Save the Easter Lilies - Gardening At Its’ Best

To and fro work takes me up and down East Montague Avenue:

“[The following blog entry was sent to you from: ***@***.***
It came from the blog: Charleston Blog
The entry is titled: Olde North Charleston
The entry can be found here: http://www.charleston.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/2/8/Olde-North-Charleston

As Charleston county experiences continued growth in all directions (except, of course, seaward), tract subdivisions pop up to the North and South, further and further from downtown. In an age that finds the old-fashioned neighborhood harder and harder to come by, Park Circle and East Montague Avenue remain relatively unchanged from an era long gone by.

Just a short, ten-minute drive up Spruill Avenue from downtown Charleston, East Montague and the Park Circle neighborhood still have the look and feel that the "Olde Village" had fifty years ago. Four blocks of wide streets with free parking are lined with shops, restaurants and other businesses, and offer visitors and local residents alike a relaxed place to stroll, eat, drink, and, increasingly, shop.

Restaurants include the homey and delightful Idle Hour; the popular Sesame ("burgers and beer"); the "Best Burger in Charleston" 2006 winner from the Post and Courier, Johnny's Olde Village Grill; the ultra-retro Meat-n-three of Aunt Bea's (which also houses a miniature U.S Post Office and takes in alterations - I am not kidding); and one of the best Irish Pubs in the South, Madra Rua. Park Circle coffee and cream is a free wi-fi hotspot, as well as a fine place for sandwiches, sprits, and of course, coffee and local color. There are two spa/salons, SoCal day spa and Bella Bella, as well as A gardening store, a convenience store, and a variety of other businesses.

For a map showing the greater Charleston area and the location of "the Olde Village", click here:
http://tinyurl.com/357ee5

To map for yourself or to program a navigation system, use an address on East Montague Avenue in North Charleston, such as 1087 E. Montague.]”

Just so happens the other day I had a hankering for some different kind of viddles. I decided around 4 pm to venture into that Aunt Bea's Restaurant at the 1050 building. (Rumor has it there are also lots of Politics a brew within). Unfortunately, the Restaurant wasn’t open for dinner until after 5 pm. Nonetheless; inside I did get to see the functioning miniature ‘old fashion general’ U.S Post Office!

Exiting to the outdoors, my ears were perked by unusual noise – whistling as if calling someone and other commotions to get ones attention. I assumed it could be kids from the nearby school and was preparing to ignore such. In fact; just about in my ‘tune it out mode’ is when suddenly I heard and saw a man across the street shouting frantically in my direction, “stop – you’re going to loose everything!” Nothing in my hands, so I had nothing to loose. For some reason, either because I was hungry or food comes in mind when you see and hear a man shout those words, I assumed someone was about to drop his carry out meal from one of the other local food places. With my car door almost unlocked is when instinctively or call it woman intuition I knew to stop a white bronco looking vehicle having turned the corner off of O’Hear Ave just as this man was now waving his arms about anxiously. Out of the corner of my eye is when I saw the back passenger door of the vehicle swing open. At first I thought his groceries were going to fall out, then I panically wondered - a child, yet I remembered noting some kind of white plants bouncing back and forth from the sudden brake motion from this auto. The man proceeded to only close the door while stating again, ‘you were about to loose it all’. He must have been stunned by the drivers’ reply cause he repeated, oh you were wondering why you could here noise inside your automobile. It wasn’t until this Gentleman returned across the street to his original departure that I realized, ‘the gardening store’. He wasn’t worried about no viddles falling, he was concerned for his customer who just purchased a jeep full of Easter Lilies from his business. Now this guy could have thought, hey I got my money and he could have just let someone drive off with their rear side door open until the driver either realized it was swinging or the door was ripped from it’s hinges after colliding into something. But this Businessman went the extra steps. So Folks, if you are going to program a navigation system and/or plan a nice visit to” the Olde Village” on E. Montague, use the address 1049 East Montague Ave for DUKES GARDEN CENTER. This is the where people want and need to shop!

Today I stopped in to get a business card so I could be certain to list DUKES GARDEN CENTER address correctly. That is when I learned this Businessman’s’ name is Marty. Seems he has some deep roots in Charleston, SC. Possibly in his grandfather linage helping perhaps start the Paper Mill. Marty is currently working on getting the DUKES GARDEN CENTER website up, so I hope he will share on that site, the story of his SC heritage. So happens the person he assured the auto door was closed, is a regular customer. None the less, he could have just sat idle on the green; but he didn’t. I also learned from Marty that the regular Customer purchased the plants for a local church where Members will be placing Easter Lilies for each person whom is no longer and/or can not be with them this Easter.

DUKES GARDEN CENTER
1049 EAST MONTAGUE AVENUE
NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA 29405
843-200-8016