A Visit To South Carolina

I traveled to South Carolina for Easter this Spring. One of my sons, his wife and two children live there and this trip was mainly an opportunity to spend "Mom time" with them. At this time of year, South Carolina is bursting with Spring greenery. Springtime arrives in S.C. about a month before it does where I live (on the southwest shore of Lake Ontario). Therefore, the trip was a taste of Springtime while it was still winter in the northeast.

I had a lovely visit with my children, got to make dinner for them one night. Made chicken French (a Rochester specialty) with asparagus risotto and a green salad. Had daughter-in-law's delightful Angel Lush with Pineapple for dessert. This cake is so refreshing and charmingly beautiful. She actually made it for Easter dinner and this was "leftovers" for our Monday night supper dessert. If you'd like to make this for your next event, it is super simple (no cooking or baking - just opening up containers and slicing store bought angel-food cake) and makes you look like "the hostess with the most-est". Here's the link for the directions.
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/angel-lush-pineapple-74114.aspx


I also served it for dessert on Monday afternoon when I had the pleasure of having lunch with my South Carolina etsy friends, Teresa of:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbyjessi?ref=teams_post and Jessi of : https://www.etsy.com/shop/KraftieKidz?ref=search_shop_redirect      plus little sister, Heidi.

We packed lots of activities into that Easter weekend and one of the most delightful was a visit to the South Carolina Botanical Gardens at Clemson University. Because our planting zones are so different, I saw plants in bloom that are not winter hardy enough to survive our harsh winters here in the northeast. My favorite of these are the camellias. How I dearly wish I could have these in my northern garden. Enjoy the awesome colors..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Springtime Front Door

Do you change your curbside staging by the season? There's nothing I like better to do. Especially in Springtime. I wanted to show you the Springtime décor on our blue front door. I will also change up the two urns I keep on either side of the porch entry just as soon as I get the grapevine lit up trees from Christmas, out of the urns, I will fill them with yellow faux forsythia blooms. I do make changes for Summertime, Fall, Christmas, and Valentines Day. Spring is, by far, the one I most enjoy. Especially this year after the long hard winter we endured. It snowed 27 out the 28 days in February. We had frigid temps, slippery roads, buried mailboxes, mountains of snow piled up at the ends of our driveways - which is all melting down now. Spring is definitely approaching quickly. The birds know it - starting to set up housekeeping on my patio. The chipmunks know it - skittering across the bricks on the patio. I haven't seen any crocus popping their little heads up yet, because they're still buried in leftover melting snow.

I made a trip to Hobby Lobby last week for the specific purpose of bringing home materials to make a Springtime look for the front door. I brought along my 40% off coupon from Sunday's paper, which I applied to the yellow paper parasol which cost 6.99 (4.89 with my discount). I also bought 5 stems of these beautiful yellow flowers which were regularly 4.99 each but were on sale for 50% off. (12.50 with store discount). For $17.39 I have Springtime at my front door. 

Hobby Lobby carries these paper parasols in various colors. You'll find them in the birthday party décor aisle. I thought an umbrella would be the perfect vehicle to fill with Spring flowers. As you know the olde saying: "April showers bring May flowers".

Happy Springtime ♥

Signs of Spring

It takes Spring a loooooong time to finally reach the shores of Lake Ontario that border the metroplex where I live. I think I see it peeking around the corner right now, playing "peek-a-boo" with me. Hooray !! I do see some little signs that it will be making it's grand entrance very soon.

The pointy little green spikes of hosta are pushing their way up through the now defrosting soil. Same for the lily of the valley and peony bushes. But some very brave little plants are taking their chances of getting their noses nipped by Jack Frost.

The chives are really the very first sign that Spring is on it's way. This little potful has been grinding away pushing chive stems up from the dirt for about a month now.

 Another one of the first harbingers of Spring. The forsythia bush. I like them totally unkempt. Just growing every which way, like they like to do. This one lives beside my garage. You can see the trees in the background have yet to leaf out.

This magnolia tree is in my neighbor's yard. I don't have one. These magnolias are different than the ones in the southland. These just bloom once. In the early spring. When the flowers wilt and fall on the ground, you'd think it snowed again. Once the flowers are gone, the magnolia leafs out and has those shiny, leathery leaves like the southern magnolias have, only much smaller.

This quince bush is in my yard. In bud stage now. The flowers are exquisite. A bright persimmon color. When the flowers fade, the fruit follows. I do have a recipe to make quince jelly, but I never have. Maybe this will be the year. The squirrels like to nosh on the quince fruit that falls on the ground.

I just had to share this picture with ya'll. Cinco de Mayo. This is when we western New Yorkers know that Spring is about to break out. Our local favorite supermarket celebrates by serving this at lunchtime. Two shredded pork filled tortillas with a side of rice and black bean salad. Delicioso !!

SPRING TIME IN WESTERN NEW YORK – ROCHESTER IN PARTICULAR

Rochesterians , myself included, so look forward, with great anticipation, to Springtime. Winter seems so long and drawn out. As soon at the temperatures start to reach 45 degrees, everyone breaks out the shorts and sandals.

This milestone could happen in April, but it’s not to be trusted, because snow may appear out of nowhere at any time. I remember having snow on Mother’s Day once.

Rochester has 3 seasons: Spall (combination of Spring and Fall), Summertime and Wintertime. Spring is so short as to be almost un-noticeable. We go from snow plows to planting peas in the blink of an eye. Fall is a bit longer. Lasting from about the end of September to the end of October.

I must confess that I do remember golfers out on the links at Thanksgiving time but that is a huge fluke. Oftentimes, there’s snow on the ground in November. November is the beginning of winter and it lasts until mid to end of April. Followed by the “S & P” of Spall, which is like a flash of lightening.

All our Spring flowers make their seasonal appearance in May. Tulips, forsythia, lilacs, the flowering trees (including fruit trees), magnolia and dogwoods. If the weather is too hot, these Springtime bloomers bow their heads and wilt. Here’s what’s blooming in my yard.

Pictures: in order of appearance.....Quince Bush, Forsythia, Dogwood Tree and Lilacs 

Summertime is a riot of all kinds of flowers and fruit trees.  Summertime’s calender is mid to end of May, June, July and August and about half of September.  Right now in early May, the temps are hovering around 70. June normally is 80, July could be 90’s, and August starts to think about Spall but still has temps from 75 to 85.

Pumpkins, other squashes, and apples come in the “ALL” part of Spall (2^nd half of September and October). 

Rochester is famous for its lilacs and the spectacular park (HIGHLAND PARK) designed by the Frederick Law Olmstead, who also designed Central Park in NYC and the gardens on the Biltmore Estate in NC.

  

 The Lilac Festival is an art, music, food and flora festival hosted annually in early May in Highland Park in Rochester, New York. It is the oldest festival of its kind in North America, drawing spectators from all over the globe. Highland Park possesses a huge collection of lilacs, featuring more than a thousand bushes and hundreds of different varieties. Early May is the season that lilacs are blooming in Rochester.

The festival was informally started in 1898 when 3,000 people came to the park one Sunday in May to see the lilacs. Since then the number of viewers has grown to over 500,000 and the festival plays out over the course of ten days. The modern day festival is started with a parade and frequently hosts concerts and other attractions during the week. The Highland Park arboretum is toured free of charge and is open to all visitors. The fields surrounding the arboretum host a myriad of vendor's tents and food stands. 

https://www.facebook.com/RochesterLilacFestival