Wedding & Event Venue Near Bluffton, SC.

A colder than usual winter has delayed the expected opening of the U Pick Daffodil farm, but the Bluffton-area attraction’s owners say they are now ready to welcome visitors.

A trip to the farm has become a spring rite for families, flower-lovers and photographers, and co-owners Chuck and Diane Merrick expect to be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. The farm may close early if the Merricks begin to run out of blooms.

“Cold weather doesn’t hurt the flowers; it just slows them down,” said Chuck Merrick, who estimated the blooming fields are about two weeks behind where they would be in a typical year.

The weather forecast for Saturday in Bluffton is sunny and windy with a high of 67, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston. Sunday will be sunny with a high near 60.

The fields are located at 48 Calhoun Plantation Road, just off Pinckney Colony Road.

Each stem picked is 50 cents. Cash and card payments will be accepted.

This year, the Merricks likely will open the fields only on weekends because that’s when their family is available to help them. Weather and the lack or abundance of blooms will affect what days the farm is open.

For information about days the farm will be open, watch its Facebook page or go to its website at upickdaffodils.com. Those who’d like to check on the status of the flowers before making a longer commute can also text Chuck Merrick at 843-368-1998.

The U Pick Daffodil tradition started more than 50 years ago, and each year the farm has expanded to meet a growing demand.

Chuck Merrick uses a planting machine purchased from Holland — it is pulled behind a tractor — to plant tens of thousands of daffodil bulbs with varying blooming times so the farm has a longer picking season.

Daffodils don’t grow easily in the Lowcountry climate, he previously told The Island Packet, and every year the farm loses about half of the ones they had planted in earlier years.

One-year-old Joelle DeLeo sat in a stroller rattling a small plastic toy on a recent Thursday morning as activity buzzed around her. She was sitting in the middle of a soon-to-open restaurant that will bear her name in Bluffton.

Joelle, the restaurant, is located at 132 Bluffton Road, Suite 100, in a newly constructed building that also is home to a salon, an architecture firm and other businesses. It’s the result of years of planning and work by two generations of the family, and, if all goes well with a liquor license and town permits, they will be serving patrons from a “modern Italian” menu later this spring.

Robert and Breana DeLeo, the toddler’s parents and the restaurant’s owner, met while working in the hospitality industry in Charleston, later moved to New York, and now live in Bluffton. Robert’s family owns Island Restaurant Equipment on Hilton Head. His father also is one of the partners in the development of the center where the restaurant is located, making it a true family business.

The DeLeos’ vision for the restaurant is light and airy but still cozy. Breana described it as “modern, but not too modern.”

“We’re trying to go very Italian coastal, very neutral tones,” she said.

That Italian coastal theme echoes in the food served there.

Chef Brandon Torre has worked at The Ritz-Carlton, The Omni Hotel, The Westin Hotel and, most recently, Colleton River Club in Bluffton. He is planning a menu that offers wood-fired pizza and Italian fare including fresh, house-made pasta.

The food will be “from-scratch fresh,” Torre said. “You can usually make it better yourself.”

The goal is not to duplicate traditional Italian-American fare but offer more modern, refreshing and lighter takes.

“We want very unique, very chef-forward dishes with the Italian cuisine as the focal point,” Robert DeLeo said.

To the right of the entrance, Joelle’s bar area will seat 18 between at the bar and at three tables there.

The inside dining area will seat around 44 people at tables and booths, while the outside dining area will seat around 50 people. Between them are large sliding doors that can be left open on nicer days.

The restaurant will be open six days a week for lunch and dinner. It will be closed on Tuesdays.

Why Tuesdays? Many restaurants in Bluffton reduce their hours or close altogether on Sundays and Mondays.

“Coming from New York and coming from an Italian family, we always used to go out for Italian dinner on Sundays,” Robert DeLeo explained. “That’s kind of the day to go out for that cuisine. ... Why not try and compete on those two days when not many places are open?”

This story was originally published March 11, 2024, 11:14 AM.

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John and Rose Helm were walking their Labradoodle early Monday when they had a surprise sighting of 3-to-4-foot long venomous cottonmouth snake in their Hampton Lake community of Bluffton. While not uncommon in South Carolina, the native snake species with a big reputation is not a regular sight at larger housing developments where native swamps and forests are not as abundant. But this snake was looking right at home sitting on the water in a wet, woodsy area, just several feet from a sidewalk.

Helm, a California native who is a plant biologist, is fascinated by snakes and interested in learning more about them in his adopted home of South Carolina. Initially, he was not sure if the species he and his wife encountered was a copperhead or a cottonmouth. Out of curiosity, he took a photo and submitted it to two Facebook sites dedicated to snake identification including South Carolina Snakes: Identification and Education, which has more than 40,000 members.

Both sites reached the same conclusion: The snake the Bluffton couple witnessed was a northern cottonmouth, which is common to coastal areas and sometimes called water moccasins.

“Best enjoyed from a distance,” one of the sites replied after confirming it was a cottonmouth.

“My wife was pretty scared of it,” Helm said, “but I’m fascinated by them honestly.”

After seeing Helm’s photo, Andrew Grosse, state herpetologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, confirmed the snake was an adult northern cottonmouth, the only cottonmouth species in South Carolina (the Florida cottonmouth is not found in South Carolina)

Because of its lively skin pattern, Grosse thinks the cottonmouth that Helm and his wife saw was probably on the younger side. Older cottonmouths typically have darker skin without as much pattern.

The state is home to around 40 snake species including six that are venomous.

The cottonmouth, says Grosse, is a shorter, “robust” snake that can reach lengths of 2 to 4 feet.

Typically, you’re less likely to see one in a well-manicured housing development, says Grosse, because they prefer wild and woolly swamps, wetlands and forests over man-made habitat like ponds. Hampton Lake, which features hundreds of houses, is centered around a 165-acre man-made lake and also features seven miles of navigable waterways and 15 miles of shoreline. Wetlands and wooded areas are sprinkled throughout the community.

“Certainly in those forest wetlands,” Grosse said, “that’s where they call home.”

“They’ll eat everything from frogs to amphibians and even other snakes,” Grosse added. “Anything they can find in those ecosystems.”

If threatened, cottonmouths will hold their ground and menacingly open their mouths wide, exposing dagger-like fangs and their telltale cotton-colored mouth. But despite their fearsome reputation, Grosse said, cottonmouths get a bad rap. They don’t usually strike unless they are stepped on or picked up, he says, and other snakes are quicker to attack.

“People hear stories about how aggressive they are and they chase people around,” Grosse says. “It’s just not true. It takes a lot to get one to bite you.”

Cottonmouths also are frequently confused with non-venomous water snakes, Grosse adds. Cottonmouths have a dark eye stripe and they tend to swim on top of the water whereas water snakes are quicker to dive, Grosse said. Another big difference is water snakes tend to slither away from people whereas a cottonmouth might sit curled up in a defensive position with their mouth open.

One interesting note about cottonmouths is they sport bright yellow tail tips when they are tiny. They wiggle those tails around like a worm to attract prey such as lizards and small frogs before pouncing.

Helm has seen his share of timber rattlesnakes in his home state of California, but the sighting of a live South Carolina cottonmouth was a first. At the time, he and his wife were strolling along Hampton Lake Crossing, not far from the Amenity Center, and just up the road from their home. A father and his young daughter were watching it from the sidewalk when the Helms came on the scene.

Later, Helm posted this message on the social media side Nextdoor: “Be careful on your walks.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2024, 3:13 PM.

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BLUFFTON, S.C. —

A Bluffton chef is being recognized in a big way.

In this week's Lowcountry Living, we're sharing how she hopes to use her new title to bring positive change to the entire state of South Carolina.

Leslie Rohland is head chef and owner of The Cottage, The Juice Hive, May River Coffee Roasters, and the Bluffton Pasta Shoppe.

And she says her successful restaurant endeavors are thanks, in part, to her childhood.

“Really do the stuff that I remember as a child loving to see. My grandmothers, my grandfathers, my mother and my father do because everyone seemed to be a great cook back then. And just really taking the stuff I love to cook and then being able to serve it and put it on the table," said Rohland.

Rohland’s passion for cooking was just recognized by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster as she was named just one of three 2024 South Carolina Chef Ambassadors.

She’ll serve in this role for a year, and during that time, one of her main goals is to support local farmers.

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“It’s really nice to know where our food is coming from. It’s nice to be able to see the footprint of where the lettuce is from or the shrimp," Rohland said.

And she hopes her impact will last well beyond her time serving as Chef Ambassador.

“This is some information that really needs to be passed onto our kids. Kind of like the old days, you know, when you were creating recipes basically with what was in your backyard, said Rohland.

Roland says supporting local does more than just stimulate the economy; it also has health benefits for patrons.

“There’s nothing better, I think, than knowing what you’re eating, and knowing where it comes from. You know, we’ve all seen the labels on certain foods that are like, I can’t even pronounce that item. And this is just kind of like, ok, this came from up the road, and it’s strictly just eggplant," Roland said.

Rohland adds it was extra special to be selected as a South Carolina Chef Ambassador now as the program is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Bluffton’s worst kept secret is now officially…official.

We get so caught up in talking about how much the face of Savannah is changing around here that we sometimes don’t stop to acknowledge that change and growth are pretty much happening everywhere. The latest example, in our area at any rate, is in Bluffton’s Old Town neighborhood, where a locals spot is about to close, replaced by another Bluffton restaurant looking for a bigger footprint.

Old Town Dispensary, a laid back watering hole in the heart of Old Town’s Calhoun Street will be closing at the end of January. Employees were notified a few weeks ago that OTD would be no more. Another Old Town establishment, Agave, will to be taking over the space at 15 Captains Cove in Bluffton.

Matt Jording, who owns the building and land where OTD sits, confirmed the story to us by phone. He, however, wanted to make sure we confirmed the fact that the building was not sold. Agave, yes the same Agave that currently is in the Bluffton Promenade, is going to lease the space from the Jordings.

“I am the landlord” he said. “But that’s it.”

“We were presented with what we thought was a unique opportunity.” Jording said “Agave was looking to expand their space and their menu a little bit, so we had a good fit.”

Old Town Dispensary has been on Calhoun Street for 13 years. Jording says the opportunity to streamline a little bit (they also own Hilton Head Island’s very popular Sage Room) was too good to pass up.

“Please let everyone know this does not affect The Sage Room” he said. “We don’t want those rumors getting out there.”

For its part, Agave has developed a following in the Bluffton Promenade. It is popular, but on the small side with most of its seating being outdoors. It’s a beachfront shack kind of vibe at Agave, but moving into the Old Town Dispensary space will give them the opportunity to much more volume with plenty of seating indoors and outdoors.

The changeover is expected to begin the last week of January.

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