A Gardener's Table on a Quiet Weekend

Welcome, friends, on a sunny, quiet weekend! I had hoped to set the table on the patio, but a spate of daily thunderstorms has driven me inside. Since the temps have also soared, it was a good decision all around! My garden has struggled this year, first with drought conditions, then a deluge of pollen, and now more rain than the poor plants know what to do with. Actually, they've hunkered down and concentrated on building more roots rather than exploding in blooms. 

 

So this gardener gathered a smattering of blooms and set a relaxing table inside.  

 

    

July is not the most colorful month in my garden. The spring bulbs, perennials and flowering shrubs are busy preparing for their next season. Fall-bloomers are displaying multiple blooms but no flowers yet; deciduous shrubs and trees won't begin to put on their autumn wardrobes until October. So I make do with wonderful annuals in various pots and planters and dependable Echinacea purpurea (coneflowers).

 

And with lovely flowers on napkins and dishware! 

 

    

I started with new water hyacinth chargers, woven in concentric circles, followed by deep green dinner plates that are embossed with botanical forms and insects. Then to continue the organic theme I added bright white plates with a scattering of mostly blue wildflowers.

 

The napkins are filled by a colorful variety of summer wildflowers and spring bulbs. They are held by the cutest watering cans, for what is a gardener without them!

 

    

On the same day I found the charger plates I discovered the short tumblers encased in a woven hyacinth lattice that were also on sale. A lucky day to be sure! So I couldn't resist using the votive candle holders that I had made for A Casual Summer Table Inspired by Island Daydreams to add to all the texture.

 

I'm definitely in the mood for casual tablescapes this summer! 

 

      

A relaxed bouquet of colorful flowers and leaves from my garden graces the center of the table, surrounded by gardening gloves, seed packets and plant identification tags. I had stashed the gloves away after using them on A Tray for a Summer Gardener, — the proverbial out of sight, out of mind — and bought several pairs since for actual gardening. LOL

 

Flowers include white spider lilies, purple coneflowers, magenta pentas (Pentas lanceolata) and white Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum × superbum). They are interspersed with cuttings from one of the Japanese maples — in spring green — and from the deepest burgundy loropetalum (Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum).

 

    

I like to splurge a bit on salad plates without adding other pieces from the same pattern. I've enjoyed finding salad plates (or appetizer/b&b plates) that are more evocative or colorfully designed to increase the excitement of tablescapes. I also find that they can be readily paired with a variety of dinner plates and chargers. The salad plates today are an example of this.

 

In choosing companion dinner plates, I may select similar colors or similar patterns. Or I may consider something that contrasts in pattern or tone. Or even a plate that is almost neutral.

 

Today's choice are two patterns of solid green stoneware plates, one with dragonflies and flowers, the other with butterflies and wheat. The designs are embossed with some of the paint lightly brushed to enhance their designs. They mimic the salad plates, yet are completely different.

 

    

I've used these plates on so many tables since I began blogging. One of my favorites continues to be  Falling for Apples.

     

In the earlier photo of the centerpiece, the spool of green twine wasn't noticeable. Here you can tell that it is the same twine that wraps the votives.

 

     

The spectacular Carolina spider lily grows next to our side door. It is a deciduous, cold-hardy bulb native to the southeastern and south-central United States. Featuring thick, strap-like basal leaves, mine will reach 30 inches or so by August. They can withstand not only our heat and humidity but colder winters as well (range: USDA Zones 5 to 9).

 

Hymenocallis occidentalis (Carolina spider lily)

The spider lilies have thrived and spread, enough so that I moved part of the group to a section in the front yard.

 

      

 I love the play of deep colors against the white.

 

       

 

I refer to this room as the "garden room" because it has direct access through French doors to the patio and garden beyond. On either side of the doors we've hung original paintings by a native-Hawaiian artist. (Please forgive the glare from the windows on the covering glass, even though I had closed the blinds.)

 

Thanks for stopping by on this quiet weekend. Hope to see you again soon!

     

     

Table details

Dinner plates | Bordallo Pinheiro

Salad plates | Mikasa 'Audrey'   

Flatware | Mikasa 'Italian Countryside'

Napkins | Sur la Table