Looks like his wife wore the gardening gloves in that household, LOL!
I do a lot of trading, but of unrelated plants. Maybe that's the key. I'm working on a barter with a local nursery right now for all the palms I need for my front yard. He likes exotic things and I have a couple different species of just that. Between the two of us, we'll both get what we want and everyone comes out a winner.
My approach is to knock on the door with a couple pots of Flying Dragon in the car; offer to trade a couple of burglar-resistant plants for a few corms.