I don't know about your local area sales, but there's a plant swap in that area in April. Here is a link that might be useful: Raleigh Swap

Hi All. Sorry I've been away for awhile. -Family passings & such. Winter has effectively devastated my garden, so, being the optimist that I am, I went to the NW Flower/Garden show twice this past week to get my motivation up. I work March 7th, so wont be able to attend the Green Elephant. HOWEVER, I do have a few things that I would like to put out as offerings to people for trades, if interested, and we can swap on a day other than 3/7. Wanteds: I'm still going for tropicaleze theme, with focus on glaucous leaf & black leaf items, or chartreuse. or verigated., flowers that pop in my yard are white, or green. Bananas (would take pups) Brugsmansias (Lost all my biggies), Calla lilies, Cannas, Colocasias, iris, daylilies, black or gold raspberry canes, huckleberries, ferns. Unfortunately, all of my verigated iris has been lost. I gave alot of it out a couple of years ago. If it has done well for anyone who would like to complete the circle with it and schlepp some back to me, I'd appreciate it. I have to trade: bamboos: gold, or thin purple culm that I forgot what it's variety is. Phlox; White (David) Daylilies (varied) passion flower (purple crown, (white constance elliot) siberian iris, (schwann), (?white butterflies?) Maybe able to divide some hostas this year. red rose, (?Parkland series?) still potted& growing well, & maybe some other random stuff.

Please copy this and print it to share with gardening friends or paste it on your Facebook page -- and bring a dish, a chair, and some plants and come to Gadsden Saturday. *************** To the gardeners of Alabama: If you’ve never been to a plant swap, you’re in for a real treat. The Etowah County Master Gardeners invite you to exchange plants and other garden items, along with ideas, information, and fun conversation with people who share your love of gardening. You’ll find favorite pass-along-plants that you won’t see in local nurseries - things that have flourished in the heat and humidity and clay soils of Alabama gardens just like yours. Bring a dish to share for a covered dish lunch and visit after the swap. Bring a friend, some plants, and a chair and join us: Date: Saturday, May 14 Time: 10:00 a.m. – Gates open by 9:30 a.m. Place: ECMGA Greenhouses, 3200 West Meighan Boulevard (behind the Etowah County Bd of Education), Gadsden, AL The best part: it’s free and no money changes hands [unless you want to buy marked-down plants left from the recent MG plant sale]. Here’s how it works: Load your car up with plants or other garden-related items to swap: plants (potted and clearly labeled!) seeds, bulbs home grown fruits or vegetables cuttings suitable for rooting pots garden ornaments, decorative rocks gardening books, magazines potting soil, soil amendments When you get to the Master Gardeners’ property, pull through the gate, find a place to park inside the fence, and get a name tag from the table near the building. Arrange the things you have brought on the ground by your vehicle. It’s a good idea to write your name on a sheet of paper and tape it where everyone can see who to look for if they spot something you have that they want to swap for. That’s when the fun begins. Check out things other people have brought. If you find something you like, ask the person who brought it what they’d like that you brought and arrange to swap. Feel free to ask for information about a plant: How big will it get? Sun or shade? What color are the flowers? Gardeners love to tell you all about their plants. As you gather your new goodies, be sure to put them in your vehicle or another place where people will know they are not available to swap. Then, when the swapping is done, we’ll enjoy a good old-fashioned covered dish lunch! At least one MG is bringing a tray of subs and I’ll bring a big salad. See you Saturday!

To follow up on our discussion of Helleborus foetidus with Karen and Judy at timestamps April 1-2. Our concern was to what degree the problems with dividing it extend to transplanting as a reflection of possible sensitivity to root disturbance. We are pleased to report that the extracted single plant that we obtained from Judy has done very well. It was first kept in a pot in deep shade the whole summer and watered well, even putting on some growth: It was planted out in the first week of November slightly raised with an extra layer of soil added around it (because of root competition in that bed). It is blooming right now: A couple of additional backup plants, obtained in that same batch but kept together in one pot, didn't make it through the summer, indicating that they are still quite sensitive to growth conditions, similar to the earlier batches that were planted out immediately in spring and died. In addition our plan B, to scatter in a number of locations the seeds obtained from Karen plus collected from local sites, turned out fully successful: we got germination of multiple seedlings at each location. So we may finally get some H. foetidus growing.