The Austin Pond Society-Annual Plant Swap, April 2015

Plants in the Plant Swap 2015 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Well it has finally happened. The Austin Pond Societies Annual Plant Swap has come and gone and thanks to Barb Lenhardt and her many volunteers, went off very smoothly.As is always the custom, the set up was on the lawn next to the Zilker Meeting Room and participants were asked to drop off their goodies directly to this spot. The many volunteers arrived to set up at 5:30 PM and immediately got to work putting out and filling the portable ponds and putting down the protective tarps so that the lawn would not get damaged. For thirty minutes or so, there was a steady stream of members bringing in their wares while others were wandering around making mental notes of what they would like to pick out for themselves when their time arrived.

At 6:30, our resident chef, Laura ably assisted by her husband, Stefan, served hot dogs on a bun with all of the fixin’s. I don’t normally eat hot dogs but was hungry enough to have one of them and I have to say, it was very enjoyable. It tasted good enough that I had to fight the urge to go back for a second. I missed out on desert but probably that’s a good thing.

There was not much in the way of business when Jeannie Ferrier brought us to order at 7:00 PM. We did have one really good announcement that John, our ex-Parliamentarian had been busy recruiting and had talked a lady by the name of Cynthia Bennett into filling the open position. Welcome Cynthia, we are glad you are with us to keep us in line during our unruly Board Meetings. Turns out that we had new family membership and a returning husband and wife team who had been away for a while, also rejoined. Barb went over the rules of the Plant Swap more to remind everyone what was allowed and what was not. It was almost like the start of a Marathon or similar type race with many members standing waiting and straining at the bit for the word “Go”, and without further ado, they were off with the volunteers having first dibs.

Plant Swap April 2015 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

There was so much stuff, pond plants, garden plants, cactus and even some tadpoles that there was no real need other than getting the article of choice, for any particular order as in the end, a lot of stuff went home with the original owners. Our policy is that if no one new claims what you bring in, you, as the donator have to be responsible to take it back home with you. That happened to me as not all of the Iris, Angelica and Thalia were taken. Luckily for me, I have a friend who was looking for some plants so I made a quick stop on the way home to drop them off.

Following the Swap, the same volunteers made short work of cleaning up the lawn, folding the tarps and rolling up the ponds, leaving it as though nothing had been on it that evening. All in all, the Swap went very well and I truly believe that everyone got what they wanted and probably a lot more.I wandered around and took a lot of pictures and videos of both the business part of the meeting and the swap itself. I had already viewed all of the offerings and quite honestly, could not see anything that I desperately wanted. My yard and ponds are already pretty full and there are many plants that I can’t put in the ponds because the big Koi have a fun time in destroying them almost as fast as I put them in the water.

Judging by the very happy members as they carried their new-found goodies to their cars, the Plant Swap was an enormous success and thanks have to go to Barb Lenhardt and her merry band of volunteers for making it happen. Thanks to you all. Now let’s get ready for the Pond Tour.