Brookgreen Gardens, Part Five

Since so many people in the U.S. and Canada are suffering from brutal winter weather, I felt like sharing some images that would, hopefully, warm our spirits until spring arrives.  I'm about to exhaust my stash of Brookgreen Gardens pictures; these might be some of the last ones that I haven't yet posted.  Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina comprises over 9,000 acres of themed gardens, including a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve.  It's built on four former rice plantations and takes its name from the former Brookgreen Plantation.

Brookgreen Gardens, Part Four

Let's do a little armchair traveling, what do you say?  I feel like re-visiting Brookgreen Gardens to enjoy some more flowers and sculpture.  We were last there over Labor Day weekend last September.  I shared some of those photos Here.  We had previously only been to the gardens in early spring, and it was really nice to see them at the end of summer, since the flowers in bloom then were totally different than what we had seen in March.

Summer's End

Hello all!  I know most of you are probably kicking into fall mode now (I am too) but before I completely leave summer behind for another year, I want to share a few images from the beach trip we took over Labor Day weekend.  We normally go to the beach much earlier in the summer, like May for instance, but this year we couldn't manage that.

September and October are beautiful times to be at the coast, too; we've discovered that in years past.  After all the rain, rain, rain, and dismal skies we had most of the summer here, it was beautiful and sunny for the three days we were at Oak Island.

Dry Street Pizza in Southport, North Carolina

July Note Card Party

Hi everyone!  How's the weather in your part of the world?  The heat has finally arrived here in North Carolina and has joined forces with the ever-present humidity to make us feel like we're in a steam bath.  But...we have blue skies and sunshine, and for that I am very thankful.

Every summer on our local weather station, we hear the nasty D-word (drought) at least every other day.  Not so this year.  In fact, we are truly saturated.  I saw a disturbing piece on our local news last night that a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Mount Mitchell is closed indefinitely due to cracks in the pavement.  The ground beneath the road in that section is completely saturated and they said the crack is five feet deep and 200 feet long.  Yikes!  Can you say sinkhole, or maybe, landslide?

Today, I've put together four pictures from some of my previous posts in order to join in with the other bloggers at Vee's monthly Note Card Party.  This month I was in the mood to use pictures of our American flag because July always feels like a patriotic month to me.  These pictures somewhat reflect the evolution of our American flag from early colonial days up to the 21st century.

"Continental Colors a/k/a Grand Union Flag"
A restored merchant's shop in Old Salem, N.C., circa 1776

Beautiful Brookgreen Gardens, Part Three

Today, I'm sharing some more images of Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. 

Brookgreen Gardens, Part Two

I have some more pictures to share with you from Brookgreen Gardens today.  You can see my earlier post from February Here.  Brookgreen Gardens is located in Georgetown County, South Carolina.  As I noted previously, these public gardens are situated on a 9,100-acre property which was formerly four separate rice plantations.  Brookgreen Gardens includes a Lowcountry Zoo, a self-guided history and nature walking trail, a Butterfly House (opened in Spring 2011), and a 50-acre sculpture garden.  So far, we've only toured the Sculpture Gardens; there's just so much to see and take in.

We were there the last weekend of March, so there were lots of spring bulbs in bloom.

Art and Flowers at Brookgreen Gardens

On this Friday and first day of February, I thought you might like to do some garden dreaming.  If it's as cold where you are as it is here, maybe some flowers will help us remember that spring is not as far away as it was.  We even have more hours of daylight than we did a month ago.  :)

These pictures are from Brookgreen Gardens; we took a side trip there in 2011 while we were staying at Myrtle Beach.  Brookgreen Gardens is located just a few miles south of Murrells Inlet in Georgetown County, South Carolina.  I'm only sharing about a dozen pictures today, since I'll probably do more posts on this beautiful place.  **These pictures were taken by my husband, Mr. Forest Manor.