Tim Pyles dug up 25 of his plants over three days to trade at Tellico Village Garden Club’s first Perennial Exchange event, so he wasn’t going to let the drop in temperature keep him away.

Nor would it stop about 25 other club members from gathering under a pavilion in the Village’s Family Park on Thursday morning, April 4, 2024. Their desire to swap plants like creeping St. John’s wort, tansies and wild black cherry trees wouldn’t be curtailed by a wintry 45-degree morning that popped up after days of warmer weather.

“It’s a little depressing, but we have a heater over here — and we have food and coffee,” Pyles said. “I don’t think anyone is suffering very much.”


Club member Linda Schuessler, who served as a mentor at the event, seconded that opinion. In fact, she saw the cold weather as a positive.

Because it felt like a refrigerator outside, she said, people wouldn’t have to rush home out of fear the plants were baking.

PLANT MORE

The idea for a plant swap had been toyed around with for a couple years by Donna Olson, president of the club, and other gardeners. They decided this spring was the time to go for it.

“We’re trying to get more people interested in it,” Olson said. “A lot of people that move in now are so busy doing other things that we’re trying to encourage people to take a more active interest in gardening.”

There were three rules for members to participate: label the plants you bring; contribute as many plants as you take; and when it’s over, come pick up your leftovers. As implied by the event name, the contributions would ideally be perennials, which are plants that persist for several years.

Pyles, who’s in charge of programming for the club, has a two-word tip for working with perennials: Plant more.

“I love the look, the idea that so many of the perennials that we have will have a blossom that will maybe harden up,” he said. “And if you leave it late into the fall, then it becomes an ornament in the garden. And if it snows, they’re gorgeous.”

Pyles scored a Solomon’s seal and an iron butterfly ironweed he thought looked “really quite interesting.” He contributed Siberian iris and garlic, which may save those who snagged some a trip to the store.

“It’s very prolific at our home, and I thought, now this is a fun thing to take,” Pyles said. “And people will be willing to plant it beside the kitchen out back somewhere, and then harvest it when they’re having a meal.”

This year’s event was organized by Peggy Nicolai, who moved to Tellico Village in February 2023. While this event was open to Garden Club members only, of which there are 150, future events may be open to non-members as well.

For those curious about joining, the mission of the Garden Club is to encourage the love of gardening and improve the environment through educational programs, field trips, publications and maintenance of neighborhood gardens.

Standing outside in the brisk air, Nicolai was already looking ahead. She was thinking about other changes to potentially make at the second event.

“We may have to do a new promotion or something,” she said. “We may have to order a sunny day.”