City Wide Plant Exchange

Sponsored By
Gardening Volunteers of South Texas

If you are new to the Festival of Flowers, the annual City-Wide Plant Exchange is coordinated by the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas...and you don't have to live within San Antonio to participate!

Each year, more than 1,000 plants are exchanged between 9am and 3pm on the day of the event. You can trade as often as you like, and carts and wagons are permitted.

Last year, new rules and guidelines were released to improve the selection and quality of the plants offered at the swap. Find the updates below. Highlights include:

• New limits on the number of items. To encourage variety!
• Plant and seed tickets are interchangeable. More choices and flexibility!
• Common plants must be adult size and attractive. A nice full African violet is a great plant. A 3 inch tall spider plant is not one most people want to take home.
• Baby plants only accepted if unusual. Unusual plants are always welcome by experienced gardener looking for something different.

The exchange runs from 9am-3pm. Remaining plants will be on sale between 3-5pm. In a nutshell, you bring healthy plants/bulbs/seeds and exchange them for tickets which you trade in on plants/bulbs/seeds which other people have brought to the exchange. The rules for what you can bring and how you trade follow.

Rules

# of items per participant

• 20 total plants, bulbs, or other plant material.
• 10 seed packets per participant.
• No more than 5 packets of the same seeds.
• No more than 5 of the same plant, bulb or other plant material.

Trading

• You will receive one ticket for plants in containers up to 1 gallon.
• You will receive two tickets for plants in 1 gallon containers.
• One package of bulbs/corms/tubers is worth 1 ticket. Two may be given if unusually large or rare.
• You will receive one ticket for any seed packet.
• Plant and seed tickets are interchangeable.

Plant Size

• Container size 4 inches up to 1 gallon.
• Plants should be attractive, healthy plants that you would be happy to bring home yourself.
• Baby plants will only be swapped if they are unusual. For example, baby airplane plants, aloe, jades etc. will not be swapped.
• Baby plants must have several sets of adult leaves, and still be sized appropriately for a minimum 4 inch container.
• All plants must be sized appropriately for their container.
• Common plants must be full and adult size.
• Plants should be established in their containers (not transplanted within a week of the swap).
• Plants must be rooted in their normal growing medium. Generally, this is soil, but water garden plants are accepted if they are packaged well and will not leak. (Wet floors create a safety hazard).

Bulbs/corms/tubers

• Package these in labeled bags of 3 or 5 bulbs. Put 3 per bag if unusual, 5 per bag if common or prolific. If unsure, do 5.
• Other rules--same as apply to plants.

Seed Packets

• Each packet should have at least 10 seeds per packet. For plants that produce large quantities of seeds (e.g. sunflowers), please be more generous.
• Seeds must have either been harvested or purchased for the 2009 growing season, for best viability.
• Please do not bring seeds that will not breed true (e.g. hybrids For example, hybrid marigolds will not breed true.) If you are not sure, it is best not to bring them.
• Please do not bring common seeds such as Texas Mountain Laurel, mesquite, lawn grass.
• Popular seeds include: native wildflowers, herbs, unusual, or easy germinating seeds

Labeling

• Label your plants/seeds/bulbs with as much information as you have for their new owners. Plants must be labeled with some information before they will be accepted.
• For seed packets, on the envelope/container, clearly print the NAME of the plant, VARIETY if you know it, COLOR of the flowers (if any), and the approximate DATE gathered (season and year will be fine).
• Everything must be labeled before it will be accepted.

Commonly asked questions

• Can I bring water garden plants? Yes, as long as you leave a container for them, and bag them so they can be handled without dripping water.
• What sort of plants do people really want? The following plants are always in demand: herbs, roses, xeric plants, and heirloom plants. Unusual plants are always welcome.
• What sort of plants are not swapped? The following plants will NOT be accepted aloe, prickly pear, kalanchoes (due to lack of interest by other swappers), plants that are sickly, have bugs, or are not well established.
• Can I store my plants anywhere? Regrettably, due to capacity, plant swap staff will not be able to hold plants for you at the booth, or assist you with getting plants from your car to/from the swap. However, there is a Plant & Package checkroom located in the lobby of the show and carry-out assistance is available.
• I have a question? Email plantswap@satx.rr.com

Disclaimer GVST and the Festival of Flowers cannot guarantee the viability of either seeds or plants.

Interested in learning more about GVST? Click Here