Trading is so much fun and there really is as much joy in sending someone something they're dying for, as receiving something you've been lusting after. Its truly amazing just how quickly you can go from no seeds to a wonderful collection just from hanging out at the winter sowing forum. Your garden sounds beautiful and the best thing is that you are really enjoying it and sharing the beauty with your friends and family.

And another great thing -- you can get as greedy collecting and trading for seeds as you want and nobody cares! They just laugh and send you more, and more and more!

I'm the one probably guilty of the plain description. I only label my coreopsis - just that! unless it's plains coreopsis which is an annual here. Reason is, by the time they all stop blooming and set seed heads I can't remember if they are single, doubles or bi-color. Rather than disappoint someone, you get coreopsis and roll the dice!

I have bagged more than 200 bags of seed and plan on start sending out noob packs and trading in late August. Remember, we have an exchange page here.

Neonposey, Yes you're right on all counts. The other great thing about seed is that it really doesn't take up much space or cost that much money. When dh complains, I just tell him to be glad I don't collect antique cars! (Serious money and some serious space needed for that hobby LOL) Or jewelry. That argument shuts him right up and now and then he even goes to the post office for me! :))

Mixed in with my flowers is an awful lot of basil (who knew you could grow it from seed? All thse years I just bought a couple plants at the garden center. Um, now I have dozens of a couple different kinds. It's very good placed on cooked pizza, but I am going to have to do some serious pesto making in August to use it all!

Oh, Bakemom, the labeling didn't make any difference at all in the grand scheme of things, and I was so happy to have my newbie seeds, I can't tell you what it meant to me! (I got some really good kinds from you -- not the run of the mill by any means. The Salvia is blooming now as I type and is very unusual, or at least I have never seen anything like it before.) I have a cottage garden and that's just what it looks like -- a mis mix mash of colors and textures and really, it is awfully pretty.

I wanted a wall of flowers but I have a lot of Cerinthe major, bunny tails and this weird Alonsoa that prevent it from being totally gaudy. Or that's what I tell myself :))

Lime

No such thing as gaudy when it comes to gardening, Lime! At least not as far as I'm concerned ...

I love the idea of trading and get a big kick out of seeing what everyone has to offer. But I don't trade much, because my plants are limited in number (of each kind, that is) and I don't get an awful lot of seed from them - unless it's MGs or petunias.

My first year of WSing, I picked up on a lot of SASE offers and got great stuff! Then I went seed-crazy and started buying seed everywhere I could! I've got stuff here that I'll probably never get around to planting, at least not up here on the balcony. I'm really trying to curb my habit, really, really trying, but there are those times when someone posts a picture or mentions a new (to me) plant, and I'm off to the races again!

Hey, Lime, can you post pics of your garden?? I'm sure there will be something there that catches my eye; it'll be fun to look, even if I do have my more-than-fair-share of seeds!

PV

Can you see this photo? If so, I'll uploadsoe other photos of the whole garden, if not, I'll try Photobucket.

Sweezy40;jsessionid=abcHsbqN9_r7t-BYUKYor

Let me know ,will you?

Lime

Here is a link that might be useful: webshots

Lime - I don't see a photo, but clicking on the "Sweezy40" takes me to your Webshots album.

Very nice! The caladium arrangement is so pretty .. and what are those bright neon pink flowers??

PV

Okay, Click on the Sweezy link above -- I added some more photos.

The neon pink was the most ultra-fab flower called Godetia. It was a collected (trade) called Sybil Sherwood, but only 3 of 15 plants actually looked like Sybil and I didn't like those nearly as well as the reds and purples.

It blooms its fool head off, it took the extreme cold we had at Easter, AND it makes a great cut flower. Why don't you see it more often? Becuase it dies when the nighttime temps hit 70. Literally just burns up. I am hoping to keep it alive long enough to collect seed, but it's looking iffy.

I made the mistake of planting it on a highly visible outside edge of the garden and it's been brown and ugly for about 2 1/2 weeks now. The answer is just to put it somewhere where it is more tucked in. I'll definitely grow it again! I want those seeds because if I buy Sybil Sherwood, I'll get a namby pamby peach and white when I want the electric colors! :))

Lime

Lime:

Your photos and garden are gorgeous! I'm so envious. I think it's a good thing you won't be seeing my pathetic seedlings.

I'm really looking forward to trading, too. I have SO many seeds, but those were the seeds I had to have, before I found the seeds that are even MORE necessary! I really want to focus on short perennials, and reseeding short annuals. How is it that I didn't notice that everything I've been growing for 3 years is 2 feet high and taller? (Well, last year some of them seemed to belong in the front. But they've grown!)

By the way, that wish list group swap had its signup extended to Sept 1st.

OMG, Stage Rat! You are sooo wrong! The camera may not lie, but the photographer may point that box whereever she chooses. Notice there isn't a 5 gallon bucket in the pictures? That because no matter where I point that camera, I have to stop and move another bucket out of the frame! LOL. Oh, and most of my seedlings were annuals which grow 5x faster than perennials -- that probably accounts for the disparity in the sizes of seedlings.

However, you are also sooo right! Nothing would do last year but that I had to have Larkspur. I got some mixed colors in my very first trade, so instead of being happy, I realized I really needed electric blue Larkspur! LOL. (and I got it, later on, too!)

AND you are also right about the over two feet thing, too. My beds look out of alignment because I don't have enough of the shorties. And I don't have enough of the shorties because I was so SICK of them! That's all you see at the garden centers, when you think about it. So, I went too far the other way. In fact, I think I was in a wishlist swap where I told people I didn't want anything shorter than 15" LOL! Luckily I had some petunias from swaps & trades and 100 miniature (bedding) Snapdragon seeds that ALL germinated from Nettasaura and Drippy. NEXT year I might get it right, but the reseeding sounds pretty good, too.

I have little yellow birds perched on my Bachelor Buttons, isn't that funny? They perch on the stems and just eat-eat-eat -- all day long. Every once in a while you see the whole stems start to lean and that one flies off only to come back again and test its weight on the fallen stem.

Now they have added the Liatrus, but I can't figure out why because they just started blooming and surely haven't had time to go to seed yet, even the first flowers. The chipmunks ate all the poppy seed, the squirrels won't let any of the sunflowers germinate and the Japanese Beetles have ruined every dahlia and coneflower. It's a veritable feast around here....guess I should have sown double what I did. ROTFLMAO because I would be dead if I had to plant even one more jug!

I'm sorry to be missing your shindig this weekend but I will probably be going up to Chicago for a birthday party in Sept and could make a short stop for a cold one on the way up or back. I'll email you when I know the dates.

Lime

Those finches love the bachelor buttons! Do you need more seed? If so, I can send a SASBE.

No, thank you, Bakemom, I don't think I need more...but only because I know a bunch will come through the round robins and swaps. Do you know I pulled the BBs yesterday because they looked bad, and also because I have more plants that need the space, and I did not find ONE seed? They were stripped bare on the inside and just the husk was there. There were a bunch of seeds on the ground, though. Those finches are messy, aren't they? LOL!

Thanks so much for the offer, and somewhere around here you offered me poppies because the chipmunks (and finches) stole almost all my pods. I cannot find the post!!! I don't need any, I have enough for me...I was just counting on those eaten pods to trade :)) But there is plenty here, even with the wildlife, believe me! It's just that poppies are so much easier to clean than some of the other flowers and I admit to being a bit on the lazy side. G

Lime

Here is a link that might be useful: My Trade List