“Restoring native plant habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity. By creating a native plant garden, each patch of habitat becomes part of a collective effort to nurture and sustain the living landscape for birds and other animals.”

That quote is from the Audobon website, and explains the thought behind the semi-annual Plant Swap held at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center. The center is known for its care of nature and wildlife; caring for the native plant life is a natural extension of what they do.

Jeannie Carl, the center’s director, said the idea of the plant swamp was suggested by local gardening expert Linda Gehres of from Jim Thorpe.

“Several years ago, we were talking about native plants,” Carl said, “and how we should buy native plants, and not so much of the chain stores’ plants.”

“I have so many plants, they’re over-running my gardens,” Gehres said then. “I could bring them here, people can just come and take what they want.”

“She brings the plants,” Carl said, “and then the idea is; if you have extra stuff from your garden, you can bring them and share what you have, and you can take something with you that you don’t have.”

Carl said that the idea took off right from the start.

“People really like the idea of coming in and talking to a gardener who can give them information; where to plant it, how to plant it, how deep.”

For the swap, Gehres brought along some ajuga, a ground cover.

“It stays low, and has the dark green lives. In the spring it gets a flower stalk with purply-blue flowers on it that the bees just love,” Gehres said.

She also brought feverfew, which she describes as an old medicinal herb.

“It used to be used for fever and migraine headaches,” Gehres said. “It works about as well as aspirin. When you get a migraine, you get desperate for anything. You can eat the small new leaves, or brew it into a tea.”

The fall sale was Saturday in the pavilion on the grounds of the center. The next one will be in the spring.