow tall, golden creeping jenny, white gooseneck, etc.), tall Sedums, Geranium macro as edger, Goldflame spirea, and more all received free or from divisions of previously free plants along with some natives in the shadier spot with the stump.

Be on the lookout for ride alongs & remove ASAP when you get home.
-snails, slugs & those white eggs
-aphids, white fly ...
-invasive weeds in the roots: horsetail, bindweed (morning glory), quack grass
-weeds on plant surface of potted plants especially that liverwort (scrape off top layer to remove the weed seeds present...)

Also, learn to
--ask if it's a spreader (or rambler, or creeper) or does it seed about...then listen carefully so you'll know if it fits your garden bed
--label them as you receive, research that the plant given matches label (check leaves, stalks, flowers, etc.) before planting out in your carefully arranged existing beds
--accept the unidentified plants & ask others at the swap if they're familiar with that plant. If it is still a NOID watch carefully so you can identify before you give them garden space
--take pics & post on GW forum Name that Plant to help ID it
--water right away once home as plants are usually dry from the digging & traveling in cars to the swaps
--plant the bare root things into pots or a nursery bed ASAP so plant survives while you research & watch them for habit. When they bloom you'll be able to identify much easier, so takes time to care for the mystery plants.
--shop at nurseries all times of the year to see plants in various states of growth. Sometimes, plants are given with unusual common names, so research helps. Especially in early spring or mid-fall swaps you can't identify plants that are dormant.

Some examples:
giver could only say grows in sun with yellow blooms in summer & her mom called it sundrops. I repotted & sunk in nursery bed in the fall have identified it as Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa).

Another in early November showed some blue flowers & had plant clumps in a cardboard box showing it as a low grower with creeping rhizomes & fading foliage from a friend who didn't want them at her new home...I planted in a low flat with good compost & mulched for winter. I took some out & planted when it started showing growth this spring, then after those ones bloomed blue & I could identify it as blue eyed Mary or Omphalodes I moved the rest of it to another bed. These 2 months of blue have been a great complement to yellow flowering Celandine poppy & Lamium 'Aurea'.

A current NOID received 2 weeks ago is a tall deeply divided small leaved foliage plant given a few weeks ago in a plastic bag that she said is a daisy that showed up in her vegetable garden. Upon getting home I found 5 parsley starts around the base. Parsley went in veg. garden & the plant in nursery bed. I'll be watching closely when the blooms appear to makes sure it's not a weed It's not the common oxeye daisy on the noxious weed list here in western WA or the currently yellow blooming weed in nearby pastures.

Yeah, the tansy thing was really funny....at least NOW it seems funny. You can believe I will NEVER allow that stuff in my garden again. I still pull up tiny sprigs of it now and again, I think it's indestructible.

I love going to the swaps, my only complaint is that I wish the big one in my area was earlier in the year. I usually divide and move stuff in April, and the swap's not until June, by which time my stuff is all languishing in the pots and I'm too hot to garden! But it's always fun and I love the concept of trading with other gardeners.

Good advice, Corinne -- wish I'd read it before my first swap!

You may want to follow the Connecticut plant swap threads in the New England forum. They usually meet south of Danbury, and it isn't too bad a ride if you start off near I-84. Usually there is one in May, and another, possibly in September or October.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep an eye out. Although I hate driving, I might just do it for plants.

In the last week or so as I have been working in my gardens, (just retired, so now I have lots of time!!), I've noticed that the plants I received at plant swaps are the ones I am constantly fighting with because they are invasive. I will never ever participate again for this reason.

One definitely needs to be aware of plants that are spreaders in the area. Many people have extra plants to share because they are rampant spreaders. I learned after a couple of years to avoid those plants.

That said, I try to take less common plants to swaps and have found there are treasures to be had but one needs to seek them out.

After many years of winter sowing and plant swaps my gardens are so full that I go to plant swaps with the intention of bringing home only a few plants. This year I met that goal until a friend asked me to stop at her home to pick up a few annuals for my garden. As she dug up a plant for another friend she would say, "You must have this for your garden" and how could I say no when they were such wonderful plants. Foiled again, ha, ha.

The only swap I know of in my area happens at a time when I have to be gone on a business trip..every year! BUT I still manage to swap with friends. In fact this week while in St.Paul on a business trip, we are staying in an RV park that also has permenant homes. As I walked around the neighborhood I introduced myself as an "unofficial garden inspector" to a woman working in her WONDERFUL garden. As a result of a plesant hour of visiting and touring her garden, I am going home tomorrow with some Phlox, and a wonderful ICE blue Iris! When I get home I will be mailing some poppy seeds to this same gardener.
My kids and DH laugh at me!

Jennypat, I live in Maple Grove near the intersection of 494 and 694. If you come this way you are welcome to stop at my home and maybe find something interesting for your garden.
Send me an e-mail and I will e-mail you my phone number and address.

MNWSGAL.........DRAT!!!! I drove past you today! BEFORE I read this message. I have no clue when I will get back down that way.

Thanks for the offer