12th Annual Toledo Plant Exchange

(Drop off plants from 8:30 to 10)

(enter on Adams St.)

    The 12th annual Plant Exchange will be at 10 a.m. Saturday May 7, rain or shine, in the underground parking garage of the Main Library in downtown Toledo.

    Attendees will receive a few free plants, and more if they bring plants and gardening-related items to share.

    Spring is the ideal time to divide perennials, share extra seeds or seedlings, and find a home for ornamental grasses, shrubs, or small trees that no longer suit your landscape. Hostas, cannas, daylilies, ferns, groundcovers, grasses, coneflowers, iris, daisies, rose of sharons, raspberries, strawberries, black-eyed susans, and forget-me-nots are almost certain to be among the bounty.

    Chris Coultrip has brought a couple of truckloads from her lush Perrysburg garden all 12 years. That figures to be more than a thousand plants she’s dug, potted, and labeled that now beautify countless gardens.

    Coultrip, one of the event’s organizers, knows how gardening nourishes body, mind, and soul. She encourages new and experienced soil tenders to come and take home something new. Plants are organized into a dozen groups such as sun or shade, groundcovers, edibles, trees, grasses, and bulbs.

    Lucas County Master Gardener Volunteers will answer questions. And several organizations (including Tree Toledo, offering young, potted trees) will staff tables with gardening-related information.

    People can drop off labeled, weed-free plants and gently-used garden and yard paraphernalia from 8:30 to 10 a.m. in the  library’s parking garage on Adams Street between Michigan and 10th streets.      Experienced attendees know to arrive no later than 9:45 for best pick of the stock which is often cleared out by 10:40.