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A Sign of Spring: Flower Festivals

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Nearby celebrations of springtime that can’t be missed, and a few worth traveling farther to see.

AAA Northeast, March 2, 2020

Spring is springing and flower festivals are in bloom around the country. Here are six that we love.

The New York Botanical Garden Orchid Show

Bronx, N.Y.

February 15-April 19

Known as the country’s premiere exhibition of one of the world’s most exotic flowers, NYBG’s historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory comes to life in bursts of color from almost every variety of orchid. This year’s 18th Annual Orchid Show highlights the masterful creations of famed floral designer Jeff Leatham. Each gallery provides a different experience of orchids against backdrops of sculpture, overhead arches, dramatic lighting and color – like walking through a living kaleidoscope. On weekends, visitors can participate in orchid Q&As or watch orchid care demos.

A Million Daffodils at the New York Botanical Garden

March through May

At the beginning of spring, Daffodil Hill at NYBG comes to life with hundreds of thousands of yellow and white daffodils. A commemorative project for NYBG’s 125th anniversary in 2016, the mission of Daffodil Hill has been to naturalize one million heirloom varieties, including cultivars dating back to the original 1920s plantings on this very site. Keep up to date with NYBG’s Daffodil Tracker.

Save on NYBG garden passes with AAA member discount.

National Cherry Blossom Festival

Washington, D.C.

March 20-April 12

Taking a stroll under the blooming cherry trees in our nation’s capital feels like a dream. Spanning three different National Park locations, around the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park, East Potomac Park (Hains Point) and the Washington Monument Grounds, you’ll be captivated by the stunning pink and white canopies of blossoms of more than ten species of cherry trees. The festival commemorates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees to the nation’s capital by Japan in 1912. Festival events include the National Cherry Blossom Parade, a kite festival and the Pink Tie Party to welcome spring.

BOOK A NEARBY HOTEL.

Muskogee Azalea Festival

Muskogee, Okla. 

April 1-30

With fire bursts of vibrant pinks and reds everywhere you look, this is perhaps one of the most beautiful displays of flowering shrubs in the world. Some 30,000 azaleas (with over 600 varieties) bloom each spring, adorning Honor Heights Park in over 40 acres of manicured gardens, high on a hill overlooking the town of Muskogee. This month-long festival features numerous events throughout town, including arts and crafts, live entertainment, a film festival and a wine and food tasting. In addition to amazing azaleas, the stunning, 132-acre Honor Heights Park boasts five lakes, picturesque ponds, a butterfly sanctuary and an arboretum.

flower festivals

Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival

Orlando, Fla. 

March 4-June 1

Perhaps the most beloved attractions at Epcot’s famed flower festival are the larger-than-life topiaries of favorite Disney characters: Mickey and Minnie, Anna and Elsa – they are all here, in full, colorful bloom. During the flower festival, visitors will see rainbows of flora carpeting the landscape around Future World and World Showcase. Mini gardens decorate the east and west lakes and selfie opportunities abound with dozens of Disney-crafted flower towers. As always in Epcot, great food from around the world and musicaccompany the impressive floral displays.

Plan your next Disney vacation with AAA.

BOOK A NEARBY HOTEL.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Mount Vernon, Wash.

April 1-30

Tiptoe through a million tulips in Washington’s Skagit Valley. The county-wide spring flower festival features events and attractions including children’s activities, arts and crafts and a photography bus tour. Two principal farms share the spotlight for this festival. The gardens at Roozengaarde boast more than 1,000 acres of tulip and daffodil fields, with over 90 varieties of tulips, interspersed with bursting colors of daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and other spring favorites. Take the short drive over to Tuliptown for more family fun, and when you tire of tiptoeing, hop on board a trolley for a ride through the tulips.

BOOK A NEARBY HOTEL.

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Cape House Hunt

Cape House Hunt: Updated Colonial Revival in ideal Cotuit location

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Cape Cod Times, December 13, 2019

COTUIT — Right when you walk in, you can tell that this two-story Colonial Revival has a nice flow. The open foyer leads into a spacious front-facing living room, and from here an open entryway leads to the kitchen/dining area. A sliding glass door out to the back deck lets in lots of light, and makes excellent use of space. What’s more, the interior in the entire home has been all tastefully updated. We see clear lines on walls via horizontal natural-look paneling — these types of “industrial farmhouse” lines, we’ve been told, have been trending for 2020: attractive wood-look laminate flooring throughout and plantation shutters on windows. The kitchen is the centerpiece, with all stainless-steel appliances, marble subway tile and white cabinetry offering a super clean look. Horizontal paneling continues on kitchen walls and around the counter. There is plenty of gathering space here, and the back deck is perfect for summer get-togethers, with a huge, fenced backyard an added bonus.

A little nook with a built-in seat make a perfect mud room area coming in from the two-car garage; a decent-sized updated half bath features here. Past the kitchen is a formal dining room, then a sitting room/den with a wood-burning fireplace, completing the first-floor plan in a nice circular flow. “It’s very open for a Colonial,” said Realtor Nicky Fountain.

Upstairs, the flow and the updates continue, in this case with white beadboard wainscoting in all of the bedrooms. The master suite features a huge walk-in closet, hardwood floors and recessed lighting, and hardwood floors continue down the hall to an open space where a washer and dryer fit perfectly. The two other bedrooms feature here.

Even the basement in this home has been tastefully finished, with a large, open space making for the perfect entertainment center.

This home is situated in a desirable Cotuit neighborhood, quiet but not far from town, and right near Eagle Pond, which features a multitude of trails through the woods. Grab the dogs and head out for a walk on a pretty fall day.

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Cape House Hunt

Cape House Hunt: Tudor Revival-style home in ideal Provincetown setting

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Cape Cod Times, December 6, 2019

PROVINCETOWN — Pilgrim Monument is practically right in the front yard of this ideally located home, which has been well-maintained and recently upgraded, with newer windows and other updates.

You step into a whitewashed foyer, and you look into the living room and see sturdy hardwood floors and a lovely gas fireplace. All the rooms are off the living room. To the left is a sitting area that leads into the first-floor master bedroom, which features not one but two walk-in closets. On the other side of the living room there’s a tiny whitewashed space, converted from the former main entrance, which is perfect for a small office. The dining room features an elegant arched entryway and a built-in hutch. The entire layout is perfect — it’s open, it’s spacious with high ceilings, and it just feels good. “The house lives big for its square footage,” Realtor Mike Minore said.

From the dining room, you step into the galley kitchen, and are wowed by white beadboard, stainless steel appliances and contemporary track lighting, all of which make this kitchen gleam. The house just seems to keep going as you walk through the kitchen and into a not-even-that-small white paneled sun porch that opens out to the backyard.

That’s right, this centrally located Provincetown home even features a backyard, fenced in for that matter, and it’s actually quite private.

Back inside, the upstairs has two spacious bedrooms, both with hardwood floors and lots of light, and pipe radiators in each room are a testament to the past. The shared bathroom has been recently updated.

Sitting proudly on a corner lot, this home exhibits various Tudor Revival cottage elements, such as a steeply pitched roof and a large, chunky chimney. But that’s not all that makes the architecture special, this home is a kit house from the Sears Catalog, among those sold and distributed between 1908 and 1940 in a variety of styles.

In addition to offering up certain slices of nostalgia, this fantastic Provincetown home is also move-in ready.

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Cape House Hunt

Cape House Hunt: Rustic cottage offers sweeping views of Nauset Light Beach

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Cape Cod Times, November 29, 2019

EASTHAM – It may have been slightly chilly for Thanksgiving dinner here in this idyllically rustic seasonal cottage, but we are thankful it’s here, sitting high up on the dunes of Nauset Light Beach within the Cape Cod National Seashore. Among the last of its kind, this cottage was built in 1955 around the height of the Cape Cod cottage era of those rustic Cape summer cottages we love so dearly. With ocean breezes and the sound of crashing waves, you just can’t go wrong.

This summer cottage makes for the perfect family getaway. There are neighbors, mostly seasonal, some year-round, but you’re wonderfully secluded. Drive up the private road and you are welcomed by Nauset Light, the most well-known and photographed lighthouse on Cape Cod. Take a left onto Nauset Light Beach Road, a long dirt road which takes you far back through the woods, then take a right onto a long dirt driveway meandering back out toward the coast, and there you are. Walk through the front yard to the edge of the dune and take in the breathtaking view of Nauset Light Beach for miles in either direction. “In California, this view would cost millions of dollars,” Realtor Cindy M. Blum said. A sizeable front deck lets you sit and take it all in (stay tuned for a special bonus).

A large sunroom was added in 2008, and you step in here from the front deck, where you can spend the evening regrouping with family and chatting about the day’s adventures. The kitchen and living room are open, with the living room with its large picture windows bringing the ocean front and center. The kitchen has pretty ample space, for a cottage kitchen. Whitewashed rafters adorn the ceilings.

Two bedrooms feature in the main part of the cottage, but there’s a unique twist to this place — a separate attached “sleeping cottage” is on the other side of the house, through the breezeway and up a flight of stairs, which has its own bathroom. And while we’re on the topic of unique features, here comes the special bonus — feast your eyes upon the swanky rooftop deck. Climb the flight of stairs and hang out up here day or night — a slice of heaven.

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Travel

Bog Down: Visit Cranberry Bogs in Massachusetts

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Cranberry season is September through October. Take a cranberry bog tour to learn about the uniquely-grown and harvested fruit.

AAA Northeast, September 3, 2019

It’s a hot July morning and I’m driving down a winding dirt driveway in the middle of nowhere in West Barnstable on Cape Cod, wondering if I’ve taken a wrong turn. A cranberry bog should be around the next corner, I tell myself. Finally, I end up flanked by bogs on each side of the road, filled with fields of green cranberries growing in the hot sun.

I find David Ross, the owner of Cape Cod Cranberry Bog Tours, who waves me down, and I pull up next to his truck. Casually dressed in jeans and a Cape Cod Beer T-shirt, he tells me there are five bogs here that comprise some 80 acres and several varieties of cranberries. This is just one of his Cape Cod Cranberry Bog Tours properties.

Bog Life 

On the sunny summer day that I visited, he tells me that the bloom season has just ended; the white cranberry flowers have turned to berries. They are small and green and some of them are beginning to show a slight tinge of red. Ross says that while visitors are usually focused on the one-day harvest in October – that seemingly magical day when the robust red berries float to the top of the water-lined bog before being rounded up – cranberry growing is a 365-day a year process.

Ross purchased the bogs in the 1980s and spent his entire first year under the tutelage of the former owner whom he affectionately refers to as the old-timer. “When I first bought this place, the old-timer would call me at five o’clock every morning and ask, ‘You ready?’,” Ross reminisces. “He was testing me, seeing if I was worthy of bog life. Every morning I’d tell him, ‘Sure am.’”

Just over the bridge, Middleboro, Mass., is known as the “Cranberry Capital.” Dawn Gates-Allen, director of member and financial services for the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association grew up in Middleboro, and cranberries are in her blood. Gates-Allen is a fourth-generation cranberry grower. “I was born into this industry and I dragged my husband into it,” she laughs. Her great-grandmother started growing bogs in Rochester and Freetown, Mass., nearly 100 years ago.

Middleboro is also home to the headquarters of Ocean Spray, which is not just a company that manufactures cranberry juice and other cranberry-related products, but is a grower-owned cooperative which the majority of Massachusetts growers belong to.

What is a Bog? 

Simply put, a bog is a wetland that has one continuous dyke around it, according to Glen Reid, assistant manager of cranberry operations at AD Makepeace Company in Wareham, Mass. The company was started by Abel Denison Makepeace in 1854 and now has the distinction of being the world’s largest grower of cranberries, with some 2,000 acres of operations and 14,000 acres of properties in Massachusetts.

On cranberry bog tours, here and at other farms, visitors can learn the history of cranberry bogs in Massachusetts, as well as the fruit’s unique growing and harvesting process.

Growing and Harvesting 

The cranberry vine, which is related to a rhododendron, goes dormant in the winter, and periodically the entire bog is put underwater for about two weeks so that a layer of ice will protect the developing flower buds from the elements.

Sometimes, every three years or so, a layer of sand will be spread across the bog to help the plants re-root themselves and ward off pests. As the plant will produce berries for two or three seasons, this isn’t necessary every year; in fact, some vines have been continuously producing for 100 years.

In the spring, the water is pumped out and the plants will begin to flower. “Then we bring in the bees,” says Reid. It takes two bee hives per acre (at about 40,000 bees per hive) to pollinate the flowers. Flowering continues into July, when most or all flowers have become berries.

It takes until mid-September, early October for the berries to fully develop their signature red color. Then, it’s harvest time! The bog is flooded, and a picking machine – a contraption that looks like a big lawnmower – shakes up and dislodges the cranberries from the vine, causing them to float up to the top to be gathered. It’s the quintessential cranberry bog photo op.

Cranberry Bogs in Massachusetts

Following is a list of  bogs in Massachusetts that offer cranberry bog tours. Be sure to check their websites for specific cranberry-related events.

For more information and an interactive map, visit the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association.

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