Cheryl..All of the above! Usually before hand the plant swap is announced on a gardening website..say for example Dave's garden website..Our area of the country is the Mid-Atlantic Gardening group..A hostess will decided when it is best what date she or he can host the swap, set a date and time. With our group, most of the gardeners live a good distance apart, some drive as far as 5 hr. 3 hr. or maybe less than that. so the swapping starts after you get there and get set up. It is always best to take along a companion or friend that can watch your plants that are up for grabs while you hand deliver to people you have already promised before hand. Weeks before members in this gardening group will post a list of what plants they will have to share and what plants they want from others. Some gardeners live close enough that they can exchange ahead of time in person..but since we are so spread out in distance it is not always possible to do that. If you go over to Dave's garden website, you will scan down on the right side of the page till you see Mid-Atlantic Garden group. Click on that and you will see something about the swap. There will be a thread started about what you have to offer to others and a list of what you want from others. Then the hostess will start another thread just for discussion of the plants mentioned in that other thread. There will be a separate thread listing food list..where you will list what food you plan to bring along..
If you are not a member of DG website, you can still read all the threads(conversations)without posting. The website will not allow anybody to post a message unless you are a paid subscriber/member. The cost to join the website is $19.95 a year..Gardenweb.com is a FREE website, as is Allthingsplants.com..
It is hard to explain about how the swapping is done, there is no set rule..Go over to Dave's Garden and you can read about the upcoming swap and get a better understanding. Since some of these gardeners live a distance from each other, they may not see each other but twice a year unless somebody decides to hold a specific workshop. and announces that on DG Mid-Atlantic gardening group thread..Jill just held a workshop on making hyperfula(not sure of the spelling of that word) You can go to that thread and read about it, see pictures of the workshop, etc.
An average swap will have about 30-40 people at it, but the first one that I attended was 60-80. Some people come for the swapping of plants and don't stay for lunch..Believe me, those are not regular members of that gardening group. You do get those occassionally but most will be there until mid afternoon or the end.(set time for the swap).
Most swaps are held outside or in a covered area outside..never inside but a hostess can choose to set the luncheon be inside. Some hostess/host will furnish hot dogs, hamburgers, maybe even chicken cooked on the grill and let the guest furnish the pot luck style foods..It depends on the host/hostess and what they want to bring. It is set up and you get what you want and go back to your set up table and eat. Just like a picnic! Some hostess will do strictly a pot luck meal, where everybody brings a food to share..It depends on what the hostess choses to do.
In Feb. Jill hosts a seed swap that is held usually at a local chinese buffet restaurant in Frederick, Md. near her house. The restaurant allows the group to use their party room which is small without a charge.. Each person pays for their won meal..You exchange seeds, not plants. Jill ask everybody to bring a small gift that is garden related and as you come in, you put your donated gift on the table..It does not have to be wrapped, nor does it have to be brand new. Many of us may have bought ourselves something and never used it or only used it once or twice and decided we didn't like it, or you can buy something new at the $ store..you can even donate a gift somebody gave you related to gardening and give it away. Everybody goes home with a garden related gift from that table. Sometimes I have donated a book that I'd ordered from Amazon and it was not what I expeced but I never returned it. I even bought packaged spring bulbs at Big Lots and used that as my gift for the gift table. It could be a vase you no longer use or have rec'd as a gift and had no use for, it could be anything related to gardening. One year somebody was so cleaver and made up small dish garden inside a plastic cup that fit down inside the top of a child's rain boot. Maybe the child had outgrown the boots or they bought them for a low price at a thrift or yard sale..It is such a clever gift. Whoever came up with that idea found the right size of plastic cup that would fit right into the top of the boot.
You connect with other gardeners at these seed and plant swaps and some make lasting friendships to share their love of gardening with.
Go over to Dave's Garden and look for Mid-Atlantic gardening group forum and it will be easier to figure out than my discussion probably.
