We'll let Mamajack decide if I am an awesome trader, so far I am 1/1 in plant shipping. You would think if you stuck this side up stickers, and live plant writen on it they would be more carefull, but NO!!! The trick is to wrap it all tight so it won't matter!
Tammy, the gunnera and AW goes out Monday! Don't sweat, the canna bulbs will do just fine in a bubble envelope!
WELCOME...newbie traders
I'm relatively new to dg, not new to gardening and flat out old in most other ways(not in spirit). I love trading and and in my nearly 1/2 century of gardening have only met 3 not nice gardeners, most are the finest people on earth! Distantkin got me started in Feb. on my 1st round robin, it was alot of fun! Can't seem to pull my head out of my....plants long enough to update my list, new tropicals, and a yard full of hardy shrubs and perrenials of all kinds, and tons of seed, one of these days I'll get it done (I say the same thing about spring cleaning, so don't believe a word of it). But if you have a wish list, even if it's not on my list I might have it so all, feel free to ask!
What, I don't count?! LOL The postal service don't give a you know what less it is for them, unfortunately!
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO can't wait to get em, Gordon!!!
Doin de happy dance here now! :oP
May Princess Kathy be a good dancer!
Misty I have quite a few of the items on your want list, let me know if you're interested.
UHHO, you said that magical words! LOL
:oP Princess Kathy
Oooh, that Silver Lace Vine http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57174/ sounded so nice, I had to go look it up! Unfortunately, my zone isn't listed for that one but it sure is pretty!
Silver lace is VERY hardy and can be invasive. If you plant it in a place where it won't be very happy it will be better behaved.
Hi green thumb! I went to your want list and it says alpine plants? What do you want ? I live in the evergreen state, some cool natives! I love amorphophallus! I have a. titanum started in side now!
Someone mention Rotties??? LOL Still stick by that motto of don't sweat the small stuff...live is way too short to get stressed about things. I've met more incredible souls on DG the last few years then I could count!!! As for not so pleasant folks...ya never know what's going on in their life...and if they're just plan miserable...well be glad you're not them...imagine dealing with that 24/7!!!
Oh Chantel, what precious furbabies! Thank you for sharing the pic with us.
I agree that there is always "one in every crowd" but the other 99% of the folks here on DG make up for it. I did some plant trades for the first time last year and had a great time. I could not tell you the proper name for most of what I have but that has not stopped me from enjoying it and the people I traded with were not bothered by it either. I ended up just throwing various things in the box and getting "surprises" back.
Did somone say "Gunnera"??? I have wanted that for sooooo long!
Yeah, here is mine last year. It looks good now, making it thru anouther winter! (wiping brow)! Got other big leafers I am trying too. Tertrapanax, pestatites?, butter bur, big leaf magnolia, and some others. I will look at your trade list and see what we can do!
Very nice NW!!! I just started with EE's last year....hoping they survived the corner of the liv rm...let them and the Plumies go dormant. Almost time to take everyone outside....ohhhh to have my liv rm back....LOL
Thank you TT....I can't pass up an opportunity to show off my babies...LOL Sad but true
Hey TT dmail me about what you could trade! Nothing big! The gunneras are shoebox size and the perfect time to send one. No reason you couldn't leave it outside if you mulch it real good. Got to 20 degrees and made it here. Plus all the rain and a few inches of snow!
Mamajack-
You have my utmost respect for this thread...I wanted to dmail you to tell you that, but I prefer to post this opinion publically...you are the best.
I just joined last year...somehow, plant trading was a bit scary to me, too. I worried most that I wouldn't pack it right (even after reading the primer ten times...), that it wouldn't be enough, or no matter how well I packed it, that it would arrive in shambles or all dried up.
It took a trade or two where the person who received it let me know when it arrived and that all was fine...and they even complimented me. That went so very far to allow me to seed another trade thereafter, and thereafter...As it is said, "Kind words are never wasted..."
It is true what Mamajack said, that what you think is common, may not be to me or someone else. I started with a seed trade last week that culminated in a seed and plant trade together. That person was from the south and had agave in their garden...more common to their area. Well, I just was so excited to have them, that I would have traded my children and the dog...well, maybe not, but we both walked away with some great treasures and have plans to trade again when it is warmer for me in PA. I now have a new friend because of trading.
And...please do not be putting aside the chance for some neat trades and longlasting friendships because of a person that has upset you in some way...that is the uncommon on DG. Luckily, I have only had one bad experience on DG to date. People like Mamajack, distantkin, critterologist...to name only a few, are people that will guide you, teach you, and mentor you. And before you know it, you will be just like them. Enjoy and have fun!!!
RatherB
gordon, i was cracking up reading what you said and then it got serious. by nature gardeners ought to be the most optimistic people in the world. we put these little specks of things in some dirt and just wait expectantly for that new plant. and lots of times we get one. lol.
i was thinking too that daves is the kind of place that people really get to feeling "at home". and sometimes you know when you get home you just say all the things you have held inside all day. it's just frustration i think. i'm lucky. i get to stay home and garden and sow seeds all day. so i have more time and more patience. i lack money though. lol.
one thing i remember when i first started trading is that if my plant was small i was afraid if i told the trader the true condition of my plant that they might not want it. but i always did tell them. i have even gotten the tape measure out to measure how big my plant was. and after i measured it i usually subtracted an inch or two. that's just my trick to pleasantly surprise someone. if they wanted my seeds and i only had 6 i told them.
and here's another thing...when i trade, esp. if it's with someone i have never traded with i usually tell them how i am packing my plants. and like on the canna i give them a choice right then whether they want me to do it differently. but i have time to write many words such as i am doing right now. not everyone does.
the people that i have the most difficulty trading with are people who do not communicate with me. if i get a trade and something came up with my life that prevented me from sending my end of the trade i try to write the person to say that i have not forgotten them and try to make a new plan with them. esp. in the summer when people are leaving for several weeks at a time. it would be awful for them to receive my plants when they weren't even home.
You know a lot of fuss would be avoided if people would just TALK to each other! I know way too many people that take the word of someone else about what other people think wothout just asking them! I might come across as a little in your face but you know where I stand and how I feel.
Here the people are just plain nice! it is refreshing to ask a question and getting a response that is not over your head or puttting you down as inferior. I'm an old farm boy who would go and help the neighbor unload his hay , or help corral some loose cows. Snohomish is just a little hick tow, mostly dairy farms. But like everywhere else it ain't no more! But DG is like fresh air and a warm breeze, so inviting! You can't help but love it!
I agree with everyone who has posted that you just have to jump in. As long as the person does their best to pack them, even if something doesn't go exactly right, I am still satified. I will usually try to point out who they might do it diffferently in the future, but never in a mean way.
I haven't had anyone yet that didn't "try" to do it right, but sometimes it just doesn't work out wonderfully. On the other hand, I have killed my fair share of perfectly healthy plants in my garden, so it happens.
As far as exotic stuff, it is usually surprising what people might be looking for. I have traded for hurricane lilies and common iris. It just depends on what I am looking for. I like to have some more exotic stuff in my garden, but there is a reason that the common stuff is common (because it grows well and is dependable), so I like to have some of that too.
Welcome new traders!
Reading some of this I'm reminded of my first trade, lol, it was from another site a couple of years back. I wanted a 'Nancy's Revenge' colocasia soooooo badly , and of course can't get one around here. I found a very serious overseas trader that had some and many other plants, and I had responded to another of his offers before and he didn't respond (lol). I didn't have anything on his want list, but I could find a few things locally that he wanted. I still didn't have an equal trade, so I approached him (more like stalked him) with my only asset...my totally nutty sense of humor. I think by the 3rd or 4th (regular, uncensored) email he probably wet himself laughing so hard, and he agreed to trade with me
I packaged the plants I had at home the best I could and went to the nursery and bought his other plants...packed them in the box, dirt, pots and all. I did not know what I was doing.
When his box arrived, his government had held the plants for quarantine because of the soil in the pots...he did get the plants but not everything made it...lol. He was very patient with explaining to me that he could import plants but they had to be bareroot, etc, and did not get upset with me at all because he knew I was new to this. I'm so eternally grateful, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have continued to trade.
We trade to this day, chat somewhat regularly (he's the type to send cards and postcards in his boxes to make me feel slack), and half the time we just send plants without even telling each other, we know quite well what the other would like. My family jokes and calls him my boyfriend even because of all the stuff we send back and forth. Suprisingly as far as we are away, the plants we exchange do very well in our locations, and I try and keep an eye out for things he's looking for when I trade as well. It's pretty cool when you can establish a relationship like that with a trader, I feel very lucky.
So misty, I heard you saying you bought plants for a trade, and clearly I've done it, BUT, I'll never do it again without telling the person that's what I'm doing. Last year there were several times I bought plants to trade with people and in the end, it might just be easier and cheaper to buy the plant you actually want....so that's one suggestion I'd give to newbies. If someone told me they were going to buy a plant to trade with me, I'd try to work something else out for them personally because I wouldn't want them to do that (unless I really wanted the plant, then by all means..lol). There was one person I literally spent about 40 dollars on last year trying to make them happy, every time I bought somethig else, they had just gotten it...lol..
gosh, sorry for the novelette....I know I can talk....lol
My silver lace vine has never put up any runners and become invasive, neither has my landlady's and hers is in full sun with gorgeous clematis growing through it. I have heard it can be invasive but we have not had that happen here? ::making the sign of the cross:: lol.
My thoughts on being a newbie trader myself is I get so intimidated by the members that flat out don't answer my requests for trades, I even write in the requests what I see that I have that they are looking for. I see that these members trade all the time with others but simply ignore my email. I get the feeling that my things aren't good enough. A simple "no thank you" , that only takes 30 seconds would be much kinder than ignoring me. My mailbox has many "did not reply" emials in that "no reply" folder. When that happens I kinda fall back questioning myself and whether I want to do this , I answer all mail even if it to say "not at this time thank you",,,, my Mama taught me better than that.
Kathy
This message was edited Mar 15, 2008 11:18 AM
Kathy
I just looked through your trade list! Wow! If you should ever dmail me for a trade - I wouldn't ignore you! :) You have some GREAT things for trade! I'll keep you in mind for some 'Coneflowers' this fall. They would do great here in Arkansas & you have a very nice variety. I only raise brugs & dats which are my passion - so I usually don't have anything to trade until summer/fall. :)
Mike
Mike,
Thank you for the compliment, your flowers are GORGEOUS!
guspuppy, please don't let that affect you. here's my thinking on that...the people don't want to trade for whatever reason (and it can't be your plants because you went to the trouble to look and see that it is one that they want) but they are the kind of people who feel uncomfortable telling someone NO. shoot, i have traded because i didn't want to say no. because i know what it feels like to see a plant that i want and it all seems so easy for that person just to dig me one if they just would. lol.
but you know digging and packing plants is a lot of work. and maybe you only had one plant that they wanted and trading is so expensive that they didn't want to pay 5.00 for one plant. but i'm betting they don't respond because they don't want to say no. here is how i do that.. the last thing i always say is 'IT WON'T HURT MY FEELINGS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO TRADE." when someone used that line on me (when i was new) it just made all the difference. pressure was off. and it made me think i could go back to that person and TELL THE TRUTH about why i couldn't trade.
the average age of most dg'ers i think is around 50. now i don't know about northern 50 yr. olds but us southern female 50 yr. olds were taught to always say yes. it was Christian and it was SOUTHERN and if you wanted people to know that you were raised right then you just said yes no matter what and you better be smiling when you said it. lol. with that in mind i am thinking that this is the age group that most of you are dealing with. just like in fried green tomatoes, you younger folks have more speed and better hips but we older folks got more plants. hahahahaha and with more plants that means that lots of us have been overusing our hips and our knees for years and aren't as spry as we used to be.
Amen, mamajack!! My vertical doesn't work quite like it use to. LOL
Kathy
Thank you! :) Maybe I can 'enable' you into the brug/datura addiction & obsession when the time comes!
Mike
Hi Gordon, I have amorph. konjac tubers and many varieties of arum, arisaemia and sauromatum if they interest you. I like any alpines, the smaller and tighter the better, and woodlanders.
lol...gosh greenthumb, Gordon, I'm gonna have to get my act together sometime and contact you kids...lol
LOL Mamajack ... this Southerner just turned the big 60 a week ago and I have lots of plants but can't seem to "play in the dirt" for as long as I could thirty years ago! The hips, knees and even wrists just don't cooperate for as many hours in a day anymore!
I'm here and ready tropicanna
I would be glad to trade with any newbie anyday. I never have a list though. Usually someone sees me mention a plant and will ask me if I can spare some of it. I have sent many boxes of George Davidson crocosmia and red spider lily(lycoris radica) for only postage. Everyone has to start somewhere. My very first trade the person never sent my plant but I didn't get discouraged though. Cindy
Hey tropicanna! I just made a nice trade with mamajack and she can tell ya I am a straight shooter. Just dmail me please, I will trade!
I have found you always get more than they say they are sending, so I try to do the same. Bigger plants or extras whatever just to let them know I truely appreciate trading with me. It is hard digging up, seperating. packing , mailing plants! Not to mention the worry afterwards, hoping it gets there ok and they like what you sent. I was more worried than mamajack!! You are a sweet lady who has her head and heart in the right places!
I read it is unwise to buy plants to trade, but in some cases it is the best for the person you are trading with. For example, I only had the one plant that I divided for the trade. But mama dmailed me to see if I could get more. Or I see the plant you want but they don't sell it in your state, but they sell it up here, like gunnera and ferns galore in Wa, but very few cannas or alocasia, ar colocasias. Plus people are really pushing the zones now to see what they can grow that shouldn't.I have bananas, and flax and yuccas, and agave all growing outside here! Not much in the nurseries, but they are starting to stock more now.
So I don't have a problem even if you don't break even with the cost of the plant and shipping, you made a friend and got a plant from who knows where! That is the fun part!I would like to trade with someone from the UK or Aussie or even Japan or China! I want to see how far I can ship something and it makes it!!
gordon, don't tell kara that i'm sweet. she ain't gonna believe that stuff. lol. did you see where she said she was gonna mail me some 'ol dirty dishrags anonymously?
and kara, gordo, is top notch. biggest dang plants. i thought they came from texas. hahaha gordon, you are going to trip over that girl tropicanna. she is the most natural wittiest person i have come across in many years. and she always has the most interesting things. i covet most everything she's got. lol.
gordon, you have to be careful when you are mailing overseas. i do know of at least one person who got in trouble and it involved fines. and the other thing that none of us must ever forget is the danger of introducing some horrible scourge through our plants. kara i know has mailed some things and so have i. you are wasting your time trying to bring things into this country (except i got several plants from puerto rico and of all places...pakistan) although i just bought some crocosmia from mr. crocosmia in england and i have my fingers crossed that he can get them to me. i sent iris to canada but the agriculture dept. sent me a letter saying i couldn't have my stuff. i did mail a daylily to pakistan and a hib. to puerto rico and some lycoris to england. most of the time though i just try to trade seeds.
and i have bought plants just for trading. the worst thing i ever did though was the spring i decided i must have every fuchsia known to man. ordered them all and THEN i researched them. and from what i read if i didn't get them out of texas quick they were all going to die a slow and miserable death. i traded them immediately. then i tried iochroma but they haven't come back twice now. so this year i am trying to grow phygelius. i just love those little tubular flowers. must have a hummingbird in the wood pile that is my family tree.
Thanks for the plug mama! Kara if you want I am still intrested! I have been told I am quite the wit myself, although it is hard to be funny online, unless you are looking at my spelling and grammar!
As far as overseas I know there is alot of paperwork an law checking to be done first. My son is head of S&R for an airplane parts co. He ships parts to New Zealand ,France, Russia, you name it, and he has told me some good stories of things being sent back becuase of paperwork being wrong mostly.Seeds are fun, but plants are better! Like having dialup and comparing it to dsl. You get the same thing, just faster!I have cable modem so you can tell I would prefer a plant. LOL
I just want a plant that is really from a diffrent country, not propagated here in the US. I really don't care what. And the challenge of sending a plant that far would be fun! Paperwork and all!So if a newbie or an oldie(oooh that's wrong to say) elder member from anywhere would like to do a trade I am your farm boy!
lol...mama (*blush*, thank you), we are so following each other, and of course I would have to believe claims of Texas size plants (since I have never heard a Texan exaggerate). You know I am joking...be on the lookout for the package..I went with dirty socks instead of dishrags...they're packed better than anything you've ever paid for.
With trading plants/seeds internationally, to me it's about the most fun thing ever, you just have to be very careful and clear with the person on the laws of their country. Some countries allow anything, some bareroot plants only, some only allow seeds, and in some places there are total bans, no plants or seeds. I know the usps site has some of that information and there is another site (sorry can't think of it now) with lists of plants and seeds that are restricted. There is some degree of risk involved with trading internationally....but overall, for me , I've had fewer problems than trading in the US, our mail is a little slow :)
kara doesn't seem to know that it's hard to be funny online. the girl is an absolute scream. i just hope the socks will fit.
EDITED. it was funnier the other way though so i'm going to go pout now.
This message was edited Mar 16, 2008 12:50 AM
any chance someone could do a hyperlink thing and move this to a new start place? Those on dial up are gonna have a tuff time as long as this one has gotten.(I know, I'm on dial uo LOL)
here's the new thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/824383/
lmk if that doesn't work.