Spring Plant Swap to Take Place in the $MART ART Space
April in Garrett County always arrives a little quietly. The snow recedes, the ground softens, and before long, there are small signs everywhere. Gray gives way to green, and slowly we begin to spot snowdrops, crocus, tulips, and daffodils poking up through last year’s leaves. Birds, bugs, and even the frogs return as buds form on branches, and in the air, you can sense nature’s cycle starting again.
This time of year, people begin to reemerge from their own winter cocoons, bundled up in their homes. We start to step back outside into the sunshine and reconnect with the land, but also with each other.
On April 24 and 25 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, the Garrett County Arts Council will host a Plant Swap in the $MART ART Space in downtown Oakland, timed with the week of Earth Day. It is a simple gathering with a simple idea. Bring what you have and share it.
Gardeners with extra perennials, houseplant lovers with cuttings to spare, seed savers, and beginners just getting started are all welcome. Both indoor and outdoor plants are encouraged, along with propagations, seeds, and divisions. All plants and cuttings should be healthy and well cared for, ready to thrive in a new home.
You do not need to arrive with much. You can take part with a single clipping, a rooted propagation, a packet of seeds, or even just an empty flowerpot that no longer matches your home aesthetic.
What matters most is the exchange. Conversations happen, tips are shared, and plants find new homes. It is the kind of gathering that feels natural here, where knowledge is passed hand to hand and season to season.
In rural Appalachian communities, this kind of sharing has always been part of life. Gardens were never just individual efforts. Seeds were saved, starts were passed along, and neighbors helped neighbors bring things into bloom. That sense of stewardship and care for the land is part of what has shaped this place over generations.
Garrett County is known for its forests, its water, and its changing seasons. People come here to hike the trails, to fish and kayak, to spend long days on the lake and quiet evenings under an open sky. They come for the beauty, for the sense of space, for the way the mountains hold you for a while. But those who live here know it is something deeper than scenery or recreation. It is something we take part in, tend to, and carry forward. Something to protect. It asks something of us in return, to care for the land in ways both visible and quiet, so that what we love here can endure.
That connection is also found in the way people show up for one another. In small gatherings, in shared knowledge, in the quiet understanding that what we grow, make, and care for is better when it is shared.
The Plant Swap is one small way to continue that tradition. A way to share what is growing, to learn from one another, and to stay connected to the land and to the people around us who mind it.
That connection carries into the following week with a special exhibit in The Gallery Shop, reflecting on landscape through photography, drawing, and textile work. On May 1 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, First Friday will feature Heather Togbetse of Open HeART Space in Cumberland, exploring how art can support healing and renewal.
Programs like the Artist Third Thursday series, First Friday, and other community-centered events offered by the Garrett County Arts Council are made possible through the support of the Maryland State Arts Council, the Garrett County Government, and private donors. The continued success of these programs relies on the support of friends and neighbors throughout our community.
If you would like to become a member of the Garrett County Arts Council or make a gift to help sustain these efforts, please visit https://garrettarts.org/membership/
Written by Garrett County Arts Council.