Foxgloves currently available through Plant-Share.com
Dina, a long-time Laurelhurst resident, recently started a free neighborhood plant sharing exchange business called Plant-Share.com, serving Laurelhurst and other nearby neighborhoods.
Dina told us her new business, which she says is her third career, is "a way for neighbors to give their extra plants to neighbors who want them...and it's free.
"Plant-Share.com is a hub designed to connect neighbors who have extra plants to give to neighbors who want them. My website is designed to serve any neighborhood anywhere in the world. So far, we have members throughout the city as well as nationally and internationally," she added.
Recently about 100 beautiful, blue bearded iris from a member in Windermere (valued at $1,500) went to a happy home in Laurelhurst", Dina said.
She writes:
I've gardened all my life: in childhood first as a chore and then as a source of fresh food; in adulthood for pleasure, exercise and home upkeep. My second career as a plant biologist began with plant anatomy, segued to physiology, development and morphogenesis, and culminated with studies in genomics.
As a gardener and biologist, I’ve always shared plants with friends and neighbors. It just seems natural to give them away rather than throw them away. My own garden is full of stories about the people with whom I’ve shared these marvelous living creatures.
Last year, I was in our neighborhood City People’s Mercantile and a woman was buying a Bergenia. We struck up a conversation and rather than buying one $14.99 plant, she came to my house and I gave her 50 of them for free! She was happy and so was I as I had way too many.
A short while later, I needed some bamboo poles. I couldn’t buy the black bamboo poles I wanted, but got connected to Syd in Wallingford who wanted to get rid of some. Driving home with 50 bamboo poles, I added up the material shared and the disposal costs avoided and figured that these two exchanges were worth over $1,550.
I began to think - why not make connections I had had, possible for everyone? Could I figure out a comfortable, safe way that neighbors would enjoy sharing plants with each other while honoring everyone’s need for privacy?
I began to dream about a website that would list plants, not the people, just the plants, so that the plants, and the stories they tell, could connect neighbors who have them to neighbors who want them. I founded Plant-Share LLC in April 2014 and began designing and building Plant-Share.com in May 2014.
To participate, you join by giving contact information and telling your preferences for how and where you want to share.
We list your plants and when a neighbor wants your plants, we connect you using your contact preferences.
If you're interested in a plant on our Plants! page or an item in the Garden Garage, click on View Details and you can order it.
All items come from neighbors. So far we have about 75 plant species, from grasses to groundcovers and over 20 items in the Garden Garage, which are all easily searchable by species, color, ease of growth, habit, or name.
The website also includes a Blog, a Plant Finder page for those who need help with plant identification, finding a plant for a tricky spot, and a page for Member Stories and Fun Factoids.
Conceptually Plant-Share.com is not new, it just taps into the enduring human adventure of sharing life through plants and the stories they bring to our seasons. I hope Plant-Share.com makes sharing easier, our stories more plentiful, our neighborhoods stronger, our connections to life all the richer.
For more information go here.
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