While we’re not quite ready to break out our Christmas decorations and sing carols, we’re definitely looking forward to 2013 Christmas at Biltmore beginning November 2, because, well, they’ve known how to do a spectacular Christmas celebration ever since George Washington Vanderbilt opened his Asheville home to family and friends on Christmas Eve of 1895.
While we (OK, Brigette mostly) have been walking around inspecting every inch of the garden for signs of Spring to break through and looking at all the trees for signs of Spring to bud, and looking at all the birds to see if any Spring ones have arrived, we were reminded today that no, Spring isn’t quite here yet!
Our crocuses and hellebores have come out to let us know that Spring is just one month away! A few of the daffodils are budding as well, and tulips are peeking through the ground. Even the roses and butterfly bushes are coming out of hibernation. Spring is definitely on the way!
We’ve been having an up-and-down winter in our neck of the woods, how about you? Some days are warm, others are cold, rain here, flurries there…our spring flowers are so confused!
Happy New Year! We hope you’re off to a great start in 2013. Have you made any resolutions? Perhaps you’ve resolved not to make resolutions! But if you have made some, may we suggest adding the resolution to relax more and stress less. We have lots of ways you can accomplish that by coming to the mountains of Western North Carolina, and we’ll be sharing those with you this year.
| Photo Credit: RomanticAsheville.com |
Grove Park Inn in Asheville is hosting the 2012 National Gingerbread House Competition display from now through January 2, 2013. This is the 20th year that Grove Park Inn has held the competition and the entries seem to have gotten grander and grander over the years.
Where is winter? {Not that we’re complaining!} These little guys popped out of the ground at the Inn today…
If Mother Nature’s favorite colors on her paint palette right now are brown tones where you live, look no further for a color {and flower!} fix than Biltmore Estate, the entrance of which is about 20 minutes west of the Inn on Mill Creek. The Biltmore Conservatory, a short walk from Biltmore House, is an indoor oasis, loaded floor to ceiling with trees and tropical plants. Plus, winter is the perfect time to see all of Biltmore’s orchids in bloom, such as the one above. They’re special enough that they get their own room in the Conservatory!
February can be rather unpredictable in the mountains of Western North Carolina. So even though songbirds will be belting out their tunes and daffodils will be showering us with blooms in just four short weeks, we know to take full advantage of a pretty, “Spring-ish” day that comes along in the middle of February.
