Of all the summer vegetables, tomatoes have to be the most colourful and flavourful.
Beefsteak, Roma, heirloom, grape or cherry, everyone has their favourite home-grown variety.
Even non-gardeners are apt to tuck a plant or two into a patio container and eagerly await the bounty (if the chipmunks don’t get there first).
This set of salad plates by Pier 1 captures the essence of the tomato harvest. Their rustic charm had a short growing season, between 2011 and 2012, but you can still find them from time to time on eBay.
Starting with a burlap base, I added woven banana bark placemats, also by Pier 1.
The placemats were quite large, so I layered Cambria dinner plates in sage green (I think it’s called Celadon) from Pottery Barn.
Next, I added vintage shell edged Cream on Cream raised-paste dinner plates by Wedgwood (available from Replacements or often on eBay).
That combination seemed to frame the colourful salad plates nicely.
I couldn’t resist the Kaldun & Bogle Herb de Provence tomato salt & pepper shaker, with its green vine-and-leaf stand nestling the tomatoes.
Sturdy-stemmed red bubble glasses joined the party, too. I got some of them from HomeGoods and the rest from eBay. The styles are similar, but not identical, and I can’t remember which these came from.
The napkins were from HomeGoods, The abstract paisley pattern works all year round.
Tomatoes, kale, parsley and basil adorn a galvanized two-tier stand from Pier 1 a few years ago.
Celebrate the harvest!
Salads, sauces, succotash and soups! Love them all.
Green Beans, Tomato and Kalamata Olive Salad
Shaker Summer Tomato, Celery & Corn Chowder
The possibilities are endless!
One summer Glenn and I brought home a couple of bushel baskets of Roma tomatoes from the market. It took us a day or so to transform them into tomato sauce, and we were highly amused to see one of our Golden Retrievers, Ben, help himself to a tomato from the basket several times in passing. Our goldens are on the raw diet, and they regularly chomp on carrots, broccoli and apples. I guess Ben figured that tomatoes were fair game, too.
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
Love those 3D Cream on Cream plates. Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifters and Green Zebra were my favorites to grow. The Lifters weighed more than a pound apiece, and the flavour was exceptional. With so short a growing season here, most people grow heirlooms specially developed for this mountain valley, but they still need mini greenhouses. I use Simca Beck’s wonderful salad recipe with tomatoes, green beans, fennel, olives, anchovies, and eggs dressed with garlic-basil vinaigrette from one of her old 60s cookbooks…
You’re making me hungry!! Sounds absolutely delicious. Isn’t it great how tomatoes are a guilt free pleasure, too?
Thank you for the absolutely beautiful summer tablescape. I think a need a BLT for lunch. Your table is good enough to eat! Thanks for sharing.
Mmmm. One of my favorites, a BLT! Enjoy.
Such a beautiful summer table with a bounty of garden goodness!! Your mix of colors, textures and veggies is positively splendid!!
Thanks, Ann. I’m enjoying working with different fruits & vegetables for centrepieces these days! It’s too easy to get into a rut and use only flowers 🙂
Wonderful veggie theme! For Valentine’s day, I got newlyweds cooking for two cook book and nice kitchen gadgets, tea towel with nod to my pun loving Dad….” I love you from my head…. To- ma- toes” printed on it. I like your salad plates here!
Love veggie tables. So easy to put together the centrepiece, and no waste!
My Mother was an avid gardener and I’m confident she would love this tablescape and no waste edible centerpiece! Happiness & freshness of the summer bounty.
Soon! Aren’t you eager for tomato season? That’s the height of summer. Yum.
You’re right, Helen. Soon sounds good. Hope Springs eternal, yes?
I found one each left online of Fritz & Floyd Vegetable Variation: tomato, onion, carrot & radish salad plates & mugs. Many thanks for inspiring me!!!!
Vegetable plates are such a great addition to summer tables. There are endless ways to style them and food with which to serve them. Yum!
And the coordinating mugs I got are just too cute. Small. Perfect for a dainty sip or child’s hand!