inda Gehres moved into her home on the east side of Jim Thorpe more than 40 years ago.

Upon her arrival, Gehres recalled, there wasn’t “a whole lot there,” and the soil was poor. But she knew how to teem life from her barren backyard. Her parents were gardeners, and at the time, she was working at a gardening center.

Gehres just needed to put in some time. And a lot of elbow grease.

Nowadays, Gehres receives compliments about her thriving garden, or as she jokingly calls it, “property.”

“I think it’s probably about a third of an acre,” she said. In fact, her efforts proved so fruitful, she started donating plants to the Carbon County Environmental Education Center.

Eventually, Jeannie Carl, a naturalist at the center, suggested putting on a plant swap, where novice and experienced gardeners alike could share plants, tips and an afternoon over their shared interest. That idea turned into a biannual exchange, held every fall and spring.

Gehres and Carl have lost track of how long they’ve hosted the swap. “I’ve been coming here for quite a few years,” Gehres said.

“I bring masses of things,” she said.

Come Saturday afternoon, the pavilion located adjacent to the center building, where the swap was held, was quiet. Leftover plants were consolidated to one table, as opposed to the six the swap started out with that morning.

“We filled up the whole car, brought them in, and there isn’t much left,” Gehres said.

That morning had bustled with gardeners and their questions.

“It was like Black Friday,” Carl said.

Carl said along with giving local growers a chance to share plants and information, many of the plants are native, which lessens the risk of planting invasive species.

Lisa McGinley, of Lansford, has been participating in the swap for years. An avid gardener herself, she said she walks around her garden every morning, speaking to and checking on her many plants.

“It’s my therapy,” McGinley said. “You have a bad day? Go out and play in the dirt.”

One plant Mcginley brought from her garden was purple basil, or so she thought. Gehres told her it was actually a perilla, adding that it was a hardy annual from the mint family.

“You always learn things here. Always,” McGinley said. “It’s a great thing.”