Hello everyone. It was a great swap. Thanks to Leslie and any one else who helped arrange this. It was my first swap as well and i was amazed at how many plants i took home! I thought i'd come home with the same amount or less that i brought, but i filled up a whole fourth of my garage. I hope all of the plants i gave to people are doing all right, if not, just tell me and i'll bring a new one at the next swap. When is it, any ways?? I don't have ALL of the plants planted yet because i'm in the process of weeding a 20x20 ft flower garden and i don't want to plant the plant in weeds. We're also going to till up another 100 square feet of space, so i'm waiting for that. I planted all of the irises, though. ALL beautiful colors. I mowed and tilled up a patch in the side of the woods. I made a border of skinny logs and a path through the middle. In the back,(as the "foundation", or "strong point" of the garden) i planted a back row of almost black irises, and like 5 more rows of iris colors. It will look really neat when they all bloom at once. i'll just have to wait till next year to see the colors, then transplant them. Great swap. thanks to everyone and have a happy summer! Joe F.

POSTING HERE AND WILL E-MAIL ALL THAT I SENT DIRECTIONS TO ABOUT THE DATE CHANGE FOR THE SWAP NEW DATE IS: SUNDAY JUNE, 4, 2006 TIME AND LOCATION ALL IS THE SAME. Now, I've finished potting up all the seedlings, hundreds of them from WS, here is the list. rose campion lychnis angel's blush assorted dward snapdragons assorted cosmos california poppy purple gleam and white annual poppies perennial poppies morning glory 4 0'clocks assorted bachelor buttons mixed toadflax lobelia crystal palace lobelia trailing saphire lupins, blue and cherry red gazania mixed colors baslam impatiens nasturtium jewel mix sweet alyssum tall alyssum nicotiana alata probably some I missed righting down Also have 2 large sedum, unknown variety that look really beautiful to start then they flop over and the center is bare. will dig out if anyone wants them. a very small hosta I have to dig out. plenty of lily of the valley I can dig out. spreading into my flower bed I believe they are bright purple siberian iris, again spreading into my flower bed. Not sure it's the right time to dig them out, but they have been here for 26 years, planted by the prior owners. Can dig them out if anyone wants some. especially the ones in the flower bed. forsythia branches, all you want that I can cut fresh. 3 potted up pussywillow bushes that may or may not root. A friend just left with me the following and she will be here at the swap. fresh dug up chives, oregano black eyed susan bleeding heart vinca minor And a neighbor will be coming with vegetable seedlings. REMEBER THE SWAP IS NOW SUNDAY, JUNE 4TH. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. Fran

You are all quite welcome, and thank you for coming to the swap. It was quite a large crowd, larger than the past 4 years, but the more the merrier. The swap keeps growing in size every year and that is so much fun. More people, new people, new garden friends to meet and always new and more variety of plants, seedlings, divisions to share. Blake, my hubby said the same thing, gardeners are always smiling, especially at a swap. So here are some questions for all of us. Why all the smiles yesterday? 1. Because all the plants, seedlings, divisions where finding new homes because we had no place for them in our gardens? 2. Because of all the new plants and seedlings we where bringing home to replace the ones we where giving away? 3. Because we where all with a group of people just like ourselves, crazy, plant loving, gardeners and no one at the swap thought we where crazy, but rather, we where al the sane ones? 4. Because we where with a group of people with common interests and could just let ourselves be ourselves and not think twice about it? 5. Because it is all of the above? Now I'll answer first, it's because of all of the above. Can't get any better than a bunch of like minded gardeners, all together in one location with tons and tons of plants and seedlings being offered for free and adding to the garden beds, talking with people about our love of gardening and having good food and drinks and perfect weather to boot. So I'll see all of you again, around the same time of year next year. And again for what will be the 5th year in a row, I'll be praying that I will have no more back problems and not facing another spine surgery after the swap. Thank you all for coming, glad everyone had such a good time, brought home "new babies" for the beds and as always, everyone is welcome to come, with or without plants, seedlings, divisions. Just come and take home our extras and give them good homes. NOW, all that wonderful home made food; I posted a thread to collect all those recipes. Everyone was saying things like I've got to get that recipe, so folks start posting the recipes for them. Michael, wintersowing is the best. Go onto the Winter sowing forum and read the FAQ's to start with. Have a question post on the forum. We are the friendliest and most welcoming forum on GW. No question is ignored, and we will welcome you with open arms and get you addicted real quick. And you can always e-mail me any time with questions. Kathy, they will grow up perfectly in their new home, on the other end of town. I will have to come and see them. It's not like we are that far away from each other. OK, time for me to start killing my back and get my beds planted. Count down time for me, before I'm not able to garden again till the fall. You all saw what is in my fenced in yard to get in the ground. POST THOSE RECIPES FOR ALL OF US. AGNES THOSE STUFFED PHYLLO...

Thank you everyone for coming. It was an experience with the rain, wasn't it? But, yes it was preferable to me to, over the heat and humidity that we've had last year and some other years as well. So much for trusting the weather forecasters to be correct when you need them to be. But, everything turned out well, even with the heavy rain, and we did have the carport to keep going under to get out of it. It was nice meeting you Suzanne, Silvia and Dan and Susan. I'm sure you will all take good care of those new seedlings and plant divisions. Susan, I'm glad you where able to get some of the plants in the ground. It rained here until about 3:30 and after that, the bugs where just horrible. Those foxgloves should bloom for your mother next year. I did get the house plants your brought me potted up today. Oh, Michelle, her husband and daughter did come around 1:30-2pm or so and was just thrilled with all the perennial plants. containers and pots to take home for next years charity plant sale for Children's Hospital. She said to tell everyone "thank you". Now if the ground will just dry up a little bit, and the rain stop for a few days, I can get the rest of my own plants, seedlings and those I got from the swap in the ground. Oh, and the weather really wasn't any better this morning either. It poured her this morning as well. Such is the life of a gardener, and we can't control the weather. At least we all know that we can have a successful swap, with lots of fun, good company and good food, even in the rain. Hope everyone has a wonderful summer, their new plants do well for them and we will plan on another swap here next spring. Love to hear from everyone as to how the plants do this summer. Fran