My free plants from the plant swap
I love getting new plants for my garden, but let’s face it, plants can be expensive. That’s why I am always so excited to organize and participate in the Fairfield County Plant Swap. On Saturday, we held the fall plant swap at the New Canaan Nature Center in New Canaan, CT.
Here’s my bounty – all FREE – from the Plant Swap. While it may not look like much, here’s what I can home with:
- Half a flat of sweet flag (Acorus)
- Lamb ear (Stachys)
- Baptisia australis – A nice big mature plant that I divided into two already
- Astilbe – Another mature specimen that has been divided into four smaller plants
- Sedum – three different varieties
- Meadow Rue (Thalictrum) – Again, another mature specimen that I divided into three smaller plants before I planted them
- Blackberry lily (Belamcandra chinesis) – This is a new plant for me so I am excited to grow it and see how it performs in my garden
- Hosta – I got these four plants for my father-in-law’sgarden since it will be deer candy in my garden and I really don’t need any more plants to try to protect from the deer
This is the second plant swap I’ve participated in this year. I also got some wonderful new plants in June that all thrived in my garden this summer. Because of the Fairfield County Plant Swap, I now have at least a dozen new plants in my garden that would have cost me hundreds of dollars to buy. And I got them all for free.
If you have the opportunity to participate in a plant swap in your community, I encourage you to do so. It’s a great way to meet interesting people who also like to garden and get some new plants to expand your garden. To find a plant swap in your area, visit Plantswap.net or check out GreenThumbTrader.
I’d also like to thank Chris from Colorblends for the generous donation of bulbs that we used as a free raffle prize. To see a photo of Chris and the excited winners, click here. And if you haven’t ordered your bulbs yet, you might want to check out Colorblends – I can tell you firsthand that their bulbs look incredible.
Plant swaps are fun Our only problem is Finding where to put the plants we got. We still have some from a spring swap that have to be planted and a fall swap. We call them porch plants.
Have a good evening,
John
John,
Yes, finding a place to put all these plants is definitely an issue. My strategy is usually to plant them un a ‘good’ spot until I can figure out the ‘perfect’ spot for them. I find that’s half the fun because my plant swap plant can take my garden in a different direction than I originally planned.