It’s that time of year again around here. Yep, I’m talking about the big push to post from Wicked Tulips in Exeter. Last year it was strictly drive thru, although I did see a lady get out of her car and start snapping maskless selfies the afternoon we took my mom and that really annoyed the heck outta me. If you can’t get tickets for this weekend, I’m certainly not going to minimize — it is a BUMMER. There’s actually a lot of other marvelousness going on around the state, though, and I’m highlighting a few of my tippity top picks today.

First off, the ladies at She + Me Collective Market are kicking off their season on Saturday morning at 10am on 51 Liberty Street (at Crestar Framing) with what is essentially a celebration of local micro businesses owned by women. Find everything from Mom’s Day gifts (friendly reminder, it’s coming up on May 9th) to outstanding eats from makers like BUNS Bakery (I spotlighted their babkas and breads the other day) and a whole lot more.

Next, it’s Little Bitte Cocktails (another women owned Rhody biz) and they are teaming up with We Are Bloom Collective to launch a garden-to-glass outdoor patio experience in Providence this Sat. and Sun.. The mixologists at LBC are known for their creative interpretations of traditional cocktails, using fresh flowers both as garnishes and edible elements of the drinks, and their cool vintage-inspired style. I mean, helloooo, that all sounds so fab!

Finally, why not this “secret” garden in Kingston? Search Kinney Azalea Gardens on your app of choice and odds are you’ll see plenty of lovely photos of the moon gate and colorful flowers there. The flowers may not be fully in bloom just yet, but definitely bookmark this privately owned space (the Faellal family, direct descendants of Lorenzo Kinney Jr., the 4-H Director at URI who created the original garden, welcome you and there’s no entry fee but donations do go towards maintaining this hidden-ish gem) at 2391 Kingstown Road. It’s open to the public most days and you can even purchase plants and flowers from the fam run nursery on the premises in season.

As always, if you visit any of these spots after reading about them here, please let them know you found out about them here on PattyJ.com.