/Courtesy of Midtown Neighborhood Association
The Midtown Neighborhood Association (MNA) will be hosting their annual Perennial Plant and Seed Exchange on May 16 at the Midtown Green Park. The event runs from 10 a.m. to noon and is open to the community.
Kelly Otto, executive director and community organizer of the MNA, says the annual exchange is the best way this early in spring to get out, meet new people in the neighborhood, while at the same time potentially making your yard more beautiful.
Otto says she has been gardening for 15 years and has met many people who stop to see her plot full of fruits, flowers and vegetables.
“We have people come who have never stuck a shovel in the ground and have no idea about plants, and others who all they do is garden when the ground isn’t frozen,” Otto says.
The event began in 2003 as a response to residents’ discussions on plants that were overbearing and spreading quickly in their gardens. Otto suggested the plant and seed exchange as a way to dig up things they have too much of and share the excess with other neighbors.
Duane DeRoo, a resident of the Ashby Row neighborhood in Midtown, has a background in horticulture and frequently attended the exchange.
"It’s nice to swap perennials and plants with the neighbors from other parts of Midtown and save money from having to buy them at a retail garden center," DeRoo says.
Aside from the exchange, there will be books available for participants on topics ranging from organic gardening to the differences in food versus flower gardening.
Otto says the biggest resource is the people who come to the exchange who share their hands on experiences with other people, so she encourages all community members to stop by.
For beginning gardeners, DeRoo says it's important to have a vision for what you want your landscape to look like and paticipants at the exchange can share their experience to help accomplish this.
Attendees bringing seeds and plants to the exchange need to write caretaking information on the containers. Having seeds and plants is not a requirement for the event.
For more information, visit the MNA’s Facebook page.
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