around town

Hi everyone! 

Daisies at the Bank of America, Highlands

We are finally feeling somewhat settled in our mountain cottage. 

I  have unpacked most of the second load the movers brought last week. There are still plenty of boxes for me in the basement that I will go through this summer but we are now able to live normally. 

Ferns, lilies, rhododendron, coreopsis and spiderwort in our wooded backyard, no grass cutting!

Gooseneck loosestrife in our front yard.

I am finally getting out and exploring the beautiful towns of Highlands and Cashiers. 

It is fun to do errands on curvy scenic roads and visit all the boutiques and quant shops. No big box stores here! 

Flowers and ferns are everywhere. Crisp mountain air makes colors bright and foliage vibrant. 

Scaveola and ferns outside Vivace in Highlands

There are several garden stores and a few florists I will blog more about later but here are some random sighting from the last few days. I am kicking myself for not getting more shots of a favorite fern, the Australian Tree Fern. Many shops have at least one potted at their entrance. Some big, some small. 

This one

is placed outside of Rusticks, a wonderful shop I discovered a few days ago. I found a set of faux bamboo side tables for our guest room there. It sits on pretty Cashiers Lake in a great rustic lake house.

view from Rusticks porch

view of Rusticks in the distance across Cashiers Lake

Also in Cashiers is Fiddlehead Designs, a lovely florist and event planning co. I forgot to photograph the beautiful begonias and ferns on their front porch. I want to go back and purchase a few for our porch.

An orchid planter at Fiddlehead waiting to be delivered.

Summer Place Antiques has beautiful red hanging begonias  and late blooming hydrangea adorning their entrance...

They also have a pretty log railing with phlox next to the parking area. I will have to post about railings later because there are so many beautiful natural railings made by local craftsmen.

That's all for now. Oh one more thing, this is a view on the way home from Cashiers. 

We live almost halfway between Cashiers and Highlands, about 5 miles from each. This is the view from the road that most likely causes accidents every so often! It is fun to see it change with the weather. Our new favorite activity is mountain watching. Still have not seen a black bear but everyone else around here has!

Thanks for visiting !

Cindy

things I like this week

1.  We have six Boston ferns at the rental house we are staying in. They are very easy to care for, I just water every other day with the hose and fertilize once a month. The two that get some direct morning light are doing the best. The one in this photo is a Kimberly fern from Deborah Silver's blog,  Dirt Simple. She is a landscape designer from Detroit that creates beautiful gardens. Her blog is full of great ideas for your landscape. Check out her company website here to see some of her projects and contact info.

2.  A perfect salad for spring, what not try a farfalle pasta salad by the Proud Italian Cook? I love her recipes and photography. Everything I have made from her blog has been both delicious and beautiful. Recipe for the pasta salad here, a great way to use leftover spring mix lettuces.

3.  Another veggie I am now seeing at the farmer's market are zucchini.  Two Peas in their Pod blog have compiled a great list of zucchini recipes here.

4. What do you think of this plant? It is huge and fun, especially placed with the orange bistro chairs. I think it is Indian Rhubarb.

  

  source

5. Etsy has many sellers offering Hmong textiles from Thailand that are used for bags and pillows. This bag would look cute with a white summer dress and denim jacket and sells for under $20! 

Add some  green earrings...

6. Otomi fabrics from Mexico are perfect for summer. Etsy seller Casa Otomi offers a fun bright green Otomi pillow. They are piped as well. Wish they were not so pricey.

7.  This is the little lizard that lives near our front porch. He comes out as soon as we sit down, very curious. It is a Carolina Anole lizard. He inflates a big pink throat as he moves around but I have not been able to get a good shot of it yet.

8.  Southern Living featured the Savannah Garden Club's Garden Tour that is held in April every year. This year it was cool and rainy that week so we did not attend but it is on the calendar for next year, fingers crossed.

Photo source: The Garden Club of Savannah

9. What a bountiful veggie platter for spring time! 

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

porch plants

Hi everyone! 

We are having a glorious week of weather after several days of dark skies and heavy rain last week. 

There are three porches on the home we are renting in Beaufort. We have a set of front porches and a little side entry porch from the driveway and garage.  

The front of the house has northern exposure so there is filtered light through the woods on each side of the house morning and late afternoon. We are using the classics...ferns and palms. 

Easy to find at good prices, the nurseries are full of them. They sell out quickly but new shipments arrive weekly.

 I added pansies to the base of the palms to add fullness.

We also have a bird's nest anthurium/anthurium hookeri placed in the middle of the porch so it does not receive too much light.

We have been enjoying the lower porch in the evenings with cocktails and mornings with our tea but the afternoon sun is starting to interfere as it lowers at this time of year. If this was our permanent home, we would hang outdoor drapes at the end of the porch to block the harsh afternoon sun.

The morning light is so pretty....

The upstairs porch has a delicate frilly palm.  I need to start learning the palm varieties. We are using the common ones I found at Lowe's. The top porch is our privacy porch with a full sized sofa, good breezes and nice views.

The side entry porch has a fiddle leaf fig that was difficult to find. I was looking for several months and had to finally order one. They are so popular that they sell out as soon as they arrive. 

We have a small one because the space is tight. I still have not found them at Home Depot where some other bloggers have. I just planted herbs in the tiered planter as I did on in our last home.

We thought these oleanders next to the chimney were goners after the polar vortex came to South Carolina but after painstakingly pulling all the dead foliage off, they are coming back. The landscaping on the house is simple, balanced and attractive. 

The back yard does not have a porch. A screened in porch would be perfect there because it faces the pond.

The pond has turtles that rest on the bank and take surprisingly big leaps into the water when we get close. Also wood ducks are usually here. Geese visit and spend most of their time honking at us if we are out in the yard.. The lawn is not in great shape but as renters, we are not really wanting to spend much on the lawn. I did buy weed spray and a neighbor boy is cutting the grass for us.

So what about your porches? Have you potted your porch plants this spring or are you making plans for when the weather allows? Sticking with the classic palms and ferns makes it easy.

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy