One-of-a-Kind Cuplet Fern Seed & Sapling Swap in Sanford
Cali Adams
We are always brainstorming new ideas to not only get our existing members involved and excited to be a part of our chapter, but also to invite the public to consider joining our chapter so they can participate with us! Earlier this year, I had the idea to host a plant swap event; I recalled my experience from a previous plant swap with another group of gardeners a few years ago, and I wanted to recreate the fun we had and share it with our members!
The turnout was a wonderful start for this kind of event; 17 people joined us on Sunday, October 16th at the Seminole County IFAS Extension Office in Sanford, FL—the same location where we hold our in-person member meetings.
We asked members to donate $5 for a ticket so we could recoup some costs, and we asked everyone to try to bring a few plants to contribute to the swap. We also provided extra plants, in case anyone did not have something to bring. Our goal was that everyone who came, left with new plants to add to their yards to increase the native plant diversity and plantings in our service area.
Many attendees brought lots of seeds, rooted cuttings, seedlings, and divided plants that they collected from their own gardens. We filled almost every table with plants for everyone to walk around, chat, share plants and seeds, and get garden advice.
There were many kinds of plants not usually found at our regular plant sales or common at native nurseries, since quite a few of our members have a knack for collecting special plant specimens or their own property from which they collect naturally occurring plants.
It was a lovely time and a good learning experience for us to bring this kind of event back again in the future! The end result was satisfying, watching all of the attendees leave with loads of new plants and knowing that we are capable of always finding impactful ways of further accomplishing our mission to increase native plant diversity in Seminole and West Volusia counties.
