Louisa Fordyce of Loyalhanna is interested in attracting pollinators, both to her own garden and to the perennial pollinator garden maintained by the Delmont Public Library.

So she was very excited to learn about tithonia, an annual plant also called the Mexican sunflower.

“It comes in all different shades of orange and yellow,” she said. “Butterflies in particular love that plant, and I only learned about it through a seed swap.”

Seed swaps bring together gardeners looking to expand their annual plantings. As a Penn State Extension master gardener as well as president of the Delmont library board, Fordyce said she was immediately interested when librarian Denni Grassel suggested hosting one.

“A lot of our local gardeners grow heirloom variety plants, and the seeds can be very hard to find commercially,” Fordyce said. “So if you go to a seed swap, a lot of times you can find seeds for plants you haven’t heard of, and varieties that are old and reliable.”

Beverly Romig is a member of the Delmont Diggers group that created the library’s pollinator garden and maintains it throughout the year. She said the seed swap seemed like a natural fit.

“We had milkweed, both local and tropical, for our monarch caterpillars,” Romig said. “People were asking how they could plant it in their gardens, and figured, we have the seeds right here, so we began putting the idea together.”

The Delmont library’s seed swap will take place at 10 a.m. Feb. 12 at the library, 75 School St.

“If you have seeds saved, show up, share them and see what you can find,” Fordyce said.

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