Hey Ya'll, I don't think I'm going to get to come to the plant swap in the morning :( I think I must have some kind of stomach virus and don't want to share that while we share our plants! You all might not like me if you took home my bug with your flowers! I have stuff in pots that I did earlier and kept hoping that I'd feel better today to get other stuff gathered up--but I wasn't able to get out to the yard. I can let you all know if you want to get together again later. Maybe we could have a garden party at my house and I could share my goodies then. Momof2, thanks for saving peonies for me. If you would continue to hold them, I'd love to pick them up from you later. If there are flowers left to share at the swap, I'd love for you to gather a few in a box for me to pick up when I get the peonies. I was so looking forward to meeting fellow gardeners and making some new friends. Oh well, another time! Ya'll take care and I hope to meet you soon. You sound like a fun bunch. Terry

I will get my kids to draw names includeing mine. LOL I figure you can include your own artwork, plants, Bulbs, seeds, Birdhouses, non living critters great garden Books. LOL Is the deadline good or am I pushing for to soon? I figure fun before you have to get overwhelmed with all the family stuff. COME ON and you can include your name more than once if you want 2 partners, But make sure you can fill both boxes. Shipping gets higher all the time so we all want to make sure that it is worth it. If No one is up for this than maybe later. Happy Gardening Oh Ya include your favorite seed companies name in the box. A new seed source would be Fun for all of us to.

The idea of the swap sounds good although I work many weekends and don't really know my schedule until a week or two (if I'm lucky) ahead of time so I could not yet commit to any day. I'm assuming that a "swap" is not necessarily a one-for-one swap and therefore those without items for swap wouldn't necessarily be turned away. Although they may need to start at the back of the line, so to speak. If I bring plants for swap, I don't really want to bring them back home so I'd be happy to leave them with someone whether they gave me one or not. Like others have said, I'm not sure what others would like but when I have visitors to my yard I tend to pull a number of different plants up on the spot and either throw them in a little dirt or wrap roots in a wet paper towel so I'm sure I could come up with something. I'm typically pulling up small plants or finding seeds of Chinese Hat (red) Belize Sage (salvia miniata) Firecracker flower (russelia equisitiformis) red or pale yellow Coral bush also called firecracker flower or bush (russelia sarmentosa) Salvia coccinea plants or seeds (red or pink) Beautyberry Coral Bean plants or seeds (Erythrina herbacea) various shrimp plants Orange justicia Dwarf powderpuff (seeds or plants) Black and blue salvia (S guarantica) Red Cannas (Canna indica) seeds or plants Heliconia (red with yellow flower) Indian curry trees a couple of different impatins A few different bromeiads - nothing rare - matchstick, a couple of long thin dangling varieties Probably a few more that I'm not thinking of. I did see a key lime coming up from seed. I believe they are true to seed. If so, it's from a very prolific tree. I don't have a big wish list other than hummingbird or butterfly plants. I've picked up a few new ones in the past couple of weeks going to the USF sale and then visiting a nursery in Wimauma yesterday that we met at USF. I did see a yellow and an orange cestrum that I once had that I'd like to have again. Although I have plenty of varieties of salvia and cupheas, there are many that are not typically sold in Florida that I'm looking for. I only have the one variety of heliconia - a plant that is only pollinated by hummingbirds. We are considering a composite flower garden for the butterflies. Since most of our flowers are tubular for the hummingbirds, we will be looking for composite flowers. If anyone is interseted in anything in particular, let me know. You're welcome to e-mail me to put in an request. Steve

THE LAST LEAF by FOTESS A woman walks through a forest of tall trees. A cool breeze is blowing as the summer comes to a close. The trees begin to shiver as a squirrel scurries through on a hunt for the bountiful harvest from the nut trees. A single leaf falls. The woman raises her eyes skyward, to learn the source of the falling leaf, the largest she has ever seen. She is delighted to discover it is from a rare and beautiful native, the Bigleaf Magnolia. Suddenly, something else catches her eye. As she paused, looking up at the tree, Lucille realized that it was much colder than it had been when she parked the truck at the trailhead. Looking west she could see thick grey clouds flying ahead of the wind. "I better head back and check on the animals," The woman said to herself. As she turned and headed back down the trail, an Elvish figure stepped away from the tree, smiled, and nodded his head. For several seconds, she screamed in awesome fear. Then a quiet, comforting peace consumed her in to a devoted trance. She could not speak. She could not move. Lucille’s paralyzed body fell to the soft earth. The short, rather ugly, non-human like being approached her. He stooped down on to his knees, ever so close to her now frail body. She saw his ears were not ears but luscious golden veined, red leaves. She smiled. His distorted fingers caringly closed her eyes and then he took her hands in to his. Butterflies in a myriad of colors flutter past Lucille's frail body. Enchanting objects flying around like little pixies. Lucille gently reopens her eyes to a magical forest. Dancing pink magical mushrooms wander this forest in very operatic voices. Where am I, she cries?? A faint cackle taunts her in the distance. She frantically looks down and remembers nothing but that mysterious single leaf. Lucille looks around to the new magical world she has found herself in.There are flowers of all different colors,fairies flying to and fro and all of a sudden she realizes she is a fairy,with wings and all of the mixed hues of a leaf colors in autumn!!! But she wants to go home to her animals and has a feeling that mysterious leaf is her only link to finding her way home.but how can she find the leaf? The leaves she sees here are the beautiful colors of autumn.The mysterious leaf was green!! Lucille slumped down in a slough of despair. "Oh, what to do, what to do," she cried. "Not a fairy! I don't even know how to fly - nor do I want to learn! I want to go home!" She stood up and looked around at the colorful landscape and all the fluttering, singing beings. "This is all very pretty, albeit a bit garish. But pretty as it is, it is still just a bit creepy. These pink mushrooms are really getting on my nerves." She wandered a few paces down the path. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what appeared to be a moving forest! As it came closer, she saw it was a whole group of the little Elvish figures, chanting " Where is the Last Leaf?" over and over. In addition to ears that looked like leaves, their bodies looked barky, with knot holes, and their arms were very twiggy. "Gee," thought Lucille, "if I find the Last Leaf for them, maybe they'll tell me how to get out of here!" As the chanting of the Elvish figures grew louder Lucille trembled. What to do, stay and talk to them or run and hide. Although she wanted to hide she deceided to stay as they might know how she can find her way home. Soon they circled around Lucille chanting "where is the last leaf." Lucille asked," can you please help me find my way home." "No," said the biggest and angriest creature, we want the last leaf. "Why are you looking for the last leaf ," asked Lucille. The smallest one stepped forward and said," Our mother, Mrs. Maganolia said we cannot sleep until the last leaf falls and we are getting very tired as we have been swaying in the wind since last spring. Just then the large angry creature said, "I bet she is hiding the last leaf, lets go get her." Lucille tries to turn away as the largest creature approaches, but finds it difficult to move. Pain knifes through her skull as the fading light penetrates the twin slits of her eyelids and her vision is clouded in gouts of red fog. She puts her hand to her head and it comes away sticky. As she strives for lucidity, warm breath bathes her cheek and she hears snuffling. A gray horse is standing above her just on the other side of a fence she had not noticed earlier. Fully awake now, Lucille realizes that she is lying on the ground and begins to assess the damage. On her forehead a large bloody lump throbs with every heartbeat, but nothing seems broken. Near her foot a twisted root tells the story of her fall even if she can't recall the accident. Struggling to get up, she remembers the menacing creatures from her unconscious fantasy and chides herself for her vivid imagination. Brushing away twigs and leaves clinging to her clothes, she makes her way back to the truck, again passing the Bigleaf Magnolia. It is bare. "Was there one large leaf there before, one that fell?", she asks herself as she climbs into the driver's seat. Her eyes scan the forest's edge as she tries to reconcile her memory of trees just beginning their transition from summer to fall with the reality of the nearly leafless spectacle before her. Everything about her adventure is becoming a little hazy as she tries to piece together the afternoon's events. On the drive home she decides to feed the animals quickly and drive to the ER to be checked for concussion. When she slides gingerly out of the truck so as not to reawaken the pain in her head, she does not notice the debris that falls from her hair. Green, perfect, vibrant and pulsing with life, it is the last leaf. the end