Fair And Fall Fun
The State Agriculture & Mechanical Society of South Carolina sponsors the South Carolina State Fair October 8 – 19, 2014 at 1299 Rosewood Drive, Columbia, SC 29201. This will be the 145 Year. Opening day tickets are $1. Advance tickets are at your local Bi-Lo. I do not know what I enjoy most. The Racing Pigs are a hoot with punny names of famous people. Flowers and sand art carvings are in the Ellisor Building; 2014 Fine Arts Exhibit is in the Cantey Building. Ruby has been juried in as an exhibiting artist since 2007. Search for her watercolor, Carolina Wildflowers on Winding Back Roads, in the Amateur Watercolors and a portrait of Gige, her daughter, in the Amateur Oils.
Take a ride down a country back road and look for wild flowers beside the road. Right now the golden rod is prolific. Keep your windows up or you’ll be sneezing. Wild asters are the fall stars and may be white or light lavender. The blooms are small but plentiful. You may even find milkweed, a place where butterflies lay their eggs. The yellow primrose is a sight to see. You can actually watch them open in the evening and see why the song Primrose Lane came to be. The American beautybush is filled with birds eating the clusters of purple seeds. Take pictures and check out wildflower books and see if you can identify them. The honeysuckle vines climb fence posts, trees and banks.
In my picture I chose to feature July wild flowers and feature three single orange daylilies, Queen Anne’s lace, oxeye daisies, a flag (wild white iris), an Indian blanket, blackberries, ladybugs and a monarch butterfly. Check the seed stands and flower catalogues and grow wildflowers. Saluda Shoals Park in Irmo has a wildflowers walk that can be arranged. Call the park for details.
