Whew, I had an absolutely great time! Ricky and Karen, you're both absolutely incredible and the Swap A Que is the highlight of the spring and the fall! Thank you sincerely for your never ending generousity!

Ricky, I came home and looked at everything with a new eye. I've always heard start with the 'big stuff' or the bones but until your presentation today, I really didn't understand. You made it perfectly clear and alot less intimidating to start moving out from the house and getting away from straight lines. Tomorrow the 2 ylang ylangs I have are going into establish the corners of my outdoor living room and I'm getting the roundup out to start some curves.

To everyone who was there, it was a pleasure seeing you all and talking plants with you and Thank YOU all for so many great new plants!

To those who couldn't make it, we missed you! See you next time!

Yes, thanks Ricky and Karen. You are jovial hosts extraordinaire!

Ricky, loved your landscaping talk. Sadly it's too late for me. Nevertheless, Newbies, save yourselves! Listen to his words of wisdom.

How did I end up with so many plants to take home? I also got food, fruit and fish. How's that for a trifecta?

Everstar, when you get home, fill your sink and drown the bromeliad. It needs the water and the ants (sorry)are in the "cup"
Or if it's too much trouble, just toss it. When we meet up at another swap, I will have more indoor plants for you.
(But prob not as nice as Helen's begonias.)

Girlsaylor, my daughter was tickled with the peacock feathers....literally.

I would like to thank the usual suspects for all the fun, conversation and beautiful plants. I love you guys.
Hugs
Kristi

Yes, thank you Ricky and Karen for a wonderful day! It was so nice seeing everyone again and meeting new gardening friends.

Yes, I had an absolutely GREAT time......
Came home with some plants that I wanted for a while now.

I just woke up from a 10 minute power nap in my lazygirl recliner ! LOL

It was great to see everybody :)
D`Ann

Did we already have the swap? Wow, the day went so fast, I think I missed it!

Great seeing everyone, thanks for the plants, most of which are already in the ground. I've carried the Siam Banana around the garden three times now, looking for a home for it. Something is going to have to move.

For those who left early and missed the educational session and for those absent today from school here's a link to the handout.

I'm going to crash for a while, but once again, thanks to everyone who comes and makes our Swap-A-Que such a special time. See you all in October!

Ricky and Karen the swap was fabulous as always. I will be posting the recipe for the Oreos on the other page later tonight.

It was so great to see everyone again. Mom and Hubby had a great time. Mom wishes she lived down here now. :-)

I have so many plants I don't know what to do with them all. I will be reading your handout Ricky before I plant anything :-)

Thank you Ricky and Karen, your food was fabulous, it is always such a treat to walk through your gardens. Thanks for the bromeliads. DH is now officially a 'swapper', he gave away one of my plants and got one from Ricky ;-)

Meeting you all was worth the trip for me, thanks to all for the great plants.

Evelyn

Ricky and Karen-
You are the best! Many thanks for the superb swap. And the pulled pork was to die for. So many good cooks, and wonderful conversation made this one of the high points of my days in south Florida to date. I enjoyed the talk, Ricky, and the walk through the garden.

To all my new friends, thank you for making me feel so welcome. I'm going to have alot of fun babying and placing my new plants.

I'll be taking photos and posting links for plant IDs soon, and also for those who might like starts of things currently growing here.

Randy

Randy, watch out!!! That pulled pork and Ricky's special sauce is totally addicting. Don't say I didn't warn you if you start craving it and circling around Ricky's complex hoping to run into him again so you can get some more.

I swear I looked here first and did not see the post and started another one on the Exchanges page.

Thanks you for once again hosting a wonderful swap. Everything was excellent as usual. Lots of nice people and lots of nice plants! I enjoyed Ricky's educatinal session, and sad to say, I am a collector but will take his tips to heart. Thanks to both of you for all the hard work!
Cherie

Ricky I just finished reading through your handout...it was very very informative....I never thought about gardening like that. I always just think of plants that I need :-) and worry about design never....but after seeing your house and the houses of other gardenwebbers I think next time I will plan first and plant later. Just the thought of that makes me sad :-)

Thank you so much for having me! Ricky, your garden is absolutely jaw-dropping. I lined all my new plants up on the patio in what I hope is a harmonious arrangement, but I'm afraid it's still very collection-y. Oh well!

Kristi: drowning will commence once I get the dishes out of the sink! :) I figure I'll give it a chance and if it doesn't work out... well... honorable burial is always an option.

Thanks Ricky for the link. For those of us that weren't able to make it to your swap I'm sure I can say thank you from all of us.
Getting ready to print it out now,
Sue.

I forgot to mention what a treat it was to finally get to meet you, Randy, after all these years. And I wanted to thank you for the heliconia and the peacock feathers. I put them in my arrangement last night and was admiring them this morning. :o) Wish we had a little more time to talk but I had set up so many trades I had to take care of.
Thank you again.

Thank you Ricky and Karen!
Like someone said, your swaps are highlights of the seasons.
It was great to see everybody.
And thanks for all the plants sharing.
I would like to host a garden play date sometimes in the fall, we will work out the dates with Ricky.
It was great to meet the newbies.
See you all soon.
Veronika

Veronika - We're going to have the fall swap-a-que on Sunday, October 26th. The following Sunday we'll be in Jamaica.

Cindee,
Can you believe this? Not a single picture for us to look at
since we were unable to go to that wonderful event known as Ricky's Swap-a-que. Come on guys,please!
Felix

Like always we had such a fun time :)
It was great to see everyone again!

Felix - It was about 3 minutes after the last person left that I turned to Karen and said, "I don't remember anyone taking pictures!" I guess that's what happens when everyone is having a good time. :o)

Or too busy to learn how to use that new D*M
camera LOL !

D`Ann

Sorry guys, I did bring a camera and tried to take a picture of Ricky as he started the presentation...and my batteries were dead. So much for my new rechargeables (yes they were pre-charged for 24 hours!) and trying to save the earth!

Thank you Ricky and Karen for your hospitality. Also thank you Ricky for taking the time to walk us through your gorgeous garden when we got there late. Really nice to have been able to put faces to names.

I couldn't believe all the plants people brought!

To those of you that took some of my baby ant plants home they are Hydnophytum moseleyanum (thought they were Hydnophytum formicarium).

It really was a wonderful day everyone.
I loved seeing all of you.
Thanks for having us over, Ricky and Karen.
And for going through all you did to have such a great get together.
Ricky, thanks for putting together your presentation on the Tyranny of Plants. Nice download too for anyone who couldn't be there.
I noticed too, that there were no cameras present. Guess we were having too much fun talking, laughing, eating, and just enjoying the gorgeous day!

Ditto to the above! Ricky the palms are from me~ nice to finally find something you can use! Thanks for the great info~my friend, Donna, is starting with a clean slate so was thrilled to get the info. Karen~as usual you are the sweetest hostess! I am amazed how smoothly you keep things going and make it look so effortless!
Now how did so many plants get in my car? LOL! I really only planned on bringing a few home!Thanks to everyone!
Kat

Thanks so much. It was wonderful to see old friends (did I say old, no I meant, previous met friends) and the new friends. I enjoyed the educational talk so much. Thanks Ricky and Karen. The food was great, thanks for sharing your lovely home and garden and hospitality. Ricky, just curious has your garden been on a garden tour? An official one I mean?
Nancy

No, Nancy, not that I'd mind having in on one, but I think they avoid gated communities.

Ricky, some of the Mounts ones this year are in gated communities. I think this years was the same date as your Swap A Que so that was the end of that. But if you're was on it next year, I would definitely go!!! You would probably have the most popular house on the tour!

How do you get on it?

Thank you so much Ricky and Karen for another wonderful swap. I had a great time, like always. I enjoyed your presentation and I learned a lot from it. I came home and saw my garden with new eyes and ideas and I am inspired to make it better.

It was so nice to see everybody and thank you so much to anybody that gave me plants.

Love,
Carmen