DESTREHAN — Do you know the early German settlers helped to save the colony (now St. Charles Parish) and New Orleans from starvation many times over?

Do you know they arrived having been promised many things that did not come to fruition and had to eke out a living by clearing the land, battling hurricanes, the Mississippi River’s frequent overflowing and many diseases?

Do you know most of the farmers that attend the German Coast Farmers’ Markets are direct descendants of the very first settlers and are helping carry on the agricultural tradition nearing 19 generations in St. Charles Parish?

Noted historian Charles Gayarre’ said in his work, “A History of Louisiana,” that “In truth then, what today we call the “French Market” really began as a ‘German’ market with the green vegetables and the staples which these German Coast farmers laid out for the people of New Orleans on Sunday mornings.”

A plant exchange is held every spring and fall at the East and West Bank markets. The next will be held on the East Bank Oct. 10 at Ormond Plantation on River Road in Destrehan.

All plants are welcome. A prize is offered to the person bringing the most unusual or rare Southern plant — “the ones our grandparents had in their yards, which we loved and do not often see at garden centers. The plants that became favorite ‘pass-alongs’ through generations,” organizer Marilyn Richoux said.

All well-established plants in half gallon or larger containers will be welcome. Botanical and popular names of the plant (if known) and care instructions should be provided.

Sharing cuttings has also become very popular. Participants should arrive by 10 a.m. Oct. 10 with the exchange to take place at 10:30 a.m.

“A long chain of hands carried Star-of-Bethlehem west from Asia, Africa and Europe to the shores of America,” said Steve Bender, an author of Passalong Plants and gardening advisor for Southern Living Magazine. “So happy was it to get here that it eventually took up residence throughout the eastern United States. Now people continue to pass it along, even though it gets around quite well on its own, thank you.”

The German Coast Farmers’ Markets are open from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday mornings at Ormond Plantation on River Road in Destrehan and from 2:30 until 6 p.m. Wednesdays at the St. Charles Plaza Shopping Center on Highway 90 in Luling.

For further information, please visit germancoastfarmersmarket.org.