In a nutshell - there is the 'General Swap' where the bulk of the plants are placed on picnic tables in a totally random order (we deliberately spread things out so that a little bit of everything is mixed around). I, acting as host, ding a bell and everyone grabs a plant and carries it over to their special stash spot on the lawn. Everyone gathers around the plants again and I ring the bell again. We do one plant per ding the first few go arounds and then we advance to two plants per ding. Eventually getting up to four plants per ding and then it becomes a free for all. It may sound chaotic, but it gives everyone a chance at the best plants. We don't do any sort of tickets or record of who brought what, or who got here the earliest. We're very low on "rules". The core idea is to share your plants. We have everything from seeds to raw cuttings to large trees in pots show up. Most of the plants are single rooted cuttings in small plastic pots or cups, usually this years cuttings, usually small. But the event is wide open - anything can show up (and often does). There are always a few newbies in the crowd and there are people that show up with nothing. We do not discourage anyone from participation. The whole event is for gardeners to SHARE. If you have something you like to grow that you want to share with other gardeners - bring it. Then there are the "Special Trades". This is mostly prearranged here on GardenWeb (over on the 'Exchange' subforum). This is where you only trade your special babies for other gardeners special babies. If there is something you are looking for, this is the time to ask if anyone is growing it and if they have divisions to share - and if you have anything they want in exchange. The Exchange subforum is set up for this sort of activity all the time, we just use the swap to get everyone together rather than dealing with postage or special road trips. And if that isn't enough fun for you - there is also a pot luck picnic thrown in!!! So come hungry. The food list is usually posted over on the 'Conversations' subforum - but any of this can be mentioned on any of the forums so read everything. If you still want more, during the winter we do a Seed Swap. And before you know it is time for the spring swap again. Expect to see about 45 swappers. Many from outside the Raleigh area, some from other states. Every swap has at least a few rare plants - but these could anything from perennials to tropical houseplants. Oh, and sometimes things like tools and books and goldfish and tadpoles have shown up also.

Hi Alyssa, Here are the directions to private message me to get the address. BE SURE you have Private Messaging enabled on Houzz! To do that: Click on your screen name to go to your “profile page,” then, in the upper right corner hover over “Your Houzz,” then, in the drop-down menu click on “edit profile and settings.” From there, in the left side menu click on “advanced settings,” scroll all the way down to “privacy settings” and in the “who can message me” box, on the drop-down menu click on “allow anyone to message me.” Then click “update” on the bottom on the right side! Also, since houzz took over, when you PM somebody the person who receives the message will NOT get your personal email address unless you put it in the BODY OF THE MESSAGE, so when you send your PM to the host BE SURE you include your email address in the message! Thanks Arborwolf

llgarden, I'm sorry I didn't get back here sooner, I've been crazy busy in the backyard until it started raining and then I haven't been feeling well for the last couple days! Yes, if there's still time I would like some of the orange daylilies! Assuming you haven't potted any yet, if you can dig up a "small piece" and just wrap it in some wet paper or paper towels I'll bring it home and divide it and put it in two small pots to take with me! Because of "lack of space" I can only take small pots with me on my trips of things to give away, so I can stick them in a size that will work for me. If you have already potted some up and they're in gallon or anything approaching gallon pots I'll probably take them out and replant them in a couple small pots! One will be going to the Navajo woman I mentioned above and the other to a Santa Clara Pueblo woman who owns the place where I stay at Cortez! If I'm getting back here too late for you to bring some I'll just try again at the next swap! Thanks for offering me some, Skybird F 05.1223 @ 2130 MDT

Screenwriter, you got it. Sabji, i know of at least 8 people who are coming who haven't been on here, so i suspect more are coming than it would appear from this thread. Fortunately the chance of tornadoes is very low for us (northeastern part of the state is where that is higher). But it does sound like it'll be unpleasant. We'll have to squish in the middle.