I am hopeful we will continue this annual event. Any offers of hosting? Or place to meet up? Time that works best? Seems March or April are both good months for exchanging plants that need dividing. I have no particular conflicts and did a walk-about the other day and am seeing lots of new growth poking out of the ground, so can start to ferret out new divisions to share. I keep a pretty accurate inventory of plants in "My List" and am happy to bring specific plants if they are dividable. Otherwise, I'll just bring my usual mish-mash.

I also have both native sword fern and deer fern if anyone is interested. Sword ferns need a fair amount of space and do well under evergreens. Deer fern (below) are much smaller.



Alice, if you are still on this site, I can bring you a bunch of kinnikinnik, it is always getting away from me and likes a nice sunny slope. I think it will root quite easily or you can probably just jam fresh stems directly into the ground. Seems pretty bullet proof to me.

@JamesAcclaims, hopefully you can come and meet some of your new fellow gardeners.

Who's in?

Just joined the forum!! I live in Bellingham, WA and am looking for perennial plants!! I live in a condo complex and we need to augment our stark landscape with deer and drought resistant plants like Echinacea, Agastache, Ice plant, hosta, etc. I'm happy to help anybody dig up plants and split them!! Thanks!! Trish

I'm up for hosting first part of April is good.

Julia, thanks for the host offer - your place would be wonderful. Shall we try to nail down a date - April 7, 8, 14, or 15? Does anyone have conflicts with any of these dates? Julia, do you have a preference?

Warm welcome Electrachef! I'm about halfway between you and Springcolor and we could certainly carpool from my place on down. What part of B'Ham? My son lives between Lake Whatcom Park and Whatcom Falls Park and has daily deer visits. Virtually everything in his yard came from mine, I'll try to remember what has survived.

Would the 7 work? @Pitstil are you off that day?

Electrachef Welcome! I bet you could get some great plants. Unfortunately I have no deer problem so don't really know what would work. The easy-care drought resistant stuff I definitely have! Pretty much everything in my yard has to survive without regular watering once established. It is about an hour from Bellingham (depending on where you live) .

Julia thanks so much for offering to host this year. It will be so much fun to see what you are growing now.

Ugh I work March 31, April 1, April 7 and April 8. I doubt I can switch these shifts. I am off Sunday March 25 and April 14 and 15. if it worked better for everyone else I could bring plants to Julia's an earlier day as she only lives about a mile from me! and my sister Alice would know what I would want. Mid April is seeming perhaps a bit late? Any day of the week is sometimes okay for me, I work crazy variable shifts. My sister Alice telecommutes M-F, is available any of those weekend days. She is on vacation right now, can't remember her login name for garden.org, we will have to wait til next week to directly involve her on the thread.

Two days ago I did a first for me, starting some tomato seeds under my new grow lights in the basement! I have a friend who wanted some tasty cherry tomatoes, so I picked two out from Territorial Seeds- "Sweet Million" the old standby, and "Orange Paruche" which won last years taste test. I started a few extra so will bring them if they all grow. I did a lot of Sweet Million but the Paruche they were stingy so I will only have a few. Will update if they work out.

I couldn't stand it, I looked around in old threads and found my sister Alice- her screen name here is just "Ali".

Anyway I am excited as usual about the swap. I need to do some work out in the gardens, and should have some divisions to share. Also possibly some houseplants.

I hope some of the folks from the Seattle area can make it this year. Possibly those from farther afield might make the trek too? Could combine it with other gardening stuff like a visit to the Rhododendron Species garden. Also possibly Keeping it Green Nursery in Warm Beach near here is open Fridays and Saturdays this spring (I need to get over there myself). If one wanted a day on the other side of the water, Heronswood in Kingston this year allows self tours on Fridays and Saturdays, and how about Far Reaches Farms in Port Townsend usually open Thursdays-Saturdays in April. Oh I need a road trip myself!

I'm going to be gone the March the 25 so let's make it April 15th.

@Patty and @gg5 interested incoming?

Has anyone heard from @RickCorey lately? I know he migrates around different forums, but I haven't seen his name pop up for quite a long while.

And a special invite to our 'newer' PNW members for whom we don't have faces to the names: @brinybay @lauriebasler Please add others I may have missed. Everyone is welcome, just a low-key event to exchange extra plants, tour Julia's garden (always lovely) and gab about plants. @gg5 hope you can make it, I haven't seen you since the flower show a couple years ago. I have your lovely Seattle Sunset iris which hopefully this year will bloom for me, it's been slow but healthy.

I have a son's Wedding in Mexico in April. I am so glad to see a gathering to attend to for us PNW people, and though I am 2 or 3 hrs away, I would always do my best to come. This year, is very unusual and I am just too excited to focus on anything but being available to the kids and any plans or preparations we need done to take to the ceremony.

It's awesome to see you guys making a get together happen. Next Time! Can't wait to see posts of the event and what I missed. If any one south, like Olympia or Elma does go, please let me send some Elijah Blue ornamental grass to share. I will deliver. These perform so well with such ease for me, I wish everyone could enjoy them.

Laurie, what part of Mexico will the ceremony be? How fun!

I'm in!
See you April 15.
I hope we have a lot of people. I would volunteer to pick anyone up at the train station in Everett.
I will try to update my plant list a bit so requests can be made.

Hi there, it sounds like fun! Not sure I could make it this year as Ive crammed so many events into this Spring! Ill watch this thread, and see what happens with my schedule. Sounds like fun!

Hi Tiffany
I hope you can make it. I sure have enjoyed the two I have been to. Last year we did it at my place. Feel free to come even if you are too busy to bring anything, it's informal and as much a get-together as a swap.
Tiffany and Laurie- There is always next year!

Does anyone need/want some Crocosmia 'Lucifer'? It needs a lot of room to really shine, gets over 5' tall and wants to be in a large vase shape. Tends to lean into neighboring plants, so a bit of a thug. I love the bright orange-red color which pairs nicely with other bold colored summer flowers.

Here it is behaving nicely a few years ago:


This was last year, clearly overcrowded and needing thinning:

Hi @Bonehead:

It will be in Cabo, at a resort the kids have fallen in love with. They claim it won't be like Animal House!
I know you guys are going to have such a great time, and I wish I was able to come.

I have always wanted to grow your Lucifer plant, but was not sure I had a suitable spot. I love the garden setting you have placed yours in Deb.

I have Sons in Everett, near Albertsons. If anyone is near there, I could probably drop by some ornamental grass, if wanted, some time before the swap.

Thank you Pistil!

I love crocosmia 'Lucifer!' If I do make it I will take a few!
The resident mole (Sadly, thats 'mole' in the singular--I pretend my yard is harboring a herd/flock/clowder/litter/pack/pod/swarm of moles...but we all know it's just one. One mega-metro-super mole) dug an 8 lane highway under my crocs, so many died before I knew about the unauthorized construction project. :(

Best thing about crocosmia 'Lucifer' is watching the hummingbirds hang out, drinking the nectar like it's a juice bar at the gym. So cute!!
I plant them behind a group of azaleas and lavendar. When the shrubs are done flowering and things look a lil dull, out come the crocosmia blooms, and the shrubs hold them upright.