I think this is the most raffle tickets I've ever "bought." Mostly with acorns given to me by other members here.

So far 1,607 tickets have been sold to 93 members.

Wow!

Holy cow!!

To me, that's a surprisingly small number of members!

Think we will hit 100 before it closes? Not far from it now! smily:

I think it's a lot of tickets bought for that amount of members!

Dave, I'm friends with ATP on Facebook and I've been noticing the posts promoting the vendors. That's a very good trade and I know if I needed seeds or plants, I would definitely check out one of them first. We gotta support those who support us!

Sandy, I have never bought a raffle ticket so maybe I can shed a little light on why. I notice a lot of the prizes are aimed at the maximum number of users. Of course, that makes sense. But being in Florida, I can't grow a lot of the things listed. It's been sort of the same with the plant week celebrations; I don't even see most of those plants growing anywhere in my area. So some of us in fringe areas with wacky growing conditions may not be participating. Plus, I'm mostly a butterfly gardener and I tend to plant extremely specific, native plants. Some of us who have very specific style gardens aren't really interested in the prizes. I wouldn't want to enter the raffle and win something I couldn't grow, thus taking away the chance of someone else who would love to have that prize.

Plus, I'm saving my acorns for a rainy day. I heard that one time there were ATP t-shirts...wouldn't mind one of those (hint, hint).

Did I hear a hint for T-shirts? Yes, I would love one too!

LOL, Melanie -- we are at opposite extremes! Being in the north, there are a lot of things offered for prizes that I can't grow, and the plant week celebrations all seemed to be about a month ahead of me...

Still, I can't resist buying a few tickets each time...

and I already have the Teeshirt

Just a little hint about the prizes. I don't think there are expiration dates on the gift certificates. At least that's been my experience. If you won and it wasn't the right time for you to receive plants, you could wait until it is the right time before using it.

Sharon said:Feels just as good to give as it does to get, Critter, so enjoy!

Good luck to everyone!

Wow, I just read Daves comment about the number of tickets purchased. I better rush to get more!

Joy said:Just a little hint about the prizes. I don't think there are expiration dates on the gift certificates. At least that's been my experience. If you won and it wasn't the right time for you to receive plants, you could wait until it is the right time before using it.

I think lot of members only look at the specific forums they are interested in. I know I don't scan all areas of the site on a regular basis and just found the raffle by accident one day. Perhaps a blast tree mail would make more people aware of it. Also, I forgot where I originally saw it and when I went back to buy more acorns I had to search. The location in the "Ideas" area needs to be mentioned more in promoting the raffle. Just IMO, .

I don't understand why there seem to be so many people saying they didn't hear about the raffles. It is always announced on the front page of ATP. I ALWAYS see it. All one has to do is glance over to the right side of the home (front) page where all the ideas & tips & articles are posted & you can't miss it! I don't need an email blast or to read the newsletter to know about it. It's right there in front of me every time I go to ATP.

I agree with Ann in that I always see the raffle announced in the Ideas section on the main page. However, since new ideas are added every day, the raffle announcement usually disappears after 2-3 days. So for people who don't visit every day, I could see how one could easily miss it or simply forget that it's going on. I forgot we had one going until Dave did the follow up idea. He's also been promoting it and the sponsors of the prizes on Facebook so I have seen that but I forget things pretty quickly. It may be worth having some kind of dedicated link on the main page when we're running a raffle.

I always see it, too.
I am here every day, part of my morning internet routine along with checking email.

IF people were to win certificates for things they can't grow, they could TRADE for plants from members who can.

mellielong said:I forgot we had one going until Dave did the follow up idea. It may be worth having some kind of dedicated link on the main page when we're running a raffle.

I agree 100%

I agree.

After a few days, the article disappears from the front page of the ATP website. There should be an announcement somewhere on the front page just for the current raffle (or other events) on ATP. I, too, have to go searching for the article to find the link if I want to buy more tickets or find out any other details about the raffle. It would be easier and more convenient to have an area designated to click on that takes me right to the NARR article.

Hopefully, @Dave will see this thread.