Flower Swap

Hi, I'm new to Dave's Garden and need information on flower swaps. I have one planned for May 14th. I have it scheduled from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. How do I go about swapping the plants once people start to arrive? Do I set a specific time and have everyone swap at once? Should I place everything in one spot and let them exchange when they want? I have never done this before and have never attended one. In other words, I have no idea what I am doing... :) I am also starting a Garden Club, "God's Gardens, A Little Touch of Heaven". I also have vendors coming in to sell their own merchandise, so it's just not a flower swap...

Gee whiz! Are you doing this all by yourself? How have you announced it - an ad in the paper or on bulletin boards? Is anyone sponsoring it, like a church group or garden club? How do you know people will come and bring plants? Seems as though you could use some local advice from someone who has done it before.

It's all up to you how you want to do it. I'm hosting my second swap in May. The first one I did was just not long enough, the guests complained. There was so much we wanted to do, all in one afternoon. So someone suggested that I make the next swap a weekend event. So this year, the activities begin on Fri and end on Sun. I have guests coming from various states and a few are staying a few days with me. So I have nursery and garden tours planned for Fri and Sat. Then Sun. we do the actual swapping.

Most of the guests are members of other garden clubs (online and offline) that I am involved in. So we're pre-arranging trades in advance (i.e., what do you want from me, I want this from you, ok, I'll dig it up and bring it to the swap for you). And of course everyone is bringing something extra to trade with people they haven't pre-arranged trades with. Some people won't have any plants, and I've stated that if they want to trade, they need to bring something of value to trade. They can bring trowels, shovels, gloves, magazines, books, crafts they've made, birdhouses, jewelry, anything of value that they think they can trade. So there's really no reason for anyone to be left out. I'd trade a plant for a cheap bag of top soil or bamboo canes.

You can let people trade at will, or you can assign a time for the trading to begin. With my swap, we'll have a little program with a couple of guest speakers. I'll distribute some door prizes, and we'll swap and then eat and mingle.

If you'd like to see how my swap works, I've set up a website with rules, what to bring, and other info my guests need to know. Here's the site:

http://www.thebutterflyranch.org/2005_annual_butterfly_convention.htm

If you're organized and know what you want to do, you can host a swap pretty easily. The guests can help with bringing food. Some swaps even require each guest to bring some small something to donate as a door prize. Hope you have a great time. Post pictures when it's over. We will want to see!

NancyAnn

Yuska,
I have about 10 family members who have volunteered to help. I have two teenagers who are in charge of parking, and the rest (mom, sisters, etc.) will help at different tables. I have a registration table where they can sign up for the days events and join the Garden Club. I also have a table where they can get information on how to become backyard certified through the National Wildlife Federation (applications available) and sign up for the swap. I have a table for our local National Wild Turkey Federation who is signing up youth and adults for a Fall Hunter Safety Class. I help organize our yearly NWTF Superfund banquet which brings in about $24,000 each year, so I have organized events in the past, just not flower swaps.

I have advertised this in the local paper and made 400 flyers that I have passed around. We have no garden clubs in our area so I will be the first. We are in the southermost part of Illinois and it is a rural area. We have 3.5 acres, so I'm hoping there will be enough room.

Butterfly Chaser,
I'm afraid I should have organized this for two days instead of one. I did advertise that we will not only swap flowers but that they can bring books, garden art, tools etc. for swapping. I just wasn't sure how to swap. Do people hang around all day to wait to swap if you set a certain time. I was thinking about having them to leave their swaps at a certain drop off, give them a ticket and they can redeem their swap with a ticket whenever they want too. There are so many different ways to do this.

I should have just started with a flower swap only. Instead I have incorporated all of this other stuff into the day. The guest speakers sounds good, I even thought of having people do short 15 minute presentations on plant identification or flower arranging or such.

Thank you both for your input, I am really excited about this, wish me luck and I will have some pictures and hopefully stories of success.
Attached is a picture of my garden...

More pictures of garden...

How do I get more than one image on a message :)

bg - it's only one image per post. Lovely spot you have there. So peaceful and serene with the sun setting.

new pictures:
Flower Exchange was a success. It rained :( ...but I still had 35 people to show up. It ended up being a beautiful day, with the sun coming out about 1:00 p.m. I met a new garden friend...She is opening a nursery about 1/4 of a mile from where I work... and to think I didn't even know she was there. She set up a table at my Flower Exchange and did really well. She sold her 3 inch pots for $1 and her 6 inch for $2. Which I thought was considerably reasonable. She has a little of everything... I am just thrilled about meeting her. I had about 15 to sign up for the garden club and 6 signed up for the round robin. Considering we only had about 3 hours of good weather, we did well. I am very pleased with it and plan to do another in the fall.

Here are a few pictures of my garden. I was so excited about the swap, I forgot to take pictures during. So I took pictures yesterday. It took me about a month to get everything ready. It was well worth it. Hope you enjoy...

Bird bath I made from a bucket ...

Hosta Bed...

Another view of Hosta bed...

Pergola....

Window Box, an old window that came out of our son's house. I found a picture of this in a magazine and had DH make two of them for me...

Our granddaughter and niece playing in the garden...

Wow, you had a nice turnout for your swap. And made a new friend too. That's what they're all about really--the new friends. You can make it an annual event, like I did, and make new friends each year. And isn't it fun showing off your gardens? You would think my gardens are so helter skelter, with one of everything. But I find some quite unusual plants that jump out at people, like Magilla Perilla and the Sum and Substance hosta with leaves almost as big as my elephant ears. I mix everything together in all the gardens so that I always have something blooming in each one and something outrageous here and there. And people love it. They also love coming to my swaps each year and watching how my gardens progress.

This year I'm making a scrapbook for my garden party. And I have a guestbook for everyone to sign too. Wish I'd done that from the beginning.

Did you get some neat new plants at your swap?

NancyAnn

We must think alike, :) I also did a guest book and made a scrap book. I did get some new plants, herbs ( basil, rosemary, pineapple sage) creeping jenny, ice plant, daisy, monkey tree and japanese bamboo. Most of the herbs I got from my friend with the nursery. She had wonderful plants, all very healthy.

I have a hosta that I need to take a picture of and send to you. I think it may be a sum & substance, but I'm not sure. My daughter-in-laws mother gave it to me and I in turn gave it to my mother for mother's day. It is huge.... I have never seen a hosta this big. My mother was shocked... I have about 7 varieties of hosta's and have no idea what kind they are. I wish there was a book I could purchase for identification.

Nancy Ann, all gardens are beautiful in my eyes...whether helter skelter or not. I love them all... There is beauty to behold in all of them. I keep saying I'm going to do that with my beds, mix the flowers, but I can't seem to get away from putting all of the same flowers into one bed. Now I'm running out of room so it's either expand my garden which is now 60 X 60 or start putting more flowers in each bed. I have a couple beds with variety.

Don't you have a swap coming up soon? Or have you already had it. Let me know how it went...

Hey - great pictures. I'm glad that your swap was a success.

For hosta pictures, check here: http://hostalibrary.org/
or, of course, our own PlantFiles.

The best idea, though, would be to post a picture in the ID forum and ask if anyone has any idea what it might be. Lots of smart folks around here. You can probably get all of yours ID'd within a day or so if all goes well.