Greenwood's Festival of Flowers Time

Every June Greenwood, South Carolina hosts Festival of Flowers. This year is the 46th year for this flower-packed festival.   This event helped convince me to move to SC.  We came down to Greenwood to see the area, during the festival.  What a treat.  We have been here for three years now. 

 

The festival runs four weeks in June with all sorts of activities culminating with the main weekend of garden tours and Park Seed open house.  The first of June the topiaries are placed in Uptown.  We had friends visiting us from Virginia and took them to see the mainstay of our festival.

Be sure to check on the link above for all the activities -- there is everything from a golf tournament to juried art to a Farm to Fork dinner.... and lots more!!

 We walked all around Uptown Greenwood, checking out new and old topiaries.  Our walk through was the end of May, so work was still being done to get everything all set for the month.  

Each topiary has irrigation to keep the plants fresh and growing for the whole month.   The city has greenhouses where the topiaries live during the 'off-season'.  We have a great crew who takes care of them year round.   Scroll all through all the pictures of this year's topiaries.

Chik fil A cow

New addition this year... duck pond, how many critters can you spot?

We have dinosaurs

Local company Fuji has a camera, pandas were added later in the week

The jeep

Velux structure stays up all year...plant material added for the Festival of Flowers

Love the shade plants under the arch

Lander University Bearcat

Clemson University tiger

The tiger provides a bit of shade for the ferns 

Dog guarding his fire hydrant

My favorite-- Mama and baby Elephant

University of South Carolina Gamecock

King Kong

Swan 

Lion and lion cub

Water feature with dolphin and apes in the tree and another friendly hort crewmember 

Apes in the trees

Seahorse

Pretty pink flamingo

Butterfly in fine color

Giraffes in a new location

Pretty pony with Ponytails for mane and tail

This year the Master Gardeners were able to see a plant list of the varied plant material in all these topiaries.  

Plant list for 2013 Topiaries

Common name & Scientific name

Irish Moss--Sagina subulata

Platt’s Black Brass Buttons--Leptinella squalida ‘Platt’s Black’

Hens and Chicks--Sempervivum tectorum ‘Hens and Chicks’

Creeping Fig--Ficus pumila

Mexican Feather Grass--Nassella tenuissima

Burgundy Glow Bugleweed--Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’

Flossflower--Ageratum houstonianum

Begonias--Begonias

Mondo Grass--Ophiopogon japonicas

Creeping Jenny--Lysimachia nummularia

Angelina--Sedum repustre‘Ogon’

Blue Spruce Stonecrop--Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spuce’

Ogon Stonecrop--Sedum makinoi ‘Ogon’

Red Threads--Alternanthera ficoidea ‘Red Threads’

Dusty Miller--Senecio cineraria

Squalida Brass Buttons--Leptinella squalid

Coral Reef--Sedum tectractinum ‘Coral Reef’

Chocolate Chip Bugleweed--Ajuga reptans “Valfredda’

Polka Dot Plant--Hypoestes phyllostachya

Petunias--Petunias

Japanese Painted Ferns--Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’

Moss Rose--Portulaca grandiflora

Creeping Mazus--Mazus reptans

Crinkle Red Alternanthera--Alternanthera dentata ‘Crinkle Red’

Creeping Thyme--Thymus serpyllum

Coleus--Solenostemon scutellariodes

Celosia--Celosia

Blue Star Creeper--Isotoma fluviatilis

Black Scallop Bugleweed--Ajuga reptans ‘Black Scallop’

Ice Plant--Delosperma cooperi

How many of these can you find in the photos above?  For those of you who are close by....come on down!!  The weekend of June 22-23 are garden tours.  Let me know!
Greenwood has flowers all over Uptown....love this courtyard.

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

From Albino to Thunder and Waiting on Chocolate

It is that time of year again, Albino Skunk Music Festival!  This is the spring festival (rather FEST---TUU-- VAAAAAAAAALL) for Albino Skunk.  You might remember we have gone a few other times, each one a wonderful experience.    I didn't  post the first one (for some reason!?!) and the second time we went the post is here.   As in the past, the directional signs were professionally done and easy to read. 

This is Mr. Albino Skunk.  

 Music is what we are here for!!

We went on Friday, music started about 2:00 PM.  First up was Darby Wilcox and her band....called Darby and the Peepshow.  Darby is a local gal from Greenville, SC.  I would call her singing sassy and spunky.  Great band to open the festival.

Some random folks enjoying the festival.  It was a beautiful day.  

After Darby was a band called Brushfire Stankgrass from Asheville.  They claim it isn't bluegrass, but stankgrass.  According to their website stankgrass is mixing their bluegrass chops with a pinch of jazz, reggae, rock and punk.  

The venue is comfortable under mature oaks on nicely sloping land making for a great view of the bandstand.  On the backside of the stage area is the camping area.  Behind the camera are the vendors, the kid's area, food and drinks, and the merchandise table.  

The band we were looking forward to seeing was next.  Hurray for the Riff Raff is great.   A folk/country band from New Orleans is their description, but only scratches the surface of the band.  Lead singer and songwriter is Alynda lee Segarra.  Her voice is amazing.

After Hurray for the Riff Raff came Rayna Gellert and Scott Miller.   I enjoyed Rayna's smile...and her singing and her fiddle playing ...but boy -- great smile.  Scott Miller, songwriter from Virginia/Tennessee, had a lot of fun narrative to go along with his music.  Love his song 'Lo Siento Spanishburg West Virginia'

The Brushfire Stankgrass guys came back for another set around dinner time.

 Hurray for the Riff Raff also came back for another set.  Junebug Waltz was one of the numbers they did.

A repeat to the Albino Skunk Music Festival was next-- Town Mountain, a bluegrass band.  Great musicianship with these guys.  The finale for their set was Orange Blossom Special....out of this world.

Town Mountain finished about 10:30 PM and we decided it was time to head home even though there was more music to be played.  Looking forward to the fall festival...not sure who is coming yet but I know it will be a great time.  The Albino Skunk Music Festival goes for a couple days, but we had other plans for Saturday.

Saturday found us heading to one of our other music spots...Newberry Opera House to see Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.   Last year we saw Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder perform their bluegrass show.  This year they combined bluegrass and country, pure bluegrass has no drums, usually just mandolin, banjo, fiddle and guitar.  Look at Ricky's hand....he is an outstanding mandolin player.

This is the full set when additional players came out for the country numbers.  What a great library of hits.

Oh, did I mention Chocolate?  Well this is the best chocolate money can buy.... plain and simple.  (this is a lovely surprise from my husband)

 This isn't the kind of Chocolate I was talking about.... though I am enjoying every last bite!

Coming up in May is a concert I am really excited about....Carolina Chocolate Drops!!  We will see them at the Handlebar in Greenville.   We saw them last July at the Handlebar and look forward to seeing them again!!

It has been and will continue to be a musical spring.


©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

It Is Skunk Time

While there are a few REAL skunks around here, that is not the kind of skunk I am talking about.  If you want to see some real skunks, head over to Mountain Musings and see a trio that came visiting under the bird feeder.
Every October is the time for the Albino Skunk Music Festival.    We live about an hour and a half away from Greer, where the festival is located.   The first weekend in October there is a three day long music festival, or should I say F-E-S-T-I-VAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL, a common call heard throughout the day.

http://www.albinoskunk.com/

This takes place in a neighborhood where there are large lots.  Best guess on the attendance on Thursday when we went was over 300 people there.  It is better attended on Friday and Saturday.  Many folks camp out on the grounds. (We do not camp)  We picked the day that had artists that we wanted to see, it was hard, there are a lot of artists we like playing this year.  Our ABSOLUTE favorite to see was Elizabeth Cook, so we went on Thursday.

Driving up to Greer isn't hard, and as you get close to the neighborhood there are signs-- looks like we aren't the only  ones headed up there.

The next turn.....

And finally, to get into the parking area, or the front yard---

The first band, Ben Miller Band, from Joplin, MO, had car trouble, so the next group was getting ready to go on a little early.
The show started a little before 4:00 PM, and lasted well past 11:00 PM.

 The first band we saw was 'The Congress'-

These guys play rock and roll.  They are based in Denver CO -- lots of energy and great fun.  They played a second time, at the end of the evening.  We headed out as they started their second set.... it was late and we had a long drive.

From Denver we travel over the ocean to Dublin, Ireland for the next band.  Would you believe Irish Bluegrass?  This band was super!!!  Welcome 'I Draw Slow' This was their first time in the States, hope they come back again!!

After the Irish came the kids from Brooklyn.  What a diverse collection of bands.  'Food Will Win The War' is an Indie band the festival organizer found on Youtube.  Quoting from their Facebook page, they play "accordion-infused, violin-tinged glockenspiel rock"

Elizabeth Cook came on next and had the crowd hoppin'!

Final act for our evening was 'The Lee Boys' from Miami, FL. Sorry to say I didn't get a photo of the lead singer in front of  the group.  Their band is described as sacred steel,a form of Gospel music with a hard driving blues based beat, and boy did they get the crowd on their feet and dancing.  Just amazing.

So glad we went, plan on going again -- there IS a Spring Festivaaaaaal.  Anyone living close by should put it on your schedule!!!

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.