Shannon here: Hope Toler Dougherty takes us on a tour of her flowering yard, shares a recipe for Honeysuckle Sorbet, and a chance to win a print copy of her Contemporary Romance, Forever Free. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing. Deadline: May 11th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Hope:
Forever Free, the final story in the Forever Series, is set on a cut-flower farm in North Carolina. The blooming season is well underway here in the eastern part of the state as you can see by the flowers I photographed in my yard.
Our irises are standing tall.
This dianthus plant has come back for years.
Speaking of coming back, these tiny blossoms are what we call volunteers. I planted them last year, and here they are again. With a few more leaves, they’ll be great.
I need to re-string this clematis so that it’ll climb my lamppost. I never know if the emphasis is on CLEM or MAT when I pronounce it!
I love Gerbera daisies and have several colors, including this pink one.
Our knock-out roses are showing off like crazy.
It won’t be very long before our tea roses follow their cousins.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this stroll around my yard. I’m imagining Phoebe Sinclair’s yard in Forever Free has similar plants plus many more because she’s been working hard in her greenhouses on Honeysuckle Farm. She might find time to prepare this Honeysuckle Sorbet for her summer visitors.
It sounds delicious. Give the recipe a try and see what you think.
Honeysuckle Sorbet
4 C lightly packed honeysuckle blossoms
5 ½ C cool water
½ C water
2 C sugar
A few drops of lemon juice
A shake of cinnamon
Place flowers in a glass container and cover with the cool water. Weight down with a plate and let sit overnight.
Boil the sugar and other water to make a syrup to dissolve syrup. Cool completely.
The next day, combine the water strained from the flowers, the syrup, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Churn in an ice cream maker.
(This tasty treat used to appear briefly every spring in a North Carolina restaurant . Chef Bill Smith always shared his recipe with anyone who asked for it.)
Question for Readers: Please show or tell me what’s blooming where you are.
About Hope: Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her early novels are Irish Encounter, Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts. Her Forever series includes Forever Music, Forever Home, “A Hatteras Surprise,” featured in Candy Cane Wishes and Saltwater Dreams, and Forever Free.
She and husband Kevin delight in visits with their two daughters and twin sons. Learn more & connect:
Hope’s Website Hope’s Facebook Readers Page
Hope’s Instagram Hope’s Pinterest
Hope’s BookBub Hope’s Goodreads
About the book – Forever Free:
Phoebe Sinclair combines her love of flowers and teaching to nurture a cut flower business on her grandfather’s land. She’s got her hands full growing the farm, growing her customer base, and dealing with her growing attraction to the aloof man who’s volunteered to help make her farming dream come true.
Can she focus on her main job, or will a pair of yearning eyes and a hurting heart divert her worthy goals?
Heath Daniels has resigned himself to a life of singleness as he watches his siblings couple up and set wedding dates. Tracking their happiness, however, is more difficult than he expected. A real struggle, in fact.
Feeling the old troubles from his college years creeping back to tempt him, he’s propelled to volunteer for manual labor, leaving him exhausted every day, but out of danger. His additional hours of agri-business, however, lead to different struggles with an intriguing farmer.
Does he have the strength to resist old temptations as well as a beautiful new one too?
Can’t wait for the drawing? Worried you won’t win? Interested in Hope’s other titles?
Get your copy/copies now!
Come back May 7th for Carole Towriss!
flowers
Flowers! Yes, and I hope to plant some more this week! Thank you for reading the post!
A neighbor has some beautiful roses blooming. I also see poppies blooming.
My roses have popped out now, too. I brought in a bouquet on Saturday. Thank you for reading the post!
The daffodils are withering now, but the tulips 🌷 are blooming. A neighbor has a gorgeous row of tulips along his driveway but this year there are only nubs, compliments of hungry 🦌.
Our daffodils are long gone and so are the tulips. Now we’re fully into the summer flowers to go along with the summer temperatures.
The daffodils are still cheery here and the wild violets are prolific.
I love daffodils and violets! I used to dig up wild violets in our woods and transplant them into our yard! Now I grow African violets on my windowsill.
My hubby and daughter planted some seeds, and we see some signs of growth. A couple of marigolds have shown up and the cucumbers my daughter planted are progressing well. My daughter is so excited.
I have a winner! Karen won the drawing. I appreciate Hope for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.