The Peking Lilac (Syringa reticulata subp. pekinensis) is a relatively unknown kid on the block here in North Carolina. It was introduced to the United States from China in 1881 and has quietly been making itself known over the years. It is a vigorous small tree, reaching only 20 feet or so, with an arching open habit. At maturity it will be as wide as it is tall. The creamy white flowers look like lilacs on steroids, sometimes reaching 12 inches long. They are sweetly fragrant. “Beijing Gold” has primrose yellow flowers which age to cream. It blooms well after the flowering cherries but before most crape myrtles, filling in a gap between those two Southern standards. Fall color is a nice warm copper to gold. The bark is very attractive as well. It resembles some cherry cultivars with warm brown tones and showy lenticels (little dots on the bark).

At the Wake Forest Farmers Market, your eggs come already dyed in shades of blue, green, brown and white – and they are in abundance this time of year. Greens and spring veggies, however, will have another setback with the freezing or near-freezing weather this week. Last Saturday the owner of Walk Ahead Farms said yes, she had bok choy and chard, “But they are this tall,” measuring about an inch with her thumb and forefinger. Even so, there was some spinach and lettuce last week along hothouse cukes and tomatoes. This Saturday, April 19, the market will be open from 8 a.m. to noon and will feature Mary Margaret Steele with reflexology. Also the Wake County Master Gardeners will be on hand to help with gardening questions. Some of the vendors you will find Saturday include: Brogden’s Produce — spinach, lettuce, small broccoli heads and sweet potatoes. Cultured Cow

If you like yard sales and swap meets, plan now to shop or sell at the Wake Forest Bazaar when it opens for the first time on Saturday, May 10, at Festival Park on South White Street. The hours will be 8 a.m. to noon, and plans are to hold it every second and fourth Saturday through the summer. Beth Jarvah with The Cotton Company laid out the format and rules recently. “Anyone can rent a booth space and sell whatever they want. Crafters, antiques, yard sale – anything. “There will be an onsite staff member on hand to sell walk-in spaces and to rent tables. The basic fee is just an empty plot in the field and you bring your own everything, tables chairs, etc., unless you want to rent them from us.   “All sales are to be handled by the individual seller in a yard-sale type of set

There is a new schedule for the four bridge replacement projects that will affect drivers, school bus routes and normal patterns for hundreds of people. The good news is that, when it is complete, Rogers Road will be five lanes wide from South Franklin Street to Heritage Lake/Forestville Road, relieving the serious school congestion in the area because of the entrance to Heritage Elementary and Heritage Middle schools just west of the bridge. The North Carolina Department of Transportation agreed with the town’s request to hasten its widening of the road to coincide with the replacement of the Rogers Road bridge over Smith Creek, originally set for 10-15 years down the road, but because of the time it will take to obtain all the right-of-way for the widening, the bridge replacement has been moved back from 2015 to 2016. The plan has been to  close the road from March through

Update: During March the staff in the Wake Forest Planning Department were reviewing seven commercial requests and 10 plans or requests for residential housing, including the first neighborhood in Holding Village and the proposed Tryon subdivision. The request for a special use permit to build a Sam’s Club has also been reviewed by the Technical Review Committee. Sam’s East Inc. wants permission for a 134,550-square-foot building on 12.95 acres on Caveness Farms Avenue. The request may require substantial street/traffic improvements. That first Holding Farm neighborhood would be called South Lake at Holding Village on South Franklin Street and is for 374 townhouses and single-family lots in the traditional neighborhood development. The master plan Tryon subdivision is planned for 287 single-family home lots and 126 townhouses on Copper Beech Lane south of Oak Grove Church Road. Priest, Craven and Associates will be applying for GR10 (CD) zoning for the 131.49 acres

*The Wake Forest Farmers Market will be open its regular summer hours, 8 a.m. to noon, on Saturday, April 19, in the parking lot behind CVS. *HerbFest will return to Festival Park at 525 South White Street on two weekends – April 19-21 and April 26-28. Gardeners and flower lovers will find a wide selection of organic herbs, heritage tomatoes and other vegetables as well locally grown perennials. There is also live entertainment and fun activities for children and adults. *The Old Campus Trek, a day when current Wake Forest University students and faculty and alumni from across the state and nation return to the university’s roots in Wake Forest, is scheduled for Saturday, April 26. Although much of the activity will be centered on the Wake Forest Historical Museum, the Calvin Jones House and the nearby campus, there will be a number of visitors to downtown and throughout the

If the information listed below is incorrect, please email the editor at cwpelosi@aol.com with the correct information. * American Legion Post 187 meets the second Thursday at 7 p.m. in the American Legion Hall at 225 East Holding Avenue. The dinner begins at 6 p.m. and costs $5. For information and membership, call Commander Dave Goetze at 569-0471 or visit www.alpost187.org. * American Heritage Girls (AHG) meets at 6:30 p.m. at Hope Lutheran Church on Rogers Road on the second and fourth Thursdays. Contact Amy Minor at chrisnamy34@hotmail.com or see the website, www.hopelutheranwf.org. * The General James Moore Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution meets the third Tuesday but does not meet in June, July and August. Call 880-1915 for the location and time. * The Kiwanis Club of Wake Forest meets at The Forks Cafeteria every Thursday at 7:15 a.m. There are speakers at each meeting except