Does one ever trade or give away plants face to face locally through this forum? Once I identify & divide those plants that have outgrown my tiny pond I'd love to share them but they'd be an awkward armload to ship. I plan to do my annual pond cleaning and divide those plants after our "winter" so as not to disturb the resident tadpoles. Also it seems a bit silly to ship within a 20 mile radius. If I don't get a cutting from Mary in Tampa at Christmas I saw the same plant for trade nearby here. Through the Freecycle site we often meet in a mutually agreeable public place to give or pick up items. I didn't see anything about this in the primer. Thank you.
CLOSED: Local in-person trades question
Yep - sherman99 is right. Many times people offer stuff for trade or giveaway locally. You could post here or may have better luck on your regional forum;o)
you can even look up those who live closest to you and send a group email
Some years ago I made an in person trade through Gardenweb. We still meet every spring and trade my hosta for her dayliles with a few other plants thrown in for the heck of it.
I met a new gardener through seed trading last winter and this spring I invited her over twice to share a large numbers of plants from my garden. She left very happy and I didn't have the work that is involved in mailing or potting for a plant swap. I dislike Freecycle because everyone expects to pick plants up from my porch when it's convenient to them and I don't trust anyone not to take plants that I have on the porch that I want. There's always something there in the spring.
For tough plants like hosta or iris, I sometimes leave them on the hell strip with a 'FREE' sign.
You could advertise in the newspaper or craigs list. or a local farmers market.
when i travel i sometimes look up someone from dave's in that are area and see if they want to meet and trade some plants--it's been fun --we end up meeting at a place for lunch while bringing in a big bag of plants that we just have to pull out and talk about while getting to know one another!!
I have set up trades from here better to go to round ups they have here I went 1 year it was held in Lakeland at Corkys so many plants!
oh round ups are so much fun!!
a local round up sounds fun....
I take some of my out -of-space-fors, pot them in nursery cans, and give them to non-proffit org to sell at reasonable prices at their garage sales. Many folks in this day and age are hard hit to be able to buy commercial plants so just go without. This gives them a chance to enjoy some beauty they otherwise may miss. Also when some one comes by admiring my stuff, if i can, I give them a start, if possible, of what ever turns them on. I always get back more than I give, even if it's just a smile and a bright friendly eye. I don't think of this as hurting the income of our nursery folks as most of these folks won't make it as far as the nursery anyway.
tvksi
I give away hundreds of plants to our Church Bazar every spring & they price them very low & all of these plants are gone the second day of the event. It makes me feel real good to be able to help all parties. All my trades are made with the object "its better to give then receive". I try to carry this all year round. This time of the year everyone gets into that kind of sperit. Isn't it great. Your garden friend Jake from Manassas Virginia. PS I tried to contact several people in my area & have not been to sucessfull so far. I will keep trying.
You got the right idea, Jake. You know something funny? Makes me feel so good to see the delight on someone's face who accepted one of my plants, that I begin to feel guilty that *I* feel so good./..,.,.,LOL..
((Leona and Jake))
What a generous and wonderful idea!! I never thought to give away plants to charities or special fundraisers - that is such a neat thing to consider. I will definitely keep this idea in mind when sorting and dividing this spring.
Thanks!
Thanks di. I found that if I print out directions for each plant and have a pic of the adult plants in sight, to show potential, helps folks who may not be familiar with them. That was really true when it came to Bunny ears. A li'l ole cactus in a tiny pot didn't look so great for 50 cents, but with a pic of light starved (wintered in low light garage) plant like this, they went like icecream. LOL !
Our local garden club has a plant sale the last Sat of April every year. The prices are extremely low. We all contribute plants and the proceeds go for a college scholarship to a local HS Senior. We usually make about $2000. It's fun. I don't have much in my yard that I can dig up yet, but I grow coleus in my basement and contribute a lot of them. I'm running out room though, and it's only January. It's hard to throw out the cutting when I trim them back (instead of making new plants)!
CatLadyDane,
Have you been to the Florida Forums lately? There are a lot of people down here who get together on a regular basis, to trade, talk gardening etc. For you, and pond plants, a face to face trade would be best, simplify things for all concerned.
I have been a member here at Daves for many years. Have been to many roundups, plant trades and get togethers. Have organized many and had them at my place.
I have also traded plants with people on freecycle as well. One lady I trade with frequently, at her house and mine and and have worked some painting jobs with her husband as well.
My point is, there are a lot of good people/gardeners out there.
Certainly, you must do this in a way that you are most comfortable with.
I would suggest you post in the Florida Chit Chat thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1146884/ and make a list of what you have to trade and mention you would like a local pick up/trade. You will have a lot of welcoming people respond to you.
Also, somewhere I read there is a roundup being organized in Citra for the spring. You can catch word of that over in the link I mentioned.
Good Luck to you.
Molly
Thank you all for your ideas. I'm quite new here, and short of time right now. I haven't had a chance to really look around and didn't even know that there were local forums. I'll have to check that out. Thanks again.