I just love the spring and watching the yard come alive with color! Our honeysuckle vines are now blooming – and look at those beautiful colors! The orange trumpets with yellow centers against the dark green foliage is so eye catching. These blooms will often attract hummingbirds to your garden.

The trumpet honeysuckle produces orange-red flowers in the spring, and then will rebloom again during the summer.

These climbing ornamental vines are easy to grow. They thrive in sun or shade. They do best in well-drained soils, but will tolerate poor soils. They will need pruning in the spring, but they will regrow quickly the next year.

You can train them on a trellis or let the honeysuckle ramble as ground cover. We found this little church birdhouse at a store in Rocheport several years ago and it just seems like the perfect focal point amidst the flowering vines.

Enjoy the spring!

Pansies are a sure sign that spring is here! I love all the pretty colors! They are a fun flower to bake with and make crafts with. These shortbread cookies are easy to make. You combine butter and sugar in a food processor, then add flour and vanilla and pulse until the dough comes together. Chill the dough, roll out and cut out rounds with a cookie cutter. You can vary the size, depending on the size of your pansies.

While the dough is chilling, prepare your pansies. Cut off the stem and place them on a large sheet of parchment paper.

Place another sheet of parchment paper over the top of the pansies.

Weigh the pansies down, I topped them with a baking sheet and cook books. Let them set at least 30 minutes.

Bake the shortbread cookies for about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and gently press the flat pansies on the hot cookies.

Sprinkle with granulated or sparkling sugar.

What a pretty bunch!

I like the smaller pansies better. The pansies are edible, but I think they may be more of a decoration for most people. But everyone will like the rich shortbread cookies!

Just what you need for a pretty tea party with your friends – or grandkids! Enjoy!

For the recipe and complete instructions, click on the link below:

https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/how-to-make-pansy-topped-shortbread-cookies-recipe/

Here is another idea for pansy topped cookies:

Make some cute cards or bookmarks with your pansies!

Have fun with the flowers in your gardens!!! Enjoy!

The cleomes, or spider flowers, are in full bloom now. They are often called spider flowers because of their tall, leggy appearance and their spider-like flowers and spidery seedpods.

These plants are really easy to grow and are prolific bloomers, so they produce lots of seeds. As these seed pods ripen and burst open, the seeds are scattered in your garden. If you plant then once, you will be blessed with new plants each year. Some would say that they can almost become a nuisance, or invasive, given ideal growing conditions. They do grow best in well-drained soil and in full sun to light shade.

Spider flowers have intricate, large showy blooms in shades of delicate pink, rose, purple, white or bi-color. They range in height from 1 1/2 – to 5- feet tall with a 1- to 2- feet spread. You can also buy dwarf varieties that work well in containers or small areas. They normally bloom from June until frost.

The leaves have 5-7 leaflets and have a strong, sometimes unpleasant fragrance. Deadheading is not necessary and neither is staking.

Spider plants work well in borders, background plantings, cutting gardens and containers. They provide a colorful background and contrast when planted with sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos. The flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. It is a hardy annual that is very easy to grow and is resistant to insect and disease problems. Plant once and enjoy for years.

Source: Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home and Garden Information Center