The 2011 NARGS Seed Exchange

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As November moves rapidly toward it's conclusion, I thought I'd remind everyone that on December 15 the new online Seed Exchange will be ready for it's initial roll-out. Over the past few years the Seed Exchange has had fewer participants, primarily due to a rather diminished variety of interesting seeds, in particular fewer wild collected seeds. So in an effort to generate more interest we've purchased quite a bit of seed from Alplains for the Seed Exchange, and the variety and quality is unsurpassed. Alan Bradshaw is one of the last seed collectors, and he's been working harder the past couple of years than ever in his lonely effort to bring every worthy species of the American West into cultivation, and this year's collection is probably his best and most varied.

In addition, we've (successfully) solicited seed from a lot of our long time members like John Weiser, Mike Kintgen, and others, and I believe that it will be a truly exceptional selection, so make sure that you plan to participate. As most of you know, NARGS membership is a requirement for participation in the Seed Exchange, so make sure that your membership is paid up, or if you're not a member, contact Bobby Ward and get it done early enough to allow you to have a shot at the seeds you really want.

Comments

Dobak's picture

Dobak (not verified)

Fri, 12/23/2011 - 10:47am

I've just sent the seedlist and orderform to you Maggi. 
By the way, when I looked at your profile, the email address was "hidden".
Regards,
Dave Dobak

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Fri, 12/23/2011 - 12:28pm

I'm using chrome and had no problems with either downloading the list or doing the seed order.

:)

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Fri, 12/23/2011 - 12:50pm

Still no joy downloading the list... but I have it from Dave and also Bill Moyles, with an offer from Lori if I was still stuck...  :) Wonderful kind folks, all! 8)

Peter, I use Firefox mostly, but I tried IE, and Google Chrome too.

I'm just going to close everything down and try again... that may help.  Will report back soon.
In the meantime I have made a seed request, using the very simple system   8) 8) 8) So easy to use!

Later edit: Still no luck with the downloads, I'm afraid.
21.43pm UK time

Jan Jeddeloh's picture

Jan Jeddeloh

Fri, 12/23/2011 - 4:25pm

I placed my order last night and, wow was it slick.  While I had my list already to go I love the "click on Google" feature and ended up changing a few selections because of it.

Now that it's working it's truly impressive.  Everyone involved can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

Jan Jeddeloh

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Fri, 12/23/2011 - 5:24pm

Researching more on the problematic PDF download links, seems that most of the time it's due to a PDF plug-in that is trying to open the PDF within the browser, whether it is Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc. So, there's probably nothing wrong with the actual links nor PDF files themselfs, but in the behavior of PDF browser plugins.  The solution is to set PDFs to open up directly in Adobe Reader instead.

The most reliable way to fix the problem is to do the following:
(ps: for me, doing these steps worked like a charm, then the PDF links worked instantaneously)

1.  Download and install Adobe Reader (do this even if you have other Adobe Acrobat products installed), you need the latest "Reader":
    Download/Install from this link (select your operating system, language, and Reader version (latest version 10.1 is recommended):
    http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

2.  Close your internet browser.

3.  Launch Adobe Reader
    -  Go to the 'Edit' Menu and select 'Preferences'
    -  In the left column select 'Internet'
    -  Uncheck 'Display PDF in browser'
    -  Click OK

4.  Launch your internet browser, and try the links on the NARGS.ORG web page again.

Hopefully this will work for those of you having PDF download problems.  There's lots more information out there on PDF download difficulties, a few more possibilities are listed in this link:
http://library.rice.edu/services/access-to-electronic-resources/troubles...

Beatty's picture

Beatty (not verified)

Sun, 12/25/2011 - 11:38pm

I wondered too about versions of adobe and downloaded the latest greatest from their site but nothing seemed to work.  Then I upgraded my elements 7 to 10 and on there it said to click here for adobe 10.1 and despite downloading from the adobe site I clicked it.  You got it - the seed list finally worked for me!!!  Of course I have already ordered my seed on that oh so slick system.  That worked really well and I think everything one could think of was thought of - it was amazing.  I honestly think this team put a lot of thought into it to make it a great experience but the truth is everyone has a different system and versions and............  Thank you all so much for all you did and the fact that you stuck with it until it worked.  I appreciated the timing of it too - just before Christmas when you have so many personal commitments.  Hope you're all enjoying it :-) 

HughGmail's picture

HughGmail (not verified)

Wed, 12/28/2011 - 4:04pm

I had the opportunity to beta test this ordering system and must say I love the elegance of the process.  My hat off to Chris.  As an IT professional and past web master, it is a huge relief to see that our web is in capable hands.

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Wed, 02/01/2012 - 7:10pm

I just got my seeds today and I'm rubbing my hands in glee!  Tibetia tongolensis, Pulsatilla aurea, Allium cratericola, Penstemon nanus, Callianthemum anemonoides, Onosma albo-roseum, Thalictrum tuberosum... yahoo!!

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 6:39am

Excitement in Aberdeen today as my NARGS seed arrived..... posted  in Pipersville PA on January 25th... delivered in N.E. Scotland on 3rd February... pretty good, huh!??

This is my first NARGS seed in a long time .... don't know how long you folks have been putting those great printed labels on the seed packets, but they are really smart.  No struggling with smudged stamped numbers or awful handwriting... all crystal clear and so much easier to prepare for labelling the seed pots when sowing.
There is resistence to providing these for the SRGC exchange and I cannot understand why.  :-\  Seems a no-brainer to me! So much simpler for the folks with import regs to get the packets named properly too.

Well done NARGS!!  8) 8)

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 8:56am

Oops, in my excitement, I forgot to give thanks to all who make the seedex possible!  Thank you all for your tremendous efforts at collecting a virtual mountain of seed donations, then all the checking, repackaging, labelling, sorting, juggling first and second choices, mailing, and the hundred other steps I don't even know about  - I can't even imagine how it all comes together!  It is so wonderful that membership gives one access to such an absolutely tremendous benefit!  

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 10:18am

As a seed packer for many years, with both the old stamp method and the new labels, I have to say unequivocally, that labels make the process faster, more accurate and more efficient.

A predetermined number of labels for each offering is printed in advance, before the actual seed packing is done.  I can't tell you what the actual methodology is, but that number is (mostly?) based on the number of requests for each particular offering in the past.  This is absolutely wonderful!  No more guessing how many packets to make: if there are only 10 labels, there is no need to make 25 packets.  

And this way, excess seed is not automatically wasted.  If there are lots of seeds for a 10 label item, I might still make 12 packets.  (We can always hand write more, at our discretion.)  The twelve packets then get the seed divided up, lets say 30 seeds per packet.  This, as opposed to the old method, where we would have made many more packets with far less number of seeds per packet, and many of those would have gone unused!  Multiply all that extra, unnecessary time and work by....100?....1000?  You get the picture.  Members are happier when they get more seed in their orders, too.  

On the other hand, when there is relatively little seed of an offering, the labeling system still works in our best interest.  It will tell us (by how many labels are printed for the offering) how best to divide the available seed.  The minimum number of seeds per packet is five.  So, by knowing the number of packets that need to be made, we can adjust the number of seeds per packet to meet the demand.  That can mean that a packet only gets five seeds, but more people get their first choices!  (I will say that when I package seeds such as this, and some individual seed's viability is questionable, I don't count them as part of the "five", but I do include them in the packet.)

Parenthetically, this is the first year that we are not keeping an "overage" packet, where excess seed is kept separately, in case there is a miscalculation that underestimated the number of prospective requests.  With that overage packet, we could then make more packets to fill orders when the labeled packages run out.  I am guessing that by now we have enough past data that makes the need for an overage packet unnecessary.  NARGS has used the printed labeling system since at least 2004.

It's win-win, all the way!  And a special thank you to everyone involved in making and tweaking the program that does all this. Your angels!

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 2:33pm

I have never been a seedpacker (just a backbacker ;) ) but intuitively I assume that Rick is right!

However, my intention was to tell I got the seeds the other day and I am very satisfied! Thank you to everybody involved :D :D :D

(BTW, I got the SRGC seeds today ;) )

Lockwood's picture

Lockwood (not verified)

Sun, 02/12/2012 - 11:28am

My seed from the exchange arrived yesterday.

Thank you so very much to all involved.  Hope to be posting some photos of the offspring in the near future.

Julie

Beatty's picture

Beatty (not verified)

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 5:55pm

Oh what an exciting day!  My husband checked the mailbox and we had naught.  A few hours later our neighbor came with an envelope - the mailman had put it in the wrong box :-)  Yes, my eagerly awaited seeds are here.  I'm just a beginner at seeds or any other form of propagation to be honest but my friend Valerie Melanson who's a nargs member has coached me along.  I'm going to have fun researching how to do the seeds and hopefully may have pictures of some in the future. 

I did get some from the SRGC and I'm proud to say I got two to germinate - a draba breweri and aster stracheyi.  I'm hoping a few more will co operate and encourage me :-)

Thank you to the Seed Team - I felt badly you had a rough start but you truly did an awesome job.

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Tue, 02/14/2012 - 11:34pm

Our seeds arrived on Friday  ;D - after a short visit to AQIS (Aust Quarantine Insopection Service)  :(
3 withheld but 2 are now being released under their "old names" which are on the "accepted" list  :) ; Astragalus loanus unfortunately isn't :'(
cheers
fermi

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 4:06pm

Great news, Linda, and welcome to the site!  I love seeing Erigeron aureus in the wild, definitely one of my favourites!
That's an amazing news story!

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