LOL!!! I refuse to get on Facebook also! I buy many too many seeds myself. I have never been apart of the seed exchange but can see why you miss it if you had fun doing it. :-(

I miss those days too. It was a search for an heirloom bean which led me here - because the Exchange Lists were visible to search engines. When I began collecting, that search engine visibility in turn led others to contact me - I made a lot of friends that way, and shared a lot of seed. You could also browse through everyone's Exchange Lists.

Existing Exchange Lists were carried over during the transition (mine was restored, after some complaints), but apparently they are no longer visible outside of Houzz. I used to make 100 or more trades a year via Gardenweb... last year, zero. :-( It appears to have been a conscious decision to disable all trade functions except the Exchange sub-forums, perhaps due to outside pressure. I believe the amount of international trading may have drawn attention.

But if you want to be angry, save that for the person who created a vibrant site, then abandoned it. For good or ill, it was Houzz kept the lights on. At least the cumulative knowledge in all of these posts was not lost, and a we can still converse with a few long-time friends.

I guess I just don't understand, because it was such a popular site. They changed the format, did away the personalization of the exchanges, and such. I am happy they kept the majority of content, but search engine on site is mostly useless. And the fact that so many of the regulars left. Just sad.

So you still have access to your old trade list now? I couldn't even access my account.

Hello zeedman,

" Existing Exchange Lists were carried over during the transition (mine was restored, after some complaints), but apparently they are no longer visible outside of Houzz. "

You have, as they say, "hit the nail on the head". Getting those trade lists visible to Google would seem to be an obvious first step in restoring the functionality of trades here on Houzz. I don't participate in trades, but I understand why that is a useful activity for many gardeners and hobbyists.

Hello Gary,

" A few threads down, I'm hosting a tomato, pepper, bean, flower, (and whatever comes in) swap. "

And you have been bravely "bumping" that message for over a year, with no apparent response. And it remains to be seen whether your message here in this message thread will help. Houzz has replaced planet-wide visibility with very limited visibility. I think that Houzz should at least explain why they did what they did. There are a couple of other garden websites that have Exchanges of one form or the other. I have never participated in them, so I have no direct knowledge of how useful their Exchanges are.

ZM

ZM,

It's extra work, but I get a dozen or so Houzz/Gardenweb members to join the swap each year. They usually don't post anything, here. They somehow find my email, or join another website. to contact me.

Hello Gary,

" It's extra work, but I get a dozen or so Houzz/Gardenweb members to join the swap each year. "

I'm glad you are getting some results from your efforts. Your message with all the bumps didn't seem to be getting results.

ZM

"So you still have access to your old trade list now? I couldn't even access my account."

Gawdinfever, run your cursor over "Your Houzz" in the upper right of the screen. From the drop-down menu, click on "Edit profile and settings". When that page comes up, click on "advanced settings" on the left of the page. If you have an Exchange List, you can access & edit it from the Advanced Settings page (just scroll down until you find Exchange List, then expand it).

My Exchange List is still there, but for some reason the link button from my profile page does not appear to me. If I enter GW from someone else's computer, the link is visible. I don't know whether or not Houzz will allow a user to create a new Exchange List in that format, or if it will create a new Exchange List link from your profile page. Some users are posting exchange lists as "ideabooks" now. I've duplicated my Exchange List that way as well, for all the good that did... as @zen_man has accurately pointed out, trading on GW is pretty much dead now. :-(

I joined gardenweb in 2007, and I was only interested in this seed exchange. It was way more active and exciting back then, and there were a lot more cool seeds being offered. After that couple years I took a long break, had a lot of life happen in between, and I didn't return to gw again until about 2016. It had already been bought by houzz by then, and it was then that I started getting involved in other forums. I never experienced the forums when gw was in its heyday. It makes me sad to have missed out on that wonderful time. I'm into growing milkweeds and after all my milkweed friends here left and went to facebook. I decided to follow them and see what fb had to offer. I can understand how some people think facebook is just too much. Fb can be emotionally challenging and taxing, and you need a somewhat strong constitution to last there. It's really about how you interact with the people on fb that makes all the difference. I do love it though, and I still love gardenweb and the few real friends I've made here.

I'm just getting into the milkweeds. I was able to score some purple milkweed seed last year and bought one lone orange milkweed plant. I germinated and grew 3 of the purple over the summer, although they didn't get very big. I REALLY hope they live through winter!

I collected a lot of the orange milkweed seed. Wrapped them up and everything, because seems insects like to eat and desiccate their seeds! I got most of them though! Ha! I had a common milkweed shoot up in one of hosta beds last year, and my dumb self let it go for the summer. Talk about aggressive! I think the birds or wind brought that in, Jay

Hello all,

I don't know one milkweed from another, but I think I will try to grow some of our local milkweeds indoors this Winter. You can click on the photo to see a larger version of the photo.

I have no idea what species they actually are. I am not even sure that these can serve as a food plant for Monarch caterpillars. Since I have not seen any Monarch caterpillars locally, our local Milkweeds are probably not the right species. But if I could grow them indoors this Winter I might be able to build up enough seed supply to create a "Milkweed Garden" next Spring.

ZM

The change did lose a lot of regular traders, like myself.

There are several of us still doing group swaps but on another website for the last six or seven years.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post it here but if anyone is interested, feel free to send me a message for the information.

Jay and Zenman: msg me if you want some orange butterfly weed seed!

Lisa, I've traded with you before! Hope you're doing well!

Yes Susie, we have!

I got your message and responded. I hope to see you over at the new site.

Hi all... I found you through a google search using "seedsavers" lol... sad to see it's not as robust as it used to be...can you point me in a direction Please?

I was a regular here daily back when it was Gardenweb. Only time I come here anymore is for the Santa round Robin. Houzz definitely ruined it.

we all agree that Houzz ruined GArden Web but is there any better solution???? I'm still on Round Robin exchange but it is barely hanging on. where else are people swapping seeds?

Here Beth...

https://www.tomatojunction.com/mmmm-swap.html

Beth ~ people swap seeds on facebook. Let me know if you need help and I can message you.

Beth, send me an email and I'll point you to where some of us old timers went and are actively trading still...

I'm just going to post the website that has a few group trades each year. What's the worst Houzz can do? 😊it garden. Org. The group swaps are very different there but so much fun and you choose your seeds.

It's free to join and a little intimidating at first. If anyone decides to join and has questions. I am I share flowers on that side as well and you can send me a tree now through there.

JAN 29th is National Seed Swap Day. I'm starting one at the local library. We'll see how it goes

Houzz is getting better.