Tri-coloured frangipani cuttings. A blueberry plant. Daisies and begonias, oregano and basil. And a lawn edger that was snapped up in a jiffy.
These are just some of the plants and gardening paraphernalia sitting on an arched shelf at the Carshalton St Plant Exchange in Croydon Park, in Sydney’s inner west; all are free for neighbours and passersby.
The exchange is just one of many neighbourhood plant libraries around the country that facilitate the exchange of plants, seeds and cuttings in the community. Much like kerbside book libraries, people leave plants they no longer want or need – or take plants to their new home.
“Like many gardeners, I struggle to throw away cuttings from plants that are easy to propagate,” says Sarah Collins, who established the Carshalton St Plant Exchange in 2023. “Given a lot of my friends aren’t gardeners and these plants inevitably die, I thought I’d see if fellow gardeners in the neighbourhood would like them instead.”
Beyond being a great way to recycle and reduce waste (“I can justify buying plants because I can cull my collection and put it in the plant exchange”), Collins says it has enhanced the already close-knit neighbourhood and allowed her to meet new people.
“[I love] the excitement of finding that a new plant has been left, and when people stop to talk to me about it whilst I’m in my front yard gardening,” she says.
A couple of suburbs away in Hurlstone Park, a blue sign and shelf mark the spot of the neighbourhood “little plant library”. Like Collins, founder Sarah Davidson says she “can’t bear putting things in the green bin” and established the Hurlstone Park Little Plant Library in 2022. Now she “deliberately” sows extra seed of unusual plants for the library, and posts about newly available greenery on social media.
“The intent was also to make the joy of growing plants available to people who may not be able to afford to buy,” she says.
But it takes effort to spark joy. A plant library in Annandale is no longer operating because its caretaker had to take on extra (paid) work, and Davidson initially made it clear that donations to the Hurlstone Park library would be sporadic. On top of maintaining supply, Collins says she needs to care for the plants too: labelling, watering and positioning them correctly according to their sun tolerance.
And, to her disappointment, some library users take more than give. Collins says every now and then a passerby will take everything on the shelf – and leave nothing in return.
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But mostly, says Davidson, the library is just that – a site for plants to find a new home and for community to take root.
“Most people will have a chat, ask about how to grow what they have collected, and we always get compliments on our garden and thanks for the library’s presence,” she says.
“One mum stopped to share that her toddler had developed a love of gardening after collecting plants from our library, so much so they had bought her a little gardening tool set.”
