I'm interested in attending, however I'm new to gardening so I'm not sure I'll have much to swap. I'll ask my mom if I can raid her garden.

Thanks for hosting this.

I hope to be able to come, but like quidort I may not have much to offer. I have a new house (near Elmira) with some established plantings, but I don't yet know what's in most of the beds.

That's okay, everyone is still welcome to come over, even if you don't think you have much to share. I'm really looking forward to doing this swap, and I hope a few more people will join us. I have a couple local gardening friends who will probably be here as well.

Laurel

Laurel, while we're here, can you share some thoughts about which plants are likely to grow well in this region? I'm from northern Ohio, and while the climate is similar (in terms of maximum and minimum temperatures, amount of snowfall, last frost date, etc.), it appeared to me last fall that the plants with which gardeners were most successful were somewhat different from those that I would have expected.

Because my garden contains various perennials that I haven't completely identified or located yet, I'm most interested in annuals that can be grown from seed - I want to have transplants ready to slot in wherever there are gaps.

Hi okmoreh,

It's a small world - I grew up in Solon, Ohio. Where were you? You're right, there's some overlap in plants, but some differences in what thrives between here and there. The biggest difference seems (to me) to be in the amount of snowcover each winter. I think northeast Ohio and mid-Pennsylvania are more similar. Eastern Upstate NY semms more Catskills in climate to me, drier and with less consistent snow cover and lower extreme temps than northeast Ohio - no great lake to moderate things.

I winter sow various annuals. I've had good success with many: alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, lobelia, marigolds, and cosmos are favorites. Violas and pansies are good, too. I buy salvia ('Victoria'), coleus, and white heliotrope from a local nursery each year. Quite a few perennial herbs do well for me, like lavender, sage, chives, and lemon balm (DON'T plant this where you're concerned about it spreading; it's a thug, but it makes a glorious shrubby mass). Annual herbs like rosemary are really nice accents. Variegated lemon thyme is a great container plant, and scented geraniums (pelargoniums) are always a treat.

I hope this helps you a little!

Laurel

Lorain County, west of Cleveland. It appears to me that there's also a significant difference in the composition of the soil - that area is low-lying and damp, with rather mucky soil that is highly fertile but difficult to work. My neighborhood here is on a slope and has good drainage, but I don't know about the fertility.

Elmira, by the way, has only about half as much snow as Binghamton in an average year.

I'm growing some cosmos (bipinnatus), a flower I have rarely grown before but which seems to do phenomenally well here. Deer (and rabbits and just about any other animal you can name) are a big concern. The perennial plantings (previous owners'; they lived here for 56 years) are strong on echinacea, which I gather deer don't like.

LOL, deer are a constant source of aggravation to my parents in Painted Post (I'll have to try some echinacea at their place and see what happens; I'm growing foxgloves for them now), but down here in town my worst nemeses are woodchucks. I thought they had been removed from our neighborhood (a couple neighbors use havaheart traps), because I hadn't seen any yet this year. But today I SAW ONE, and I'm NOT HAPPY. If I see it in my yard, I'll ask my neighbor if he'd set a trap on its "run." Phooey, I'd been hoping for a 'chuck free year. . . . You might try irises (siberian and bearded), peonies, and daffodils - the deer don't bother those at all. I've been told they don't like aromatic/fuzzy foliage either, like lavender, nepeta, lamb's ears and sage (russian and culinary). I'm going to try some of those in my parents' yard too.

Our soil in Solon was VERY clay-ey, I remember. Sticky, ultra-thick, and fertile as all get out. Our soil here is sandy loam - nice sharp drainage, reasonably fertile, moderately acid. I've been adding mulch and compost to the flower beds since we moved in.

Have a great weekend!

Laurel

Hi everyone,

After a rough May, I'm finally healthy again, and ready to plan for the plant swap. I'm still planning on June 21, rain or shine, same guidelines that I posted earlier. Now I need a rough count of how many people are planning on attending. I have 2-3 local friends who should be here, with room for MANY more guests, hint, hint. Please let me know if you're coming by June 18th, so I can plan for food etc. Email me for directions. I'm looking forward to a great day, and hoping for good weather.

Laurel

Hey Laurel
Planning on being there, Sorry to hear your health has been poorly. I've been potting up a few plants. Going to bring you some monarda if you don't already have some. You mentioned how you were trying to attract hummingbirds in another thread and monarda is almost guaranteed to attract hummingbirds.
Any one wanting forsythia? let me know-I have some small bushy rooted cuttings.

I'm planning to come.

~Debbie

I'll be there - have emailed for directions from Elmira.

Thanks, everyone! It looks like we'll be a smallish group, but more are welcome to drop by - just contact me for directions. I hope we have nice weather, but if it rains we can set up our exchange under the car port. I'll continue hoping for a beautiful day!

Laurel

Hi Laurel,
my schedule cleared up and I can come. I will need directions. I'm having fun poking around the garden for things to bring. - kim

Just a note to thank Laurel for organizing and hosting the swap, and everyone who brought food and plants.

I got home just as the lightning and thunder were beginning, which is why I'm not outside planting instead of indoors messing with the computer.

Hi everyone
What a great day for a swap. We really lucked out with the nice weather. Thanks for all the trades. I'll be trying some new things. Thanks Laurel for the fern leaf bleeding heart and the food. You may want to put the hosta and forsythia in some water until you get them planted just to keep them from wilting- they should be okay in water for a day.
For those of you who are trying to remember what those things were in the styrofoam or paper cups- they were lobelia cardinalis-red, spikey, humming bird like them, they prefer a moister rather than drier area.
Thanks for the plants everyone. Hope you enjoy the trades. Did some geocaching on the way home.

Thanks Laurel for hosting the swap. And thanks to everyone for more goodies for my garden and the yummy food. It's nice to put faces with everyone's garden id.

Thank you, everyone, for coming to the swap! It was a lot of fun to see friends and share plants. The weather was even nice - I wasn't so sure it would be when the storms rumbled through the night before! I had a great time, and I hope everyone else did as well. I've got some fantastic new plants to enjoy (and my daughter does too - thanks for sharing generously with her, you made her day).

Laurel

Laurel, Thank you for hosting the swap. Katie and I had a great time and came home with great plants. I too liked putting a face to a name. dkotchey, where was the geocache ?- I did have my GPS w/ me. Katie and I planned to explore Buttermilk falls on the way back but I missed the turn so I continued on to Cooperstown and we visited a winery, a great antique store with lots of garden art, then took in the opening ceremony at Cooperstown Dreams Park (one of my clients) complete with skydivers. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Does Binghamton, NY really consider itself Central New York? I've always called it the Southern Tier. To me Central NY is the Syracuse area.

Hi Chris1tropical,

Hmm, I've always thought of us as Central New York and Southern Tier interchangeably. I hope I didn't keep people away from this swap or offend anyone in the process. It seems like no one outside of NY/northern PA knows what the Southern tier IS when I mention it, but Binghamton is pretty close to the central portion of the state. Maybe next year I'll call it the "Southern Tier" plant swap, to avoid confusion.

Laurel