the moody beauty of Spanish moss

Fans of True Blood and Faulkner alike would easily recognize Spanish moss — those long wisps of flora that gracefully drape trees of all types, but are particularly partial to oak and cypress.

 

Spanish moss abounds at Savannah’s famous Bonaventure Cemetery

 

Travel anywhere along the low-lying, coast-hugging southeast United States and you’ll see this quintessential element of the Southern landscape.

 

At Rosedown Plantation, in St. Francisville, LA

 

And though neither Spanish nor moss (it’s actually a type of fern), I’m always enthralled when I encounter its magnificent moody beauty.

 

An aerial view of Spanish moss, taken from the widow’s walk at Georgia’s Jekyll Island Club

 

To see more iconic images of Spanish moss, you can check out this great article on Evergreen Plantation (site of the film Django Unchained and one of the few intact plantations in the South) in the latest issue of Preservation magazine.

Enjoy!

Nicole

gardening and get-togethers

I hope you are enjoying these wonderfully long, sunshine-filled days. Now that our yard’s been cleaned up (which you can read about here), we’ve been spending the extra daylight hours doing some serious garden work — planting cone flowers and marigolds, corn and cucumbers, squash and beans. I know it’s a bit late in the season, but we thought we’d give it a go anyway. And all of our garden work got me thinking about some summer-inspired vintage tableware we have at the house and how to pair them for a perfect setting.

(via)

You can see more here, at Broadway+Thresher.  And, learn how to make your own Quick Sweet Pickles here.

Cheers!

Nicole

from coffee pot to flower pot

I love flowers and am always on the lookout for fun ways to display them. So, imagine my delight when I found this great little coffee pot while digging around a secondhand shop. It’s from an old hotel in Ireland and is very solid silverplate. I knew immediately it would make a great vase — not too big, not too small, with an opening just the right size for a good bunch of flowers.

I was not disappointed. First, I made a quick trip to my local farmer’s market, which resulted in this gorgeous selection of fresh blooms.

I then cut the stems (diagonally, under running water), trimmed the leaves, added some sugar and water to the coffee pot … and voilà, a beautiful, easy, and inexpensive arrangement!

Cheers!
Nicole