My Greenville (/ˈɡriːnvɪl/; locally /ˈɡriːnvəl/)

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Our winter here ended early, in February, so pretty much every weekend since then I've been hitting up either the nurseries -- there are three that I like which have good prices, and one that I like which does not have good prices -- or the big-box stores like Lowes, and even occasionally Wal-Mart, where I found an excellent price on Japanese maples this past weekend and got three of them for my nascent Japanese garden. I think my favorite find of the season was black mondo grass, also for the Japanese garden, and which seems to be loving life where I planted it, as it almost immediately started putting out little purple flowers.

very interesting. i went this morning,poked around and came back. it was nice.

i have been taking notes about plants i like and then looking them up for what is practical and how to take care of them.

i'm such a noob with it, i wont get most of it going until next summer, just gathering info now like planting stuff and a few small plants to see if i don't kill them. people are txting us their plants and suggestions too.

i have this book -- its very inspirational:
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Home-sty.../dp/1782497137


and its just for a balcony and houseplants. wish me luck!

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

i'm such a noob with it, i wont get most of it going until next summer, just gathering info now like planting stuff and a few small plants to see if i don't kill them. people are txting us their plants and suggestions too.

i have this book -- its very inspirational:
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Home-sty.../dp/1782497137


and its just for a balcony and houseplants. wish me luck!

Here is one of the best tools for gardening I've ever found:

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/

It's a plant identifier operated by NC State University. Plug in your plant and it will tell you what it does, how it grows, where it grows including the USDA growing zone, how tall and wide it gets... pretty much everything you need to know. You can also plug in parameters and get a list of plants that will work in, for example, a shady spot that tends to stay wet.

[hauntedheadnc]

Saturday, June 17th, 2023

Greenwood, SC: Flower to the People

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My husband and I stumbled upon the South Carolina Festival of Flowers today. We went to Greenwood because we found a plant nursery there that had a few things we needed for our Japanese garden at a good price, figured we'd never been to downtown Greenwood before and might as well while we were there, and found a topiary wonderland.

Greenwood is about an hour from Greenville and is known for two things: the presence of Lander University, and having, at a whopping 316 feet, the widest Main Street in the country.























































































































[

[sopas ej]

Widest Main Street... yeah, I did a Google street view, and mmm hmm, I saw picnic tables on the grassy median!

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Widest Main Street... yeah, I did a Google street view, and mmm hmm, I saw picnic tables on the grassy median!

Greenwood isn't a place that many people have had much to say about, so I couldn't really find out why their Main Street is the way it is. I found something that said there were railroad tracks going up the middle at one point, and that the city replaced them with planted medians when they were torn up. I don't know though, considering the way the boulevard of Main Street merges into something more normal north and south of the central business district.

I also couldn't find anything about who came up with the idea, or when it was implemented, to attach that 1980's mall-looking apparatus to the buildings on Main Street. It looked like they had done it with the idea of "modernizing" the area, and turning the second floors of the buildings into more retail space. Here and there, bits of the original facades were still there, but you could tell that the majority of the original downtown architecture was swallowed by the mall.

[hauntedheadnc]

Bob Jones University is located in Greenville and it has a great deal in common, as an institution, with 17th century European royalty: thoroughly evil, deeply religious, and possessing of a magnificent art collection. Perhaps in recognition of this fact, perhaps to raise awareness of a plan to build a museum to house the BJU art collection, fourteen items from their collection of Baroque art are on display at First Presbyterian in downtown Greenville until October, so I figured I'd go have a look:
































Plus a bonus shot of Presbyterian pottery on display in the church lobby.

[hauntedheadnc]

Friday, August 11, 2023

Greenville, SC: Some have wickedness thrust upon them

Some scenes from Friday night, when a friend from Asheville came down for my birthday and she, my husband, and I went out to eat before attending a performance of Wicked at the Peace Center.

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We went to a Persian restaurant, of all places, where I forgot to take a photo of the entree until halfway through. But honestly I think I enjoyed the appetizers and the dessert better. The dessert is pistachio, saffron, and rose ice cream with pomegranate syrup.



















And now, a selection of things I noticed blooming in my gardens after I got home from work on Saturday, my actual birthday, plus how my birthday ended: supper at my favorite restaurant and a severe thunderstorm warning.

[Wigs]

Thanks for the Greenville updates, hhnc

[xzmattzx]

I love a good collection of rolling stormcloud pictures!

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Thanks for the Greenville updates, hhnc

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

I love a good collection of rolling stormcloud pictures!

Thanks for taking a look.

[sopas ej]

Mmm, Persian ice cream is always good!

And yeah, those rolling storm clouds... we had some monsoonal drizzle in our own area last week.

[hauntedheadnc]

Friday, September 1, 2023

We had a good dinner last night at an interesting place...

Artichoke and goat cheese spread.



Eggplant parmesan with broccolini and a "side" of spaghetti with marinara.



Peanut butter pie. It was good, but I can make a better one and with that realization I sat back and reflected on how I've become a good cook over the past decade.

























This is one of Greenville's many old mills and warehouses that have found new life as housing and shopping. Shopping, in this case. This is the old Taylors Mill, which housed the Southern Bleachery and Piedmont Print Works facility from 1922 to 1965. A rail station built on land belonging to Alfred Taylor gave this area of Greenville its name as it shrank from Taylor's Station to simply Taylors. Previously, this part of the county had been known as Chick Springs, after a health resort built around some natural springs by a Dr. Chick. The springs are still there, in a patch of woods in a residential area, but the hotel is not after having burned down decades ago.

Other businesses in Taylors Mill include a retro arcade (with over seventy games!), a hatchet throwing place, a rage room, a brewery, a model train museum, a coffee shop, a gym, a place to do yoga, a wedding venue, and several other businesses like photographers, offices, and a business that sells reclaimed lumber for when you're building a new house but want to include fixtures from the old houses that got torn down to make way for other people's new houses.

Beyond the mill is the Taylors mill village, with churches and shops and houses, including one with a big historical marker in the yard identifying it as the mill manager's house. I really need to head back up there with a real camera as opposed to my phone.

It is also worth noting that I texted my brother after seeing the arcade, poking my head in and spying a Galaga game, and we both geeked out and reminisced about the arcade we grew up with. Galaga was his game, whereas I remember playing it on the NES.

[Architype]

That's authentic, do they still use those overhead conveyors?

[hauntedheadnc]

Monday, September 4th, 2023

Greenville, SC: To crave the shade

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I don't know why I do this to myself. I always say, "We'll go out early so it won't be too hot. It won't get up into the 90s until sometime this afternoon, so if we go out first thing we'll be fine."

We are never fine. It is always hot. In fact, if you're outside here anytime between the middle of May and until at least the middle of October, it's going to be hot. This is because either the temperature actually is in the 90s (or above) or because with the humidity, it feels like it's in the 90s (or above). Such was the case yesterday when we went for a stroll downtown and over to Unity Park, the big new bauble in Greenville's civic jewelry box.









If we go downtown in the mornings, this is almost always where those mornings start. I like this place and have even shared it with another SSP forumer.

















































The west side of downtown proper, and also the West End, is seeing an explosion of new development. Greenville is filling in and growing considerably denser as buildings like this one, the McLaren, replace small-scale development and vacant lots, and townhouses replace single-family houses.







However, even with all the new development, Greenville still has a soft spot for historic preservation even if it lacks the flash and dazzle of Asheville's art deco. And that being said, Greenville is an absolute bear for moving historically significant structures if they're in the way. This building is one of them. It was one of the only medical clinics that would treat Black patients during segregation. Rather than tear it down, the developers of the McLaren moved it about halfway down the block to the corner.







Meanwhile, outside the Merrill Gardens senior apartments, which are also new, the city of Greenville placed a piece of public art so that you, the public, would be inspired to take a moment now and then to consider DNA:













Kudzu, the devil's vine:







Were you aware that kudzu flowers? It's still an evil fucking plant though, but honestly I think I'd rather have kudzu to deal with than chamberbitter. Chamberbitter, a weed native to the lowest shitpits of hell, also known as shatterstone, also known as stonebreaker, also known as gripeweed, is an invasive bitch of a plant and the bane of my existence. I've been fighting it in my flowerbeds all summer long. Hate is far too mild a term for the emotions I feel toward chamberbitter.



And now we're in Unity Park. The mighty Reedy flows through Unity Park but unlike in Falls Park downtown, here it doesn't do any tricks.























This is another one of those historic industrial complexes studded all over town that have found new life. This was a warehouse complex. Now it's shops, offices, and a food hall.



























Unity Park features a wetlands area, since one of the reasons the park was even built, in addition to recreation, was to give the Reedy a place to throw its occasional fit without getting in anyone's way.









According to a sign, this is a "vernal pool." There were some houses up the hill that overlook the park and if my house overlooked the vernal pools I'd never shut up about it. I'd brag. It would become obnoxious how often I brought it up in conversation.













































































































It was hot the whole time.

[the pope]

all cities need houseplant shops and sparkle stairs

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by the pope

all cities need houseplant shops and sparkle stairs

You could make a strong case that it is houseplant shops and sparkle stairs, not statues of guys on horses, that truly define whether a city is or is not great.

[xzmattzx]

I know that Coffee Underground place!

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

I know that Coffee Underground place!

Source.

[hauntedheadnc]

Saturday, December 30th, 2023

Greenville, SC: The Yogurt-Intensive Saturday


We had a pleasant Saturday... A friend came down from Asheville to try a restaurant I heard about on Facebook, and afterward we went for a walk at everyone's favorite toxic swamp.

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The day began with disapproval from Timmy the cat.



Lots of plants and a really nice fountain in the middle of everything.















The food:









The restaurant owner also paints, and his paintings are up in the restaurant.



The swamp at Lake Conestee Nature Preserve. To know it is to love it.

































The Conestee Mill that was the reason the lake was constructed in 1892.



Random parking lot chicken.

[hauntedheadnc]

Plant people understand. When, while lying around after work yesterday, my husband and I learned there was a voodoo lily in full bloom up at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, we immediately jumped in the car and drove an hour and a half north through heavy traffic and construction on I-26 to go look at it.