April 02, 2011 @ MacArthur Park on Loop 410 in San Antonio, TX. 9:00 a.m. to ??
All are welcome!
If you are interested in pre-trading, please d-mail me for more info.
Below are some helpful hints about this particular swap by a regular SAPS (San Antonio Plant Swap) attendee:
Hello All ! Just a few reminders that will help us all have a nicer swap experience. After 10 years of hostessing and attending these swaps I've learned a lot from others. This is especially helpful to newbies who have told me often that they were confused with the way things were done at the swap. Hopefully, this will help them a little.
When you arrive, please seek out the hostess if we don't greet you first. Especially if you haven't been before. Any of us will help you with any questions you might have. Get a name tag, sign up for door prizes, and if we have one, sign the list for future notifications of swaps.
Don't forget to bring a sack lunch. We'll need sustenance for continued swapping !
We will have door prizes. If you'd like to donate to our stash, please bring a new or gently used gardening item. We usually include things like fertilizer, gloves, tools, outdoor decorations, books, etc.
Garden Junk and Garden Art is also welcome for trading. Hoses, trellises, rusty buckets, signs, you name it ! We've had people bring homemade soap, mosaic pots, and other great items.
We welcome donations to help pay for the rental of the pavilion. Although it is voluntary, please consider that you're leaving the swap with plants that would have cost so much more at a nursery. A few dollars in the jar will go far to help us rent this nice pavilion for the next swap.
You may consider bringing cardboard boxes to haul home your booty. You may end up taking home more than you bring, and it's not always easy to get it all back in your car. Packing in boxes will allow you to stack them and keep your plants safe.
Bring something to use for labeling the plants you receive. Old window blinds are excellent for this purpose ! They last forever and they're kept out of landfills.
On that note, please label your plants for others. It saves a lot of time at the swap. You don't have to tell everyone what each plant is, since they already have names on them.
Another helpful hint, which takes more time, but is great to have: consider putting a notebook together of your plants. Add pictures and descriptions of each plant you bring. Over time, you can add to it as you accumulate different types of plants. This also saves time at the swap. Others can view your notebook to see what a certain plant will look like.
While swapping, please don't take plants off other's tables without asking. They may be across the room promising that same plant to someone else. Please find the owner and ask permission. Everyone's different, of course, and may bid you take whatever you like. But it's good to err on the side of caution, and ask anyway. It's a good idea for all of us to put our name on our table so that everyone knows who to find when they see a plant they'd like.
Plants under the tables are not for swapping. This is where we place the plants we're taking home.
Some plants are special or rare and the swapper may want something special in return. This is understandable. On the other hand, some of us don't always need something in return. Please consider everyone's feelings while swapping.
Last but not least, have a good time. Make new friends ! I've met really great folks at the swaps and we're still swapping 10 years later !!
Plant Swap in San Antonio, April 2nd
Hi Tonya! I'm so torn now! :( I got the evite from Charlotte, and then noticed the San Antonio swap is the same day. Neither location is all that close, but I'm still going. Do you think it would be possible to get to both?! (it's also the start of the cactus/succulents show/sale at Zilker on that day)
Hi Carey,
Yep, I got the evite from Charlotte, too and decided to just do SA. If Buda starts later you might be be able to do both. Hope you can make it to SA. We'd love to have you!
Tonya
Hello Tonya, very good instructions on your post, good job!!!
I really wish I could go and see my friends in the San Antonio area, but that date is the Native Plant Society sale here in Fort Worth and i have to help with that.
Maybe Jujube will host one again in San Marcus and I may be able to make that one, we shall see.
Josephine.
Hi Josephine, sorry you can't make it to SA that weekend. Yes, it would be great if jujube hosted in San Marcos again. Maybe we should put a but in his ear. Hey Lee, you listening in?
Tonya