Thanks to everyone at the trade today and Omar and others who sent plants. I came away like a bandit and will be very busy planting for the foreseeable future. The revamped pond is becoming well planted - all with your gifts.

Muchas, muchas gracias!

Thank you everyone for another great swap! Everything's unpacked, some planting and repotting will happen tomorrow and for the weeks to come. Here are some pictures.

Glad to see familiar faces. Dang, Patty, you look younger every year. What the heck? :D

I am also glad to hear my plants found forever homes. Thank you Karen, Ragna, Patty and Joan for my plants. Charlotte sent me a picture of them.

It seems you guys had a good time, as usual.

Omar

Sorry for my abrupt departure I traded all my stuff and came away with more than I expected as it was, which was the opposite of my intention. Eric it was nice to meet you but you gave me too much stuff. I am especially excited about the guaiacum and torchwood - and it was fun to meet dave. Thank you all for the seeds I am a better propagator than gardener so I will bring some back in the form of plants. Roselee/ Ragna i have almost ordered that plant many times so thank you very much. It will be a beautiful bonsai someday. Bluegirl thank you for the moringa I need all the health benefits I can get. Mamachile my dad has told me the story of him climbing kumquat trees and eating the fruit on an army base a 100 times so I'm growing those for him thanks. Wanton thank you too and everyone else. Ill be back.

Whew! finally made it home. I'll just say thanks to one and all for allowing us to participate... And to all a good night

Thanks everyone for a great swap! We just barely fit everything in the car to bring home. Y'all are the greatest group of swappers! Looking forward to seeing you all at the next swap.

Thanks everyone! Had a wonderful time & will be busy as well labeling & cataloging my new to me goodies. I always love the variety of plants you guys grow & have to learn to tame my "I want everything" eyes lol.

I want to commend everyone for 'helping' me carry out my goal of having less plants ... ;-) No wonder Omar stayed home! LOL

My only regret is that I didn't have more in depth conversations with all of you. There is so much more I want to know about your gardens and where you came up with all the terrific plants that you brought to the swap.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful things that you grow and share, and all that you are!

My luck is continuing. I went out to pick up trash with the neighbors along Hamilton Pool rd early this morning, and found a $100 dollar bill, so I am off to buy some dirt and get these plants in the ground. You will see me at the LBJ wildflower plants sale next week because I need more plants. LOL.

Wow!!! Glad you are putting that hundred to good use ... :-)

Well, I found tin the dirt.

Mara, hope you washed that 100 dollar first incase its dirty money. Lol, good for you Mara. Early riser gets the best dollars.
Todd, while watching the kumquat seeds germinate you can pop by the Home Depot for a five foot tall kumquat tree with fruits or flowers ready on it. Make sure you get "Meiwa" variety. It flowers all year round bringing lots of bees.
Now, if you want lots of fruits ready to munch, HEBs have them around November for $5.99 a pound. Look for rounded shape meiwa fruits, they are sweeter. Save your dad from climbing the tree.

Pipevine seed planting: I believe that someone above asked about when to plant White-Veined Dutchman's Pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata) seeds. I read that they should be planted fresh. That's what I've always done with good success. I sprinkle them around as I find them to get as many going as I can for the pipevine swallowtail caterpillars.

Lorelei, thank you again for organizing the swap and for posting the photos.

Pipevine seed planting: I had a completely different experience. I sowed fresh seeds but they didn't germinate until it was warm again (mid spring).

Omar

I am madly circling my garden. I am doing the easy and most immediate things first . The uprooted bare root mint was a priority. I even ran for fresh new soil for Karens donations. Got half in the tire and half where my grey water hose is forever coming apart.I am experimenting with building small ollahs in the spaces, but later, not now. But then I am doing the easy but numerous Flame flowers and oxalis purpurias and the wooly transdentias. Oh that was after talking the old soil off of some of the plants. JoAn , your soil just plain scares me. Talk about dense clay, you could take a rolling pin and make tile for your kitchen floor, and throw some pots out of that stuff if you had a kiln. Gardening in that stuff is out of the realm of my experience. The small pots of dirt make for good arm weights for pressing exercises. I took the plants out so they can acclimate to their totally opposite dirt. I bet the many redbuds will end up homesick for your clay once they get their roots through the cedar duff into the caliche marl..

My philosophy is to never stop moving . I circle the garden like a relentless shark with my brand new A.M, Lenard soil knife in hand. It replaces my Hori-Hori Knife. I found it in my mailbox as I left for the Plant swap. What timing. It is a tiny bit smaller than my broken Hori hori (sigh) but it is sharper on the point and amazingly beautifully ground on the serrated edge. It also has a bright orange plastic ergonomic handle which can be seen from a distance in the grass and will not rot when left in the dirt (me bad). It is not as wood as aesthetically pleasing but immensely practical for a defective gardener like me. Half the circles this garden shark would make was done looking for where the hell I had put that knife. This garden thug panics when sans soil knife. She feels darn naked with her arms cut off.

Seeds are last on my list. So many plants to deal with I think I will start the morning with a walk down into the back tank with the Maximillian sunflowers and the western ironwood plant..That takes loading up the wheel barrow with water in jugs, some granite sand compost mix, a pick, soil knife and plants, of course.

Mara, I'm getting a visual of this wild woman roaming hills and canyons, hori kori (or whatever you call it) knife in hand, madly planting and planning while ripping out the thugs that dare invade her domain. Whoo hoo! You go girl!

I'm saving JoAn's clay for the mud dauber trays I provide for their use. They're going to have the sturdiest pueblos ever with that supply of clay for building material. And yet her plants grow! Take a look at her IDEA BOOKS! It's gotta' be her loving care that energizes them.

Omar, perhaps our experiences in planting pipe vine seed is not so different. We both plant fresh seeds. I just never paid any attention how long it took them to germinate since I'm continually scattering. Maybe it's that fresh seeds need stratification.

Happy planting everybody on this beautiful cool day ... :-)

Oh, Ok. Ragna. I thought your seeds had germinated right after sowing them.

Omar

Another garden shark here. Triage prioritizing what’s first. Actually approaching the finish line. Mixed metaphors? Still in awe of all the goodies I absconded with.

Re black gamecock Louisiana iris - literature states they require acidic soil. Anyone growing them in alkaline soil?

Thanks for the pipevine seed recommendations. I have most stuff in the ground/pots.

Sorry for the bare-root thing, Mara. Next time I'll have more stuff potted.

Eric: the LA iris at least tolerates, maybe even likes alkaline soil. I grew huge clumps in-ground sw of Houston (alkaline black gumbo clay). It even does fine in full sun if it's got plenty of moisture.

That which I brought was growing in a water tub. Some were potted in dense clay. One pot's rim is an inch or so above water, the other a couple of inches below water. And I have 3-4 other huge clumps in egg crates hanging into the tub. Their roots have no media--they're just hanging in the water. I do have goldies in the tubs, so there's plenty of nitrogen in there.

All of them are robust & bloom heavily in spring, so I don't think they are very picky about soil or lack of, as long as they have moisture.

Aww, triage is for the systematic souls that know what they are doing.I am not even close to one quarter through. I see days ahead of me . True I have to do some actual paying work also. Karen, the bare root is fine by me. It is not the only thing that came bare root.

Bluegirl- thanks. All Louisiana iris now planted in muck at or slightly below water level.

I am getting no closer since I keep planting plants I already had . I need to go to HD and gets some PVC for the trees and shrubs. I did get most things into a holding pen in the shade.

"holding pen" harhar! That the same as a pot corral/pot ghetto? Some of mine have a permanent home there.

Eric--hope you enjoy lots of blooms this spring. I have several colors & faithfully tagged them with marking tape but....forgot which color was which *sigh*. The only reason I knew which were the black game cocks was because they are the biggest clump.

This spring, I WILL be better, by golly (she said, as always)

Ok Eric, I like that word triage but Mara says it best cause now I'm at lost under mountains of fabrics. Sorting out colors into piles. Those who gave away all these beautiful babies, I'm so appreciative and so over the moon. Sylvia told me the amazing stories of her stash. Karen and others that gave me so many bags of fabrics, please let me know their history. I'm trying to catalogue them.
And who gave me those in a bag from the quilt market? Lorelei?
Karen, you sent me quilt templates, patterns, pins and cotton thread! Awesome!
I owe you guys a big thank you!!!

Karen, I'm still digging from the two big bags. Hey look what I found? Red blue yellow and all the colors in between! Awesome!

Hey Mamachile--it's from me. My Mom & I ran a quilt store for many years & vended at lots of shows like Houston & Paducah--had a ball. I was stuffing fabric into any bag handy :-p

At the quilt shows, many customers wanted small cuts, quickly, so they could get back to classes. We had tons of those 1/2 yard cuts, packed into display baskets.

I tried to send a mix of new & old. Some things were dusty old wrinkled fabric scraps off the work shelf, those above are mostly Bali handprints--very fine cotton broad cloths, hand dyed. Makes a great shirt, but can be a bit hard to needle, the weave is so tight!

Give me a holler anytime re. questions. I have lots of inventory still & can recall many individual fabrics--have fun!

Karen, thank you a mountain! I'm speechless.

LOL about my clay soil. Can't dig in it when it's dry and sticks to the shovel when wet. Constantly going to Lowes for soil and have at least a truck load of mulch or compost delivered a yr. Hmm I hadn't thought about that being the reason I have so many mud daubers

Looks like I missed a wonderful time! I wanted to take a minute to thank Patty for being such a trooper and picking up my plants going to the swap and the plants I swapped for. Thanks to wantonamara, loreleicomal, & abarbie4me2 for my new plants they are so appreciated! Hope to see you all in April.

What is this plant passed along at the swap? I thought it was from JoAn, but it's not in her kind of "mud-dauber-heaven-clay" .... 'soil'.

Whoever it was that gave it to me (thank you!) knew the name and said it was from Australia.

Mizan, thank you for the blue bottle!!! And you sure 'nuff hit the jackpot with all that beautiful fabric from Karen. Don't we have the most wonderful traders/givers that come to our swap?

Vern, hope to see you at the spring SAPS!

It looks like a bauhinia...

Omar

Hi Ragna- I gave you that plant. It's a miniature type of bauhinia from Australia. It will grow to be 1.5' to 2' tall and have red flowers.

Ragna, hang on to that interesting Aussie plant. Yes I hit many jackpots. Vintage fabrics and all too. Thank you Karen, Sylvia and others that gave us a lot of stuff! Sylvia's vintage stash of fabrics are forming into a few totem poles in the middle of my living room. I will surely be busy sewing into the night.
Lorelei, your fig jam is awesome on toast. Thank you!

Sorry, I can't remember who gave this beautiful succulent to me. Anybody recognize it???

Thanks Matt! I just now saw your post about the Australian bauhinia. Do you protect it during winter?

I gave that to you , me thinks. It is Pachyveria or Graptoveria 'Blue Pearl' It has been cold hardy here. It had a label when it left here.

Another fifteen plants planted today, but now I get into the bigger ones or ones that need stuff to be planted. Like pipes with holes and dirt.. I ran out of planting dirt...off with the trailer to the bulk dirt store.

Mara, thanks so much for Pachyveria or Graptoveria 'Blue Pearl'! It's beautiful, and good to know it's been hardy for you. I'll throw something over it just in case.

Good luck with your planting everyone. Got most of mine in the ground or in pots, including the Gregg's dalea in the tree stump bird house planter ... :-)

I am FAR from done . I also have a whole bunch of my plants that I already had. I did get some things in pretty pots.

I did give it good drainage.

Mamachile: I'm glad you're enjoying your fabric stash--can't ever have too much :-D

Todd: arrggh! Missed including your bands & tree pots--thank you! I'm intrigued with those big square 2qts (?) How space-efficient they are--thank you! I love the one quart bands--I can fit 30 of them on a Lowe's "mud tray" & keep all of the babies bottom-watered.

Karen, what is a Lowe's mud tray?

An elongate plastic tray for putting muddy boots in. Like this, but often, back in the floor mat section of Lowe's, they'll have them for 5-6 bucks. Nice plant trays

https://www.amazon.com/Large-Rubber-Boot-Tray-SunFresco/dp/B06X4267J6/ref=sr_1_4/143-7024446-6016427?ie=UTF8&qid=1508438561&sr=8-4&keywords=mud+tray

Barbie is helping me garden. Thanks Mamachile!

How does she not get her clothes dirty. She looks pretty next to that purple. So 60's.

JoAnn, Barbie is sure a pretty gardener.
Mara, you are right. She is 1966 girl and never seen a day older.

KK- how funny about the mud tray! I use three of those in my kitchen in winter for tender seedling trays

loreleicomal, I sent you a message