Search for plant community spawns Mid-Missouri Plant Exchange event

Laurel Zito, left, and Michelle Miller peruse indoor tropical plants Jackson Coyle had on sale Sunday afternoon, June 5, 2022, at the Mid-Missouri Plant Exchange Meet and Greet. The event brought plant enthusiasts together to trade or swap plants with each other, or purchase new plants and items from vendors. (Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo)
Laurel Zito, left, and Michelle Miller peruse indoor tropical plants Jackson Coyle had on sale Sunday afternoon, June 5, 2022, at the Mid-Missouri Plant Exchange Meet and Greet. The event brought plant enthusiasts together to trade or swap plants with each other, or purchase new plants and items from vendors. (Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo)


When Avery Coble settled into Jefferson City in April, she began searching for ways to get connected with other plant lovers.

Reaching like-minded people through plant-focused Facebook groups, Coble began organizing the Mid-Missouri Plant Exchange Meet and Greet. In addition to plant enthusiasts freely swapping greenery and the knowledge they gained from growing them, community vendors sold handmade goods, exotic plants and macrame textiles Sunday afternoon.

Coble moved back to Jefferson City after living in Nashville, Tennessee, to be close to family amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She had previously lived in Missouri's Capital City for two years.

"I kind of noticed that Jefferson City was missing a little bit of a plant community," she said.

Plant exchanges are common in Nashville, Coble said, and she was looking for that social interaction as a stay-at-home mom in a new community.

Coble was searching for a location to host the plant exchange when she found Brandy Rodriguez, fellow plant enthusiast and owner of The Academy of Innovative Learners. The two met through a local plant enthusiast Facebook group.

"We have a lot of space here and we've always wanted to do something kind of like a farmer's market out here so I reached out to her and said, 'Hey, would you be interested in having it here?'" Rodriguez said.

Coble then shared the event with online plant groups around Mid-Missouri, St. Louis and elsewhere, she said, and people were willing to travel.

Annie Heggemann traveled from Columbia to give away three plants before moving. She heard about the swap from plant-centered Facebook groups and wanted to see what it was about.

"I figured I'd just come out and meet some plant-y people," she said.

Heggemann said she was open to the possibility of taking home a plant, but she needed to "vibe with it" first.

Laurel Zito, of Holts Summit, heard about the exchange from a Facebook group and decided to check it out.

An avid gardener, Zito said she was curious about what she might find.

"It definitely seems like people are in agreement that it is something that the community has been missing," Coble said.

Coble said one of the aspects she appreciates most about a plant swap is the ability to find species or items you typically can't find in stores.

Jackson Coyle, of Columbia, attended the swap as a vendor selling indoor tropical plants. He owns Ethos Plants, a small business specializing in common and rare tropical plants.

Plant swaps are also beneficial for people new to gardening, Coble said, because there's a wealth of knowledge passed between the people that participate. She recalled the first swap she went to in Nashville, where she brought a small box of plants and left with a trunk full of new plants.

"I get home and I'm researching all of these and I actually ended up with some that are relatively rare and I had no idea," Coble said. "But I left that with a lot of new friends that are very like-minded and love to garden."

Rodriguez, who doesn't have a huge success rate with indoor plants, said she was most looking forward to some of the learning that takes place at plant swaps.

"When you bring people together that have different backgrounds and different knowledge about whether it's indoor or outdoor, I think that it's just a great way for the community to come together and teach each other," she said.

Coyle spent time Sunday teaching potential buyers about tropical plants, what to expect when tending to them and best practices for successful maintenance.

Michelle Miller, of Jefferson City, attended the plant swap looking to add to her vegetable garden and walked away with new knowledge of tropical plants.

Miller has taught agriculture at Nichols Career Center for the past year and recently covered a section on plant science. She, like many others throughout the day, spent time talking to vendors and plant enthusiasts about the kind of plants available and best practices for taking care of them.

Coble said she hopes the exchange brings together people with common interests so they can network and further develop the plant community in Jefferson City.

"The biggest reason why I wanted to do this was just the connection with the community," she said. "I'm new here. I don't really know anybody and I wanted to find a way to get to know the community and help the community in some sort of way."

To give back, Coble said she wanted to find a way to connect the swap with a charitable foundation.

In addition to owning an early childhood development center, Rodriguez operates Nourish the Soul, a nonprofit focused on community service.

Founded in 2010, Nourish the Soul started as an offshoot of The Academy of Innovative Learners as a way to teach children the value of giving back, Rodriguez said. Its annual project collected food items and donated them to families in need around the holidays. Nourish the Soul became its own nonprofit last year.

"Up until last year, we just did everything through the school," Rodriguez said. "This year is kind of going to be our very first year where we're potentially going to receive financial donations and donations from the swap to be able to add more to what we've done in the past."

Rodriguez said one of her goals is to offer community classes utilizing the 36-bed garden and live chickens at the academy. She said the plant swap could be a good way to meet potential future instructors or people that might be interested in the classes.

"Since we're very new, as far as reaching out into the community for help and things of that nature, it's taken a little bit of time to get off the ground," Rodriguez said. "So we're hoping to network and meet people who could kind of help us make our vision grow.

"I think it's going to be a really great addition to the community," she continued. "Avery, when she first moved here, was really looking to get something wonderful from where she came from to here, and I think this is a really great thing."

Coble and Rodriguez said they hope to make the plant exchange a monthly event and may expand into other kinds of events, such as plant walks or auctions.

Future plant exchanges will support the nonprofit through vendor fees, Coble said.

Although she's been to many, Coble had never organized a plant swap before and said the addition of a vendor market was something she's never seen.

After hearing about the event through plant-focused Facebook groups, Kelly Phillips, of Auxvasse, traveled to Jefferson City for the plant swap to sell her hand-painted pots as a vendor.

Phillips brought roughly 100 pieces, each of which took between a few hours to a couple days to paint, and was hoping to sell out. She said the plant community tends to support one another and small businesses in the industry.

"This is just a great meet and greet so you get to meet other like-minded individuals," she said. "They have the plants, I've got the pots."

Coble said she's interested in gathering feedback for how future iterations of the plant exchange can be made better. The organizers also plan to make connections with vendors at local farmer's markets in the hopes of bringing them to future events.

"This first one is just kind of dipping our toes in the water a little bit," she said.

  photo  Ricky Valasco and Laurel Zito shop for plants Sonney Hill Houseplants, LLC had for sale Sunday afternoon, June 5, 2022. Various community vendors were invited to the plant swap to sell plants and gardening accessories. (Photo by Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune)
 
 
  photo  Kelly Phillips owns Kelly's Creations, a small pot painting business out of Auxvasse. Phillips brought about 100 pots to sell Sunday, June 5, 2022, at the Mid-Missouri Plant Exchange Meet and Greet. (Photo by Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune)