Archive for the ‘the south’ Category

People in the South rarely say the words “Civil War”. I didn’t realize that until I moved to the South. Mention the Civil War to a Southerner and you will not get a polite reply. Belles can cover up their feelings most of the time with a smile and a “Bless your heart!”, but when the subject of the War comes up, it’s tough even for the most experienced Belle.

The Civil War is still a sore subject in the South. You will find it called many different things, but never the Civil War. As one Belle put it, “There was nothing civil about it. We didn’t know those people.” And that’s saying a lot coming from a Belle because civility is a way of life. My husband, a South Carolina boy born and bred, refers to it as The War of Northern Aggression. It is also called The War Between the States and The Late Unpleasantness (I particularly like that one). Whatever it’s called, the war is still serious business in the South. I lived in Atlanta for several years, and they still take The War of Northern Aggression very hard. Maybe it’s because most of their buildings and homes were burned down. Dang Sherman. Of course if that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have one of the best scenes in Gone With the Wind. I’m just saying….

Most people I know from the North never think about the War. That is definitely not the case in the South. They still hold a grudge. I think that’s why so many people will say, once they hear any sort of Yankeeness in your accent, “You’re not from around here, are you?” Or one of my very favorites, “Who are your people, dear?” Southerners care deeply about the War and also about your family tree. And if your family tree branches up north of the Mason-Dixon line, uh oh.

I love this quote from a true Belle: “I never heard about anything called the Civil War until I went to Maine one summer with my mother. In Alabama, my family and my teachers always called it the War Between the States. And that was only when they were being polite.”

One of my very favorite things about fall is the start of college football season. Living in the beautiful Upstate of South Carolina puts me directly in the midst of the Clemson/Carolina debate. Fortunately neither my husband nor myself attended either school, so we can cheer for both. Unless they are playing each other…. which they do the last Sunday of the regular season. My husband attended the College of Charleston which he always refers to as the College of Knowledge. I have since learned that, while it is a lovely campus in a breathtakingly gorgeous town, it is not “officially” called the College of Knowledge as he had led me to believe. I also learned that way back when he went there, the girl-to-boy ratio was something like 15 to 1, and I’m putting my money on that as one of the main reasons he chose to go there.

I love college football. I actually love sports in general. I love baseball. I love my Atlanta Braves. People in the South love love love football, too. Try to plan an activity on a Saturday in the fall and you will be forced to look up the home schedules for your friends’ favorite teams. If there is a home game, your event will come second. My poor son is turning 9 this year….. the same day as the Clemson/Carolina game. We will have to have his birthday party another day whether he likes it or not.

Saturdays in the fall start early when Clemson or Carolina are at home. If it’s a noon game, people will begin to gather for their tailgating at 6am. I’m not kidding. And they eat, eat, eat. And drink, drink, drink. And talk about the team, dissecting each player, play and foible from how ever many seasons they can remember.

Is there a difference between football in the North and the South? So glad you asked!

FOOTBALL NORTH vs SOUTH

Women’s Accessories

North: Chapstick in back pocket and a $20 bill in the front pocket.

South: Louis Vuitton duffel with two lipsticks, waterproof mascara, and a fifth of bourbon; money isn’t necessary – that’s what dates/husbands are for, sugah.

 Stadium

North: College football stadiums hold 20,000 people.

South: High school football stadiums hold 20,000 people.

 Fathers

North: Expect their daughters to understand Shakespeare.

South: Expect their daughters to understand pass interference.

Homecoming Queen

North: Also a physics major.

South: Also Miss America. (ouch)

 Getting Tickets

North: Five days before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus.

South: Five months before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus and put your name on a waiting list.

 Getting to the Stadium

North: You ask, “Where’s the stadium?” When you find it, you walk right in.

South: When you’re near it, you’ll hear it. On game day, it becomes the state’s third largest city.

 Parking

North: An hour before game time, the university opens the campus for game parking.

South: RVs sporting their school flags begin arriving on Wednesday for the weekend festivities. The really faithful arrive on Tuesday.

 Tailgating

North: Raw meat on a grill, beer wtih a lime in it, listening to local radio station with truck tailgate down.

South: Thirty-foot custom pig-shaped smoker fires up at dawn.

 Concessions

North: Drinks served in paper cups, filled to the top with soda.

South: Drinks served in a plastic cup, with the home team’s mascot on it, filled less than halfway with soda, to ensure enough room for bourbon.

 When National Anthem is Played

North: Stands are less than half-full, and less than half the people stand up.

South: A hundred thousand fans, all standing, sing along in perfect four-part harmony.

 After the Game

North: The stadium is empty way before the game ends.

South: Another rack of ribs on the smoker. While somebody goes to the nearest package store for more bourbon, planning begins for next week’s game.

        excerpt from The Grits Guide to Life

Of course, this is a bit of an exaggeration in some areas. But not much. I think you’re just as likely to find a good ole Miller Lite in a cup down here as you are bourbon. What I’ve always loved about college football is the sense of tradition. The students, coaches, fans really and truly love their school and love it with a passion that is usually reserved for spouses and children. Teams may have a history of playing each other for over 100 years. Each game counts. A lot. Pride, lost voices, screams, cheers, frustration, joy… you’ll find it all during college football season. And I for one wouldn’t have it any other way.

Brrrr….. there’s a chill in the air here in Upstate South Carolina today. It’s a rainy, grey Monday morning and I love it! Is there anything better than snuggling under the warm covers with an open window bringing in cool, crisp air? Okay, there’s a few things better, but that has to rank right up there! Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I put out some of our Halloween decorations yesterday and my son exclaimed, “Oh! You’re putting out our October stuff!”

This area is beautiful in the fall, especially up in the mountains of Western North Carolina. If you’ve never travelled to this part of the country, you should. So many great little towns surrounded by the majesty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The apples are ready and it’s time to plan a trip up to the orchard. Last year all we picked were Gala apples and they were beyond yummy!

What do I love about Fall: cooler weather, low humidity, college football, apples, beautiful colors, mums, apple cider, caramel apples, pumpkin pie, trips to the pumpkin patch, baseball playoffs (dang Braves!), Thanksgiving, my childrens’ birthdays, my anniversary…. I could go on and on. It’s the perfect time of year and it’s the prelude to the holidays which is just the icing on the cake pumpkin pie.

Happy Fall, y’all!!!

From the book A Southern Belle Primer:

Fallen Belles

Even belles from the loveliest of Southern families sometimes move away. They go to places like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles and they get caught up in a world where ladies are called women and nobody wears pantyhose in the summer. Before you know it, these belles start to like the idea of wash-and-wear hair and throwing away their eyeliner. They even open their own car doors and pretend that “red eye” refers to a late-night plane flight and not a gravy that goes with ham.

But there’s something about Southern upbringing that never completely goes away. Here are Ten telltale signs that a girl is truly a belle:

1) She calls the refrigerator the icebox.
2) Even if she’s ninety, she calls her father “Daddy.”
3) She would rather walk down Fifth Avenue naked than wear white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day.
4) She refers to a handbag as a pocketbook.
5) She doesn’t have a couch. She has a sofa.
6) She drinks iced tea in the middle of a blizzard.
7) She will march for women’s rights for twenty miles but she would rather die than walk two feet with a lighted cigarette.
8 ) She dyes her shoes to match her cocktail dress.
9) All her parties have themes.
10) She has a deviled egg plate.

Even though I didn’t grow up in the South, I do have a pocketbook. I don’t open my own car door. I own a deviled egg plate. Yummy! I also use a buggy at the grocery store and my children say “Ma’am?” instead of “What?”. I’ve learned that the S word is something different than I thought it was. You should have seen my face when my little, innocent niece told me, “You just said the “S” word!”. I was new to the family, had not even started my Belle training and we were at my now-niece’s 1st birthday party. I wanted to crawl into the floor in mortification thinking I had said a really naughty word by accident. Thankfully I found out she meant Stupid and not…. well, you know. It can also mean “Shut Up” in certain families.

I am not a fallen belle. I’m not technically a Belle at all. But I’m trying! And every now and then, I will get a look of approval from Magnolia and I will know that each day brings me a little closer to the Promise Land.
~susanne

Oh, joy! The Humidity is back.  We’ve had a really wonderful Spring…. unlike most years. It’s been fairly cool but even better than that: we’ve had low humidity. My hair has looked good. I’ve been able to breathe. I haven’t started sweating at 7 in the morning. It’s comfortable to sleep at night. But all that is over now because my enemy Humidity has returned to taunt me for another summer. It’s currently 91% humidity.

Instead of  just spending the next several months cursing Humidity and trying to avoid him, I’ve decided to make an attempt to understand him a little better and maybe come to a truce. Here are my findings:

Humidity is the amount of water in the air.

Doesn’t sound that ominous, does it? But I’ve learned that Humidity is a sneaky little bugger.

As the relative humidity increases, hair becomes longer, and as the humidity drops it becomes shorter. On very humid days, your hair actually becomes longer and this extra length causes the frizziness that gives us bad hair days.

So my hair is getting longer when Humidity comes to visit and that’s why it is frizzy? All I know is that I have curly hair and it doesn’t get longer, it gets bigger. I guess maybe it is getting longer but not vertically. It’s getting longer horizontally and I can promise you that it is not a pretty site.

This is not me but does demonstrate my hair nicely when Humidity is attacking it.

Asthma and humidity should not be put together. For medical reasons, these two things can really damage your body.

As an asthma sufferer, I can personally vouch for this.  Humidity makes it difficult to breathe … period. Your lungs feel heavy. Your nose feels stuffy. It’s like breathing underwater and that is not fun.

Heat and humidity causes acne flare-ups because the skin “swells” from the cardiovascular system kicking in. When you get hot or exercise, two things happen at once. Your skin swells from the freshly oxygenated blood sent to the surface to feed the muscles that are “working” and then you start to perspire producing acids and salts to “cool” the body off. This combination of swelling skin with acids and salts irritates and dries the skin and can cause ZITS to get worse and become larger.

Big, fuzzy hair and zits. Just perfect….

Okay… I have spent a lot of time searching the internet for good things about humidity. It’s seems to be futile. I know some people love summer. I am not one of them. I hate being sweaty. No one looks good sweaty. Well, maybe Jon Bon Jovi or Hugh Jackman but only if it’s a good sweat and not a stinky sweat. No one smells good sweaty which is a real problem for me in the summer because I have a very good sense of smell. My husband says I should work for the DEA sniffing out people’s luggage at the airport. I have a lot of friends that just love to hang out at the pool and watch their children swim. Yuck. Sitting in the stifling heat, sweating, and counting the hours until I can go home is not my idea of a good time. It’s total misery.

So I’ll be waiting for Fall and for a phone call from Magnolia. I just remembered that “sweat” is not a word I’m allowed to use. It’s “perspiring”. Sorry!

A Southern Belle’s Ten Golden Rules

1) Never serve pink lemonade at your Junior League committee meetings. It has communist undertones.

2) Always wear white when you walk down the aisle (even if it’s for the third time).

3) Never wear white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day. The only exception, of course, is if you’re a bride. Bridesmaids, however, must never wear white shoes. Bridesmaids’ shoes should match the punch.

4) It doesn’t matter if you marry a man who doesn’t know the difference between a shrimp fork and a pickle fork. You can always teach him. Just make sure he can afford to buy you both.

5) Never date your sorority sister’s ex-husband until at least three years after the divorce. You might need her to write your daughter a Kappa Kappa Gamma recommendation one day. Just remember it’s a lot easier to find a new man than it is to get your daughter into Kappa.

6) Never marry a man whose mother and grandmother owned silver plate instead of real silver. He’s not used to quality and he’ll try to cheat you on the divorce settlement.

7) It’s never to soon to write a thank-you note. Some belles take the notes and a pen with them to party. In the middle of the evening they go into the ladies’ room and write a thank-you describing how much they enjoyed the dinner (naming specific items). They then put the note in the mailbox as they leave. The hostess receives it first thing in the morning. Sure this is compulsive, but you’re going to have to be compulsive if you want to be president of the Junior League.

8 ) Never show your bosom before evening and never wear and ankle bracelet before anything. Girls who wear ankle bracelets usually end up twirling batons. There has never been a baton twirler who became Miss America and there’s certainly never been a baton twirler in the Junior League.

9) Never chew gum in public and never smoke on the street.

10) Buy low. Sell high.

       ~ from A Southern Belle Primer

I’d like to think a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek, but unfortunately I’m not so sure. I absolutely believe the Rule about thank-you notes. It’s exaggerated but so true. Thank-you notes are a wonderful thing. Magnolia writes the most beautiful thank-you notes. Not only are they long but they are extremely detailed. She will mention each item you served for supper in such glowing words that you will start to wonder if she meant it to go to someone else. There have been times that I have hardly recognized my own cooking. However, in this world of texting and emails, getting a hand-written thank-you note in the mail is a treat.

I do have one little issue with thank-you notes though. If you have just had a baby, gotten out of the hospital, lost a loved one, or sick enough to need a meal, do you really feel up to writing a thank-you note? I really, really appreciated all the wonderful meals we received after the birth of our children and when I had pneumonia last year and was recovering from a hospital stay and surgery. But none of those times did I feel up to writing a thank-you note. Why can’t a very heartfelt verbal “thank you” be enough? If you’re sick enough (or exhausted from having just brought a new life into the world) to need a meal, you should be excused from having to write a thank-you note. Unfortunately I’m in the minority on this idea, so I’m just going to keep it to myself.

So to everyone that I owe a thank-you note (and I’m sure the number is many), please accept this public acknowledgement of your thoughtfulness and caring. THANK YOU!!!!!!! And please keep in mind that I am still a Belle-in-Training and I’m bound to make some mistakes along the way.

My friend Jackie, an absolutely hilarious Belle, shared this with me today. It might be a teensy bit exaggerated in spots but overall, it’s right on.  And since it’s my blog and I can do what I want (gotta love a dictatorship!), I’ve added my own personal thoughts.

THINGS I LEARNED IN SOUTH CAROLINA…

1) A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.

~ This is absolutely true. Plus we’ve had more than a few possums at my house over the years that had decided to just move on in. And we do not live out in the country. Fortunately my neighbor has a possum cage so we “relocated” those possums to somewhere else. I didn’t ask where and I didn’t care as long as it wasn’t my house. My son wanted to keep the last one as a pet, but my husband nicely told him that possums are mean and stink. Thanks, Cole!

2) There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in SC.

~ I hate snakes. I don’t care if they are the “good kind” and wish people would stop telling me that. All snakes need to vacate the earth. I think Genesis was pretty clear about how God felt about snakes. I concur.

3) There are 10,000 types of spiders, and all 10,000 of them live in SC.

~ I actually like spiders so I have no problem with us one at all!

4) If it grows, it’ll stick ya. If it crawls, it’ll bite cha.

~ Enough said.

5) “Onced” and “Twiced” are words.

6) It is not a shopping cart, it’s a buggy.

     ~ Doesn’t a buggy just sound more fun? I also love pocketbook instead of purse.  My 4-year old is always going to get her “pocketbook” which is usually an Ariel backpack or something she’s stolen from me.

7) “Jaw-P?” means, “Did y’all go to the bathroom?”

8)  People actually grow and eat okra.

~ When I first moved to Atlanta way back when, someone asked me if I wanted some okra. Sadly, I thought it was some kind of seafood. I guess I had Orka and okra confused. And knowing me, I probably let everyone know that I had thought that. If you haven’t had okra before, make up some fried okra. Yummy!

9) “Fixinto” is one word.

~  Yes, it’s true. Southerners are always fixin’ to do something and right now, I’m fixin’ to look at #10.

10) There is no such thing as lunch. There is only dinner and then there is supper.

11) Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you’re two. We do like a little tea with our sugar.

~ Southerners do drink sweet tea for every meal and with everything all year long. And it’s sweet, sweet, sweet. I used to order a Coke when I was a brand new “newcomer” and people would look at me and say “You ain’t from around here, are you?” In Atlanta, everything is a Coke. They would ask, “What kind of Coke do you want? Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper…”   Obviously Coca Cola being headquartered in Atlanta has had a profound effect on the drinking habits of that city.

12) Backwards and forwards means, “I know everythin’  bout you.”

~ Uh oh.

13) The word “jeet” is actually a phrase meaning, “Did you eat?”

14) You don’t have to wear a watch, because it doesn’t matter what time it is. You work until you’re done or it’s too dark to see…

~ Maybe… but I can assure you that I do not subscribe to this theory. I don’t wear a watch but it’s not because I’m working until it’s too dark to see. Now playing is another matter entirely!

15) You don’t PUSH buttons, you MASH em.

~ My husband is also always asking me to “Cut off the lights.”

16) You measure distance in minutes.

17) You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.

~ Today is the perfect example of that. Woke up to 45 degree BRRRRRRR weather and this afternoon, it’s in the high 70’s. And it’s the middle of May which is really unusual for this time of year. But I will say that I have LOVED this Spring. Normally we go from 40 degree days to 90 degree days. We have had absolutely glorious weeks of 70 degree weather this year and I for one am a happy girl about that.

18) All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.

~ Drive around the South and you will see Coon Dog Days, Catfish festival, Rockin’ Ribfest, the Mosquito Festival (I’ll pass on this one), Pigs and Peaches BBQ festival, and any number of small town get togethers. All of these come complete with good food and usually great music. Love it!

19) You know what a “Dawg” is.

~ And this is not the Randy Jackson “Dawg”.

20) You carry jumper cables in your car – for your own car.

21) You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete ,Tabasco and ketchup.

22) You find 100 degrees “a bit warm.”

~ Unfortunate but true. Humidity was obviously invented in the South.

23) You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.

24) Going to Walmart is a favorite past time known as “goin’ Walmartin” or “off to Wally World.”

~ I have always refused to patronize Walmart but it does seem to be a popular past time. Along with hittin’ rummage sales. Walmarts have long lines and kind of creepy people. But then a little Walmart (by Walmart standards) opened down from my house… by the Country Club no less. You can imagine the outcry that occured during that planning phase! It’s actually not too bad. I only go if I absolutely do not feel like driving over to the local French store, Target.

25) You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good hog killin’ weather.

~ I describe it as perfect porch-sitting weather, but whatever…

26) Fried catfish is the other white meat.

27) We don’t need no dang Driver’s Ed…  If our mama says we can drive, we can drive dag-nabbit.

~ I’ve always wondered how to spell dag-nabbit. Now if I only knew how to spell that other Southern beauty… dad gummit. It’s the closest thing to a cuss word I’ve ever heard my husband say. He’s one of those Sophisticated Southern Types. Not to mention totally handsome. Yes, I’m a lucky Belle!

Some things I love about the South:  My husband stands up when I leave the table and when I come back.  He opens my car door… every time. My children say “Ma’am”  and “Sir”  out of habit. I can be treated like a lady and it doesn’t mean I’m weak. Strangers invite me to church. And they hold the door for me, even if I’m empty-handed. It only snows a few times a year and then only lasts a day or so before our beautiful weather returns. And if it is going to snow or ice or be ice cold, it’s a several-week worthy news story full of excited anticipation and much grocery shopping. The world is green and blossoming most of the year but we still get to see the beauty of Fall. There are 3 churches on every corner. If you are hurt, sad, have a nasty cold, or your Great Aunt Sally died,  you will end up with more meals than your refrigerator can hold.  People hug. Family traditions and stories are revered and passed down from generation to generation. We eat a lot of deviled eggs, pimento cheese and BBQ.

I could go on and on. I love the South. I love the people here and I love majesty that God saw fit to put here. In my eyes, it is Heaven on earth. I’m so lucky to live here.

The Grits girl… if you’ve been in a store somewhere in the South, particularly one that sells to tourists, you’ll have seen a a T-shirt or some other product about being a GRIT girl. Girls Raised in the South.  I just love the book, The Grits Guide to Life. It’s a very funny & informative guide to being Southern and being a Grit. I particularly like when they point out that if you weren’t born in the South, you can still be a Grit… a Girl Refined in the South. I guess that’s me.

The book is full of Grit Wisdom. The first one deals with grits themselves… the food, not the women.

Grits Pearl of Wisdom #1

Grits are eaten with butter, gravy or cheese – never sugar.

I used to really, really dislike grits. I didn’t really understand the fascination with grits or anyone’s desire to consume them. They looked like, and tasted like, bland mush. I realize now that a Belle’s love of grits will definitely be influenced by the maker of the grits. I’ve had really bad grits, and I’ve had absolutely yummy grits. The yummy grits generally have tons of butter, cheese and probably garlic. For some reason when I was expecting (Magnolia absolutely does not approve of the word “pregnant”) my daughter, I began to crave grits. I don’t know why. Maybe being pregnant expecting a real, live Southern Belle influenced my taste buds. Whatever the reason, I now really like grits, if they are good.

Here’s a recipe from the Grits book.

Cheesy Grits Casserole

1 cup grits, quick or regular
1/2 cup margarine
3 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sweet milk
1/2 pound cheddar cheese
1/2 pound fried bacon, crumbled

Cook grits according to package instructions. Add margarine to hot grits and stir until melted.  Add cheese and stir. Combine eggs with milk and stir into grits. Add crumbled bacon. Pout into greased 2-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle extra cheese on top if you desire. Bake 30 to 40 minutes at 325° until mixture is set and light browned. The center is the last to cook.  Yields 8-12 servings.

Sounds really low in calories, doesn’t it? But I guess the calories is what makes them taste good.

Do you have a family recipe for grits you’d like to share?  I’m on the search for the best grits recipe!

When I first moved to the South, I fell in love with all the lovely Southern names, especially all the Double names. A lot of girls in the South have two first names and you better not make the mistake of just using the first one. I did that only one time and got a big dressing down by the owner of that particular double name. I know many girls that have their mother’s maiden names as part of their double name. Southerners love their heritage and history! I do believe that many of our Modern Belles just pick double names that they like which might explain all the little ones I know named Anna Katherine, Anna Grace, Anna Kate, Emma Kate, etc.

I have also found that Southerners do not constantly shorten your name. Growing up in the North, I was always called Sue. Yuck. Despite all my attempts to get back to my given name, it was pretty much a lost cause. But here in my precious South, I am Susanne and no one has ever tried to call me Sue. My children have friends named James, Andrew, Joseph, Jonathan, Katherine and that is what they are called. But don’t get me wrong… I also know plenty of Jimmys, Billys, Rickys, and Juniors. It’s a lovely mix!

You will also find a lot of girls with names that sound like last names… generally because they are. Southerners also have a tendency to go by their middle name. This is very popular in my husband’s family (including him!) and we have continued that with my son. He was three before he actually knew his first name. I’m still not sure he can spell it. Unfortunately the practice of going by a middle name means a lot of beautiful first names are just sitting out there unused. When we were expecting our first child, I had a whole host of nieces and nephews and several had unused first names that I really loved. It was very tempting to actually use one but I was informed that this was not proper. Using a family name is definitely the appropriate route to go but when you have 12 nieces and nephews, all the “good” family names are already in use. Magnolia informed me that we were free to use Lorenzo but I politely declined.

Here is an excerpt from A Southern Belle Primer on Southern names:

When Southern belles want to join local committees and organizations, they rarely have to fill out applications forms to tell people who they are. That’s because Southern belles have names that are walking family trees. It doesn’t matter where you go in the South, because the entire South seems to be married to one another.

In some towns you can find Davis Carlyle Sotheby and her first cousin Sotheby Carlyle Davis and they are both leading tours for the local pilgrimage. They have cousins in places like Little Rock and Augusta named Carlyle Sotheby Smith and Smith Carlyle Jenkins. When cousins marry, they are likely to name their daughter Carlyle Davis Carlyle.

The use of double first names like Rebecca Ann or Jennifer Mary are also common. Double names are usually given to honor both grandmothers.

There are lots of children in the South named Rhett and Scarlett. Almost all of their families are newcomers. One belle in Savannah recalls that a magazine writer from New York once interviewed her about her hometown for an article. The writer ignored the established local Southern names and asked where in the South would he have to go to find a young girl named Scarlett.

“Well, not in Savannah,” the Georgia belle said. “And I wouldn’t bother with Atlanta either. I think you’re looking for someone you might find in southern Chicago.”

Ouch.

My Favorite Spring Plants

Hyacinth My absolute favorite. Beautiful little blossoms and smells heavenly.

Tulips So regal and proud.

Creeping Phlox A great groundcover and such dainty little flowers.

Sweet Alyssum A great spreading perennial with beautiful white blossoms.

Lilac I don’t see them much down here but up north, they are everywhere and have the most beautiful scent.

Forsythia So beautiful when it’s blooming and especially when planted in a mass.

Tulip Tree I know this is technically a magnolia but I’ve always called it a tulip tree. They are blooming now here in South Carolina and are just gorgeous!

Daffodil I especially love the bright yellow ones with the dark orange center. They are just so cheerful.

Bradford Pear Tree They are so beautiful when in bloom.