I am planning on attending CT and NH this year and wasn't sure you would be doing one Fran. But how can I miss it? I think I will go for a hat trick this year and try to do all three states! I'll have to do some cooking/baking since I am not sure how far my seeds and divisions will go. I have tons of seedlings but the forum is going to have to advise me what to do with all of them now that they are about 1-2" tall. I am a seed newbie!

Count me in Fran!

Fran I'll have to work till 11 am but I'll be up after that if its ok with you.

Hi Fran,

I have never attended this event before and would love to join you though I live south of Boston. I had better start some more seeds in preparation! Thanks,

Mary

I will be there, thanks for having this again. I might even have some things to share this year.

I don't have much this year, but I'm still planning on coming. Thanks for hosting again, Fran!

I'll see if the (not-so-)little(-anymore) one and I can make it this year. I actually have loads of stuff that needs a new home.

Mary, welcome and you are more than welcome to come to the swap, with or without any plants, etc.
Trust me, we will fill up your car with extras to take home.

Whitegarden, looking forward to seeing you and you can always count on me having a swap every spring. It's just so automatic now, and it's getting together with "the garden family" every year. Can't imagine not doing it.

Ontheteam, you are more than welcome, any time you come, just can't promise who will still be here when you get here. sometimes everyone seems to stay a long time other times not so long.
Hopefully the weather will be better than last year and there will be NO RAIN, but we managed quite nicely last year, even though we were soaked.

hotzenplotz, looking forward to seeing you again this year and those chocolate cookies where just "awesome" according to my chocoholic hubby who just loved them.

Started with bean, don't worry about not having that much, it's been a crazy winter and spring, still finding things that didn't make it through the winter, I'm assuming because there was no snow to protect them and being surprised with other things that did survive or reseeded in some very odd places.

I don't know what I'll have yet either, looking more and more like there will be some lily of the valley, forsythia branches to root, and do have over 300 wintersown containers out back germinating as well.

So far so good with that germination and seedlings still surviving this weird cold for the next few nights.

Leira, now you have to come with that "not so little" new addition of yours. We need to see here and get her hands a bit dirty with some plants and soil. Never to young to start her out and get her going.

Fran

Hi Fran and everyone,

I'm not sure I can make it this year but I'd like you to do me a favor please a pass on a big "Thank you" to the couple from Melrose who gave me a Bridal Veil" bush a couple of years ago. It took a while but it finally settled in and is in great health now. The gentleman was so kind to get in (shove it and which way we could!) into my car, I could never have done it myself. Hope to see them and you this year but if not hopefully, next year.

Marlene

Well, Fran, don't you worry about this not-so-little one getting her hands dirty...she is already an expert. She's got her kid-sized garden tools, and she's already been helping around the garden. She even planted the peas herself (well, OK, after I poked the holes in the ground), and yesterday she helped me to harvest chicory for dinner.

Not bad for someone who's not even 3, huh?

Hi Fran!

I would like to come again this year. I might even have some plants to bring this year.

Thanks for hosting!

Hi Fran! No yard sale for me this year so I would love to attend. I am still getting started with my gardens so will not have any plants to swap but I can certainly bring along some goodies!

Hi all - I'm just getting started reading your wonderful forum. I love working in my garden but don't know lot and am picking up some wonderful tips and advice. Thank you to you all.

Am I too new to attend this event? I love to, if it's Ok. I just live a couple of towns away. I might have some ground cover to share.

Oh! Does anyone going happen to have either partridge berry or bird's foot violet?

I have seed, but they really don't want to grow for me. :(

Marlene, we missed you last year, hopefully we will see you this year. I do remember the talk about that plant and how you did get it. Glad to hear it is doing so well for you now.

Leira, doing a good job with "the, one not so little now." Sounds like she will turn into a real little gardener and she needs her own special plant just for herself to water. Got it for you too, maybe even 2 little tiny plants for her to call her own. start her off now, save the seeds from them every year and she will have those plants for years to come. So you got to come and bring her along with you.

wispfox, looking forward to seeing you again this year, did you every have that vine you thought might be a morning glory bloom and get it identified?

s_angel0, so glad to see you posting to the thread and plan on coming to the swap this year. I had hoped to hear from you and see you at the swap. Don't worry about not having plants, we will fill you up to start off with, just bring along some goodies for us will be fine. In return, you get the plants and seedlings to take home with you.

suzieque, Welcome and no, you are not to new to attend. No one is ever too new to attend, that's how you really learn about gardening. Talking to other gardeners and hearing what has and hasn't worked for someone else is the best learning experience. Nurseries can tell you some things, but they are working from the perfect environment to grow things. Gardeners, on the other hand, are doing things from experience in a "real garden" not perfection in growing environments. We live the real thing.
Besides, you are an experienced gardeners dream come true, a novice that we can get hooked on "our love of gardening" and do it with fun, swap plants, give away seedlings and do it with good company from each other, good food and just plain relaxation and fun.
Just come on and join us, we will load up your car with all kinds of good stuff for the garden, just be prepared to do lots of digging in your gardens.

wish I could help you out, wisfox, but I don't have any of those plants.

If any has some, would love a couple of divisions of Gaillardia Arizona Sun.

Fran

Thank you! I will truly appreciate meeting you all.

Looking forward to the swap. Fran, I honestly cannot say enough good things about the seedlings you gave me last year. My containers and deck looked beautiful all summer long thanks to you. And I have to say, those cosmos you gave me went nuts! So tall, strong and beautiful, made the few I picked up from the nursery look pathetic!

Hi Fran,

Just an FYI, the Candy Lily seeds you gave me 2 years ago are now plants for sale at the benefit for the Childrens Hospital. Also, the yellow monkey flower you gave me is up for sale this year - I'm a little confused from just doing a google search - is the monkey flower a perennial in our area or a self seeding annual? Thanks, hope to be able to be there!

Marlene

Fran:

Sadly, no. That plant still goes unidentified. I treat it like a weed, though, at this point, since trying to wait for it to flower just means it covers everything nearby and chokes them out.

Marlene, that's wonderful about the candy lily seeds going to the plant sale. Have plenty more seeds for you if you want them.

The yellow monkey flower where originally from seeds I got in a trade on the seed exchange forum and where labeled "monkey flower, yellow, hybrid annual. perennial in zone 8 and above.

I've never had them even reseed for me, but then again I do heavily mulch both my beds and the soil in my pots which makes it difficult for seeds to reseed most of the time.
I just collect the seeds from the plants every year and WS them every year.

Wispfox, sounds like it might have runner roots. Wonder if you could get some of the vine dug out and grow it in a pot to see if it will bloom that way and you could get it identified that way.
The rest of it, have you tried spraying it with some roundup specific for the tough stuff to kill, like poison ivy.

I'm not a fan of using chemicals to kill unwanted "invasive plants and stuff", but used only when absolutely necessary, such as in this case with the vine and/or poison ivy, I'm all for it.

Carefully spraying the leaves with the roundup will have the leaves absorb it in and bring it down to the roots and hopefully kill it.

Another thing you can use is diluted bleach on the leaves. I've done that with very small amounts of poison ivy, but it took a long time, sometimes several years to fully get it gone.

Susieque, looking forward to meeting you

s_angel0 glad the plants did well for you, still not sure what I will have for the swap, seedlings still small but with some warmth now are growing.

Fran

The monkey flowers are long gone! People loved the name and had to try them! Michelle planted some tomato plants with a catchy name too that are selling well - something "of the world". The candy lilies are selling very well also, yes, I'd love more seeds for next year.

If anyone has any kind of phlox, I'll be bringing some seeds to trade at a minimum. We've had a couple of requests for phlox and had none so far this year.

Thanks!
Marlene

time is soon approaching. I'll be starting a new thread this week so we can start to firm up things for the swap; things like what everyone is bring in plants etc. as well as food.

In the mean time, I will have quite a few different plants and seedlings to list.

Keep posting here for now till I start the new thread and I will link this one to the new thread.

looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting those of you that are new.

Fran

here's the link for the new thread. please post on the new thread now. Sorry I forgot to add "FINAL DETAILS to the subject line.

Fran

Here is a link that might be useful: new thread for final details and planning

OK, lets try that again with a new link and corrected subject line.

Please post on the new thread linked below.

Fran

Here is a link that might be useful: 7th Annual Billerica Spring Plant Swap, final details