Downtown 'Blossoms' Into the Month of May

Downtown Norcross was bustling last Saturday with its first Blossom festival. The celebration of spring had flower and garden sales, garden tours, crafts, workshops and more.

"Basically, I saw a need for a spring event that would showcase downtown and the community," said Tixie Fowler, the downtown manager for Norcross. "There's just so many creative people in this community."

Fowler explained that she collaborated with the Norcross Garden Club, which holds a sale every year. Soon after, with the help of others in the community, the festival came together, with the Club's sale, a mini farmers market, home garden tours and learning workshops included. 

The Garden Club's annual sale, which actually started the day before the tour, seemed to be a huge success. "This whole area was filled with plants Friday," said the club's president, Susanne Kilby, pointing to Saturday's now-open area with less plants. "You could barely walk through it!"

From succulents to petunias to even Chinese ferns, the sale featured a range of vegetables and flowers from gardens of the Club's members. Kilby said that she brought a whopping 180 plants from her personal garden, including banana cream tomatoes and black plum Russian tomatoes. 

Across the Garden Club home, a mini farmers market with three vendor tents were available for passersby to buy organic produce and nibble on the first fruits of spring. 

One of the vendors, Buffalo Lick Farm & Nursery in Loganville and Greensboro, featured its honey, pepper jelly, carrots, spinach, Asian mizuna and more, all made without the use of pesticides. The owner, Mike Weathers, said he decided to partake in Blossom to get ready for Norcross's larger farmers market, starting May 17 on Tuesdays, that he participates in yearly. 

"It's a chance to set up the booth and get the rust and cobwebs off to get ready for the market," Weathers said about Blossom.

Other market vendors also offered pesticide-free produce and products, too, such as coffee directly from Nicaragua, brown basmati rice, lettuce, cabbage, European melons and more. 

Sangrit Enterprises, another vendor in the mini market, had a demonstration and slideshow inside the Norcross Garden Club house on container gardening. Two other classes, one for green worm composition and the other for veggie gardening, also took place.

Near the market, a rain barreling class took place and Norcross First United Methodist Church let kids plant their own seeds in a cup to take home with them. 

That was one of the most beneficial things at Blossom: The whole festival was filled with information on how to care for the plants and vegetables and the gardeners answered questions and gave extra tips on how to make the most of each plant. It was also helpful that many of the plants were separated by type: sun, shade, perennials and annuals.

"We try to find fun, unsual stuff you normally wouldn't see," said Norcross Patch Garden Spot columnist Julie Foster about the plants for sale at her home. Her home's garden was featured on the garden tour, and she owns her own garden landscaping company, Gardens by Design.

Downtown merchants also had sales and specials, too, from the Anna Balkan Jewelry Gallery to Taste of Britain. The Purple Poppy Shoppe had a 10 percent to 50 percent "yard sale" filled with pots, vases and birdhouses, and many items were sold by midday. 

Aside from the planting arts, Norcross was also dotted with art sales. One home had the Little Red Barn Sale: Bright reds and purples were painted on mirror frames, chairs, tables and more, most of them beautifully restored from older pieces. Headbands with feathers and hair pins with buttons and cloth were also for sale, among many other items. 

Another home featured a range of pottery, smooth to the touch. Georg Skowranek, the pottery creator and a native of Germany, has been a potter on and off for years but has regularly practiced the art since retiring. "I do about two a week," he said of his unique pottery that ranged in color, style and form. Skowranek actually recently sold some pottery to .