Plant Exchange

Plant Exchange plants I received, perfectly packages and arrived safely!

I am doing the Happy Dance!!! It’s fun to find a box full of plants at your mailbox! Check out the pictures of the beautiful plants I received in my trade~! In case you missed my post last week, Plant Exchange , I was looking to trade Lemon Lime hostas for variegated bearded iris.

Elizabeth commented that she had reblooming German Iris, “Stairway to Heaven” to trade and was interested in the Lemon Lime hosta. We emailed and agreed on the trade, I would send her a bunch of eyes of Lemon Lime hosta and she would send me two bearded iris. Next step for us was to prepare and ship the plants.

The above and below pictures are the plants I received from Elizabeth, are they just beautiful! I am very happy with the trade!! She also included as an extra gift, a Begonia. I got the Begonia planted right away and the iris were planted today.

Thank you so much for trading with me Elizabeth!

Reblooming German Iris, “Stairway to Heaven” and Begonia

As you can see in the above picture, she cut the fans on the iris to help them survive the trip to me. By the way, Elizabeth loves the outdoors, excellent photographer, gardener and blogger. She has also posted about our trade, check out her post, Forest Garden Blog.

I shipped the Lemon Lime hostas (above left) and an extra gift, a good size Japanese Iris!

I also cut the Japanese Iris fans to help the iris survive the shipping. My package arrived at her home today, got an email saying that FedEx delivered the package safely to her today. The plants all made the trip beautifully!! She is going to plant the hosta in a containers and was going to give some thought on where to plant the iris before planting.

We were both very happy with the trade and have already talked about doing another trade. Trading is fun and well worth the effort! 🙂

Now on to proposing another trade! Ok, for my second trade this is what I have;

HAVE:  Japanese-Iris-Jin-Yu, Siberian Iris, Agapanthus Stevie Wonder lily of the Nile and Lemon Lime Hosta. The Japanese-Iris-Jin-Yu is a mature plant as well as the Agapanthus and hosta. The Siberian iris are good size but not full grown. If you are interested in trading please leave a comment letting me know and list what you have for trade. Below here are a few plants, seedlings I am looking for but just make me an offer!

Helleborus
Variegated Bearded Iris
Oxblood Lily bulbs
Crinum Lilies
Striped Solomon’s Seal
Iris cristata
Lily of the Valley
Pink Paniculata Hydrangea seedling
Japanese Maple seedlings
Walnut Tree seedlings
Blueberry seedlings
Black Bamboo

 

Japanese-Iris-Jin-Yu

Agapanthus Stevie Wonder lily of the nile

Siberian Iris

 

The Plant Exchange provides a place where you can offer plants, seed, cuttings and bulbs for trade and make requests for what you are seeking. It’s fun, you offer a plant, seed, cuttings, bulbs to trade for free in exchange for plants, seed cuttings or bulbs in return.

If you are interested, in a “Plant Exchange”, you can post a comments on this page include details of what you have to trade and what you are looking for. If someone is interested, they will comment and email you. Be sure that you include your email so that you can email each other and work out the details of the trade and exchange shipping addresses.

Sorry but I can not be responsible for your trades, trading is done at users’ discretion. Michael’s Woodcraft has no control or responsibility over trades arranged here. Keep in mind some traders may let you down, let’s hope that doesn’t happen, please be fair in your trade. Other might send a free gift, an extra plant that they think you would enjoy having in your garden! 🙂

The rain has set in for the weekend here on the mountain, our local forecast shows 100% rain today and tomorrow. Great for the garden 🙂 Enjoy your weekend!

 “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”  – Ronald Reagan

 

 

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Lemon Lime and Sum & Substance

 

Lemon Lime Hosta

All of my hostas are looking great! All of the small to medium size hostas have completely emerged but the large to huge hostas are still unfurling their leaves.

Lemon Lime is a small hosta with wavy yellow-green pointed leaves that grows anywhere from 5 to 10 inches tall. It has a tightly formed clump and makes a great border plant. In mid summer pale lavender flowers appear atop a 13 to 15 inch scape.

Hosta are my favorite leaf plants. I have been growing hosta since 1992 and belong to the American Hosta Society as well as our local hosta society. Between 1996 and 2007 I was into hybridizing hosta and had over 1200 different variety of hosta, nearly 2000 plants not including the 1500 to 2000 seedlings I was growing. I actually still have tens of thousands of hosta seed in the freezer in small envelopes, labeled with all of the crossing of plants.

During my years of hybridizing I registered several plants with the American Hosta Society. I don’t grow as many plants any more but I do love growing them so I wanted to share a few pictures!

Sum and Substance Hosta

Sum and Substance is a huge hosta that will grow to a height of 3 to 4 feet under the right conditions. The Sum and Substance above is 6 feet is diameter and nearly 4 feet tall. These pictures don’t really do this plant justice. The leaves are huge, the largest leaf this plant is 16 inches wide and 21-1/4 inches long. Later in the summer there will be lavender flowers on tall scapes. Sum and Substance can grow in full sun but you will more than likely get some burning on the edges of the leaves and it will require more water. Ideal conditions would be morning sun and afternoon shade.

Hostas will thrive in acidic soil and will grow larger than normal under ideal soil conditions as well as the right amount of water and fertilizer. They love coffee grinds mixed into the soil and fish emulsion often. When watering do not get water on the leaves especially during the hot time of the day.

If you want to learn more about hostas I would suggest you join the American Hosta Society.

I will post more hosta pictures in the up coming week!

Enjoy your weekend, be sure to have some fun and laugh!

 

Check out my Bluebird Houses, they make great gift and you will enjoy watching the Bluebird nest!