happening today
your fast pass
a program of rva tropical & exotic plants
Cultivating growth, community, and connection.
Real growers and makers, real tables, real plants. Markets, cutting swaps, and workshops in Richmond, Virginia.
upcoming
Where we'll be, and when.
rsvp
free to walk in and browse
Just let us know you're coming.
Coming to shop, swap, or just look around? Come as you are: there's no reservation, no ticket, nothing to hold, just for walking in the door. Some markets also run a paid workshop or two alongside the free browsing, and if that's what brought you, grab a ticket for one right here. Otherwise, we just like knowing roughly who to expect.
RSVP is closed between markets. It opens here the moment the next one posts.
What it actually
looks like.
Real markets, shot by the people who were there. Hover a photo for who took it and where.
Started as a Facebook group
for Richmond plant lovers.
It began online in October 2020. The first in-person gathering followed the next spring at Scuffletown Park, then our first official Plant Swap that June at Reed Square Garden in Church Hill. Since then the thing has grown the way plants do, unevenly, in whatever direction the light was. Growers and makers apply, Carl reads every application, and the ones who make it in get a page in the index, a table at the markets, and a say in where this goes next. Read the full story →
Volunteers keep the whole operation standing. They earn credits for every shift, real ones, spendable on merch, booth fees, and workshop seats. Nobody here works for exposure.
Every table here belongs to the person who made or grew what's on it. That's not a rule we enforce. It's just the kind of market this has always been.
Oct 2020
A Facebook group, started because Richmond plant people needed somewhere to talk to each other.
Spring 2021
The first in-person gathering: Scuffletown Park, a handful of strangers and their cuttings.
June 2021
The first official Plant Swap, Reed Square Garden, Church Hill. Folks brought their own tables; some sold, some traded.
Today
Markets, swaps, workshops: a registered nonprofit now, still just neighbors sharing what they grow and what they know.
the noticeboard
What's new around here.
Two doors. Pick one.
for growers & makers
You grow or make things.
Apply with three honest photos of your setup (a card table in the driveway counts, we just want to see it's yours). A person reads it. If it's a fit, you're in the index.
Sell with usfor volunteers
You like a clipboard.
Every shift you pick up is noticed and it earns you real credit toward tees, booth-fee waivers, or workshop seats, not just a thank-you. Early birds get a badge, and, historically, the best donuts.
Lend a couple of hoursPeek before you sign in.
Three honest windows into the same community: a wall of what people posted today, a real hand of trades waiting to be swiped on, and the Group's own feed. None of it's staged for this page.
Seven days, a running bit
for every one of them.
Nobody needs a reason to share a plant photo over coffee, so we keep one running: a different excuse for every day of the week, right here on the site. We pick the themes; you bring the plants.
Wednesdays don't get a theme on purpose. Post whatever's looking good today, no prompt needed. It's the one day of the week we leave open, just because.
the group experts
Who this community's vouched for.
up for trade right now
Plants and plant goods, no money involved.
Sign in free to post your own, swipe on these, and get matched for a swap at the next market.
the canopy circle
Everyone who shows up has a place in it.
Points for RSVPing, actually showing up, posting to the showcase, and bringing a friend who does the same. Sign in free, no application, to start earning. Listing your name here is always optional.