I think it's great how the swap has continued year after year, moving to the parking lot when having a large gathering in the yard wouldn't work because of sad circumstances for the neighbors. It's too bad people don't get to see Oerickson's beautiful garden, but I'm sure she's glad to not be readying her hundreds of plants as well as trying to make the garden look super tidy for guests.
The swap was first organized by Oerickson and her gardening neighbor so they invited friends and neighbors and those of us in an online Wintersowing group when she went to our (one?) IRL meetup, and it's always had a great variety of plants and so many fun people to talk to! We moved over to this site for our pre-swap "insider trading" at Pitimpinai's suggestion. I like this site a lot. I love that we do some trading here, because then I know a plant I have extra of is wanted (I cannot fit all my extra plants in the SUV)
People bring all sorts of stuff to the swap, from seeds and seedlings to large clumps and trees. We see plenty of orange daylilies but also nice hostas, some even with commercial nametags. It's not a one-on-one swap, just bring what you need to find a home for, and take what you think you have a spot for! One of my duties is to "petal-push" to try not to have anything left over at the end of the day.
People with no plants to offer are welcome, hopefully they will bring spare pots or magazines or even snacks and drinks or cardboard boxes, those all come in handy during the swap. (Most people don't think to bring stuff to protect their cars! I thought they were GARDENERS! :D ) Sometimes we just shove plants into peoples hands and tell them to pay it forward. It's such a nice afternoon, filled with generosity and good will.
Frahnzone5, if you attend, just be aware it's the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend, so traffic gets bad early. I hope you do come!
Pitimpinai, last year you really wanted that tidy, innocent-looking chocolate mint I brought for someone else. Do you still want one?
OERICKSON, I hope you email a link to this thread soon so we can see some more of our regulars in here for trading
