Charlotte Fall Plant Swap, 2015 Sunday, November 1, 3pm Marion Diehl Park 2219 Tyvola Road, Charlotte, NC 28210 There is only one shelter at this park. The park is connected to Queens University Sports Complex, and you can turn into the park at the Queen's entrance, or the Marion Diehl entrance. For first time swappers - we don't care if you have weeds or high dollar orchids. If you have plants to give away and want them to go to good homes, this is the place to be. We trade anything and everything. If you don't have much, don't worry - we don't have rules about that either. Hopefully everyone will go home with more than they brought! Other gardening stuff is also welcome- pots, books, bulbs, cuttings, magazines, potting soil, tools, statues, etc. Please label your plants. Something simple like "yellow daylilies" or "cactus houseplant" or "shade ground cover". This will make it easier to know where to plant the new plants we take home. If you don't have any plants to swap, come anyway! How it works: You show up early and place your plants in with all the other plants. You find a spot away from the shelter where you can stash the plants you grab during the swap. I will welcome everyone to the swap and ring a bell. You get to grab ONE plant and take it to your stash zone. We do this two or three times before we change it to TWO plants per ring and then THREE plants and finally we have a free-for-all where the leftovers can be claimed by anyone. The Plant Swap is free. If you feel inclined, you may leave a small donation toward the renting of the shelter. Questions: elaine.dickson@gmail.com

Shannon, that sounds so good!! I wish I would have had more time to bake something, but with my son moving (he's gone now) and the wedding I just didn't do anything really nice this time around. I may try to pick up some muffins or donuts in the morning. I went out today and repotted some things and got the plants together, so I'm ready for tomorrow, except for the loading it into the truck. I have a few rooted Frosty Pink Brugs and took some more cuttings from it for anyone that wants to try their hand at it. I still have some spirea, 1 black stem EE, a bunch of Iris cristata, Althea (double blooms) just potted and just barely starting to root, a bronze fennel, a huge 4 o'clock, rhipsalis, monarda, unkwn daylily and irises, hosta, monstera, native yarrow, hardy geranium (it's pretty much gone dormant), hardy ageratum, malva mystic merlin, mini black iris ( I sowed last winter), and if we can find the time in the morning going to dig some black eyed susans and white butterfly ginger. If anyone wants some seed check my list for what I have and let me know asap. Plus I'm bringing buckets!

I wanted to thank everyone again for all the great suggestions and to give an update... I've moved a bunch of irises to a test area of the strip. They've been there a week and so far they are still standing, which is encouraging. I did not cut the foliage back as I normally do when transplanting and I think this has helped keep them from being trampled. The mint that I'd planted before is doing better too, and seems to have started to spread out a bit. The star of Bethlahem that I have in the back yard is all going to get moved to the strip soon too... its too invasive for the back yard, so I have high hopes for it in the strip. I'll be looking into the ajuga and bishop's weed as well. I'd tried thyme at one point but it died almost immediately. I must say that part of the improvement this year is probably due to the new downstairs tenents who moved in last fall. The two guys who moved into our downstairs apartment last fall both have cars now, so they normally use the spots in front the house. They seem to really respect my plants and my efforts to improve the yard and garden :-) The rebar would be tempting when I'm feeling particularly frustrated, but its the owners I'm irritated with, not the dogs. I understand that the dogs have to go somewhere; its up to the owners to aim them at the tree instead of the daffodils and to pick up the solids. My "kid" problems are probably different than most people's. Most of the "kids" aren't that much younger than me and go to Tufts University; they own the house next door and uses it as a dorm. I call to complain occasionally about loud parties on weeknights... calling to complain about the litter and trampled plants afterwards seems like overkill when the campus police at least come promptly to break up the loud parties. At least I have someone to complain to about those "kids".

Hello all, Got a few pictures to share...Yea I got it figured out. Isn't it kewl..love my garden junk..lol...DH felt sorry for me..Ya see I was working and fell and kinda of hurt a rib and my fore arm..Really really nice bruising going on..Not to worry with a few meds all is fine..as long as the meds don't wear off..LOL..Trellis is what your looking at by the way..the black rod iron..he sanded,painted and put it together for me..Have an clematis going up it ..hopefully I just love this..Hopeing to grow some tpye of vine up this too..so it looks like an umbrella..Please don't look at the mess behind it..Was a deck there..took it out last year and haven't gotten around to do anything there yet.Heve to move my close line and then move around alot of the gardens..Then just put down some slate..ya ya thats all..LOL and YES I want my close line BACK.. Sorry this isn't the best picture..first time it's bloomed for me.Only know it as an Trout lily. Yes we behind all of you..thats zone 4..LOL Can't you just smell them..Hummm..spring..=) Anita ..Hugs hun...hope all works out for you.. LOVE,just love the window.Now just have to figure out where I can put one..=) Pictures are great..love seeing everyones gardens and blooms.