In the past I have arranged a few unusual seed Round Robins, but because of the rising postage costs this has become not as attractive as it once was. It was also not ever worth it for newbies with only one or two sorts of unusual seeds. So, this year I think I'm going to organize an unusual seed exchange. I will not officially get it off the ground until September, but I am giving some advance notice so that interested people can set aside some of their unusual seeds. Costs should be about $2-4 for postage (depending on how many seeds you send), about 50 cents for a padded envelope and whatever seeds you want to send. There is no official definition for what is and what isn't unusual - you will have to use your judgment. Unusual seeds are seeds that are off the beaten track - ones you don't find in the Vesey's catalogue (for the most part). Seeds for houseplants or other tropical plants are unusual. Seeds for native plants are unusual. They can be seeds for plants that are commonly seen, but not commonly seen sold as seed - Peonies, Hostas and Daylilies, for example (they can provide some surprise beauties amongst their offspring). If you can buy it at a Canadian Tire Garden Centre, it's probably not unusual (unless you have a really good Canadian Tire!). White Cosmos or white Echinacea are not unusual. Wave petunias and Teddy Bear sunflowers are not unusual. I will be contributing some Eucomis, Actaea (Cimmicifuga) racemosa and Astilboides tabularis seeds (provided they continue to ripen without disaster :-)), some Hosta and Calla seeds, and who knows what else my garden will produce! This will be a blind exchange - you will not know what you are getting back because I won't know what seeds everyone contributes until I get them all in. You can make suggestions as to things you would like or dislike and I will honor them where possible. I will allow participants to send in several packets of the same seed - if you send in five packets of Primula japonica seeds, you should get back five packets of five different things. If you have never done this sort of thing before, the way a seed exchange works is that you send me a bunch of your seeds in a padded envelope, along with about $2 in postage, and I swap your seeds with those sent in by other people and send them back to you in your envelope, using the postage that you sent. If you're interested, ask questions here. This is not the sign up thread - I will post that in about a months time (the deadline for participating will be the end of November - I want everyone interested to be able to collect all the seeds they're expecting). BP

Sorry I have been out of touch - I have been crazy busy! Anyhow, over the next couple of days, I will be contacting everyone that posted in this thread and that emailed me to let them know that I will be getting this exchange underway in the next couple of days. I'll also post the 'official' exchange thread with the insructions on Monday. BP

Thank you Nicky for all of your time spent and the herendous amount of organizing it must take to separate all of the seeds. My hat is off to you. I also want to thank everyone for their contribution of seeds which make the possibilities of some truly specials additions to our garden this coming year. Please everyone have a Very Merry Christmas and celebrate with family, friends and loved ones. All the best in the New Year. Keep growing. Rick

Wow, i was so exciting Sunday when I got home and was able to go thru all the wonderful seeds I received in the swap that apparently I posted my THANKS to Lisa in the wrong swap thread! geez! SO sorry about that. My post/thanks below -- Wow, Lisa! I am overwhelmed! I got home today and the first thing I did was go for my package of seeds from the swap. I am astounded by the variety and the ABUNDANCE of seeds. I have traded with others, but this is my first offical swap, and I was happy just to get a trade for the packets of seeds I sent, and maybe a few other seeds, some things that I didnt have/new things to try. I go more seeds via bonuses/extra seeds that you and others were so kind to share, and some I have really wanted to try, and others I'm not sure what they are yet (gotta goggle them) I want to thank you for all your hard work and all the goodies! Now I have to think about what I'm going to WS SOON! This was a terrific swap! I enjoyed meeting/talking to other participants and COUNT ME in for the next one. GREAT JOB, Lisa!!!