Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennials Rochester Perennial Exchange Group

Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennial Exchange

Andre Alves from Rochester NY welcomes you to the Rochester Perennial Exchange Group. The Rochester Perennial Exchange Group focuses on perennial exchange in the greater Rochester area, anyone is welcome to the group and no previous gardening experience is required.

If you live in Rochester NY or any of the surrounding suburbs we encourage you to join our group and start the plant exchange. We all know how expensive perennials can be if they are purchased at big box stores or specialty gardening stores.

Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennial Exchange Garden

Perennial plants are wonderful to have since they always come back  the following year (in most cases they do.). In a lot of cases wild animals can feed of them, a good example is Deer that likes to feed on Hosta plants. If you live in or around the Pittsford NY area this problem may apply to you, since the Deer population has increased a lot in the last few years.

Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennial Exchange Big Perennials

“The biggest problem I had in my yard was that the perennial plants would get really big, in the beginning it was easy all I had to do was divide them and plant the other half / quarter of the plant in a different location. Every 2 years we would need to divide and transplant plants.

Now you have 2 or 4 plants that will grow just as fast and will need to be divided again, what do you do?” says Andre Alves from Rochester NY.

Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennial Exchange Plant Trade

The answer for this question is easy; you trade for different plants and get your yard looking great. The idea of perennial plant exchange group in Rochester NY came from that problem. If we all can divide our plants and later  trade them with someone else, we can get gorgeous flower gardens in Rochester NY.

Andre Alves from Pittsford NY has over 90 varieties of perennials at his home on the 12 Corners in Brighton NY.

Perennials Rochester Perennial Exchange Group Andre Alves Rochester NY

Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennial Exchange Growing from Seeds

“Many of my plants I grew from scratch, I would look up an online seed dealer and purchase rare and unusual perennial seeds. For the majority of the seeds planted I did very good, I had a 90% success rate however at the end I ended up with way too many plants. A seed envelop can get you 20-40 good perennial plants for around $2-$5 dollars. If you purchase the same plant at the big box store or at a gardening supply store they will cost you from $10-$100, many of the rare perennials I own cannot be found anywhere to be purchased” mentions Andre Alves from Rochester NY. Andre tried growing perennial plants from scratch (seeds) and did very well.

Andre Alves Rochester NY Perennial Exchange Nursery

The only downside of using seeds is that the plants usually need about one year in order to start flowering and looking good. Some of the Fox Gloves Andre Alves planted took about a year before they were flowering and got to be a decent size. If you have the patience to wait or have plenty of perennial plant surplus you can trade with the fellow Rochester NY plant lovers and have a gorgeous garden by the time you get done.

If you like to become a member of the Rochester NY Perennial Exchange Group, you can look us up on Facebook. The best times to divide and move perennial plants are usually in the fall or early spring. By moving the plants while they are dormant increases your chances of a successful plant transplant. We can’t wait to see everyone again in the spring, until then be safe.