For those participating in the hosta secret swap: Cut off is May 22nd-I must have your info (email-address-first and last name) by that time to be involved. You will be recieving the name of your intended receiver by May 24th; this gives you a week to collect, dig, or purchase what you are going to send. June 1st is the cut off to send your package out. A reminder for those of you involved: it's helpful if you update your exchange page so your sender knows what you already have and also what you want to receive. It has also been asked for everyone involved to have your trade info alphabetized for easier viewing. Here we go.... 1. The hosta secret swap is for at least ONE NAMED hosta. You are allowed to send more if you want but it/they must be Healthy, disease free, named variety of hosta, at least one eye with good rooting system. Please only send a hosta/s that you would be happy to receive. 2. Packages must be mailed out by June 1st. If there are any problems that arise about your package getting to the receiver on time please email me so that I can contact your secret trader. 3. All secret trades are to be mailed out by Canada Post, Fedex or UPS with a delivery confirmation #. Once your package is mailed, please email me with your package # or tracking # as this is used to track the package should a problem occur while hosta/s are in transit. 4. With the weather warming up now, please follow proper packaging of hostas --wet paper towels or wet newspaper around stems and roots then placed in baggy or freezer bag or similar plastic- be careful when using elastic bands to keep in place (but not too tight) around hostas. Label hosta/s on outside of baggy with proper name before enclosing in appropriate sized box when sending the plant/s(as to not harm the contents.) 5.Emails will be sent to everyone involved by May 24th with your intended recipient. Plants to be sent out by June 1st. On a final note; this should be a lot of fun and we can avoid disappointment by making sure that all involved and sign up are committed to follow through and mail their packages out on time. Cut off for joining is May 22nd. Now let's swap. Any questions or concerns, please email me privately. Kim(hostalover-2008)

If I count myself, we're up to 5 participants, so we'll proceed, provided EVERYONE has a WANTED list up on their Trade List, and it is best to have a list of what you already have in your garden. Each participant should send me an e-mail with their GW screen name, full name and shipping address, by Friday June 26th. Please use the e-mail link on My Page above, you have to be logged-in to be able to use it. I will leave this invitation open for inclusion of more participants until Friday June 25th. You will be sent the name of your recipient by Sunday morning June 27th latest. Here are the basic rules of the game: 1. While most swap rules say you should send a minimum of least one plant to your designated recipient, I believe you get as good as you give and I encourage people to send at least 3, possibly 5 or more even. It makes it more worthwhile for the shipping costs involved, particularly when shipping out of province. 2. If possible make your gift plants ones that are on the recipient's wanted list, or failing that, send them plants they do not already have - this is where it becomes important to have a list up of what you already have in the garden. 3. Make sure you know how to identify HVX and foliar nematode damage. If you do NOT know, kindly refrain from participating as you do not want to be the one who sent diseased plants to an unsuspecting recipient. It is best to send divisions from plants you've had in your yard at least 3 years or more in order to minimize the possibility of shipping plants with a dirty payload. 4. Your divisions should be at least one healthy shoot, or 'eye' if you prefer, with a good number of roots. Rinse all the soil off the roots and wrap them in soaking wet paper towels, tuck in a name tag and roll into plastic wrap and tie off with an elastic band. Take a look at this page on my website if you have never done this before. Water will leak out of this bundle and you should wrap the entire bundle of Hostas in something like a plastic bread bag before you put it into a shipping container. This to make sure the seeping water doesn't soak into the cardboard and renders the box next to useless. Try and keep the box as compact as possible since you pay not just for weight and distance but also cubic volume. 5. Shipping to be done Canada Post 3 day Xpres Post and e-mail me the confirmation number when you have sent it. It is customary to acknowledge receipt of your gift Hostas as part of this thread. Pieter

If you are interested in participating in this hosta secret swap you must sign up by Friday, August 29/08. You must email me with your info by midnight of that day to be eligable. You will be receiving the name of the person you will be sending to by Monday, September 1/08. This should give you plenty of time to dig, divide or shop. Most hostas should be done flowering by that time. **Note-If it's too hot we will back the date up by a week. I'll keep everyone posted on this at the time. As a reminder; it's helpful if you have your exchange page updated so that your sender knows what you have and what you'd like to receive. Okay, here we go.. 1. The hosta secret swap is for at least ONE NAMED HOSTA. You can send more than one if you'd like but it/they must be at healthy, disease free, named variety of hosta with at least one eye with good rooting.*Please only send a hosta that you'd be happy to receive. 2. Packaged must be mailed out by September 8/08. If there are any problems that arise about your package getting to your receiver on time please email me so that I can contact your secret sender. 3. All secret trades are to be mailed by Canada Post,Fedex or UPS with a delivery confirmation number. Once your package has been mailed please email me with your package number or tracking number. This will be used to tack the package if there is a problem with the delivery. 4.**Very important** You must officially sign up to be part of this. Please email me with "Garden Web Secret Swap" in the subject line with this information: Your first and last name. Your mailing address. Your user name on Garden Web. I will email you with confirmation that you are in as a participant of this secret swap. On a final note; this should be a lot of fun and can avoid disappointment by making sure that all involved that signed up are committed to follow through and mail their packages on time. Now, let's swap! Kim (hostalover-2008)

The 2011 'Summer Secret Hosta Swap' is Now Closed to New Participants.color>size>