I adore the flowering trees of April and May, but I’ve always clucked disapprovingly at the incredible mess left behind by the all-too-short-blooming magnolia flower. The pleasure-to-aggravation ratio seems way off. BUT – let’s not look a gift-flower in the mouth. Seize the day!
I’d been mulling what I could possibly do with magnolia blossoms as we passed a magnificently blooming tree on one of our daily walks with the dogs. The pink verges on magenta, and I recalled the Chinoiserie plates from Pottery Barn several years ago.
Voila! A table.
The green bamboo patterned tablecloth is a fairly new purchase, from Pomegranate. The rest of the items are happy repeats. The glasses came from Williams Sonoma many years ago; the cutlery is discontinued from World Market.
The Chinoiserie plate from Pottery Barn was a one-off; there were only the dinner plates and some bamboo style appetizer plates in the series, I believe. The crazing is embedded in the pattern – part of the “vintage look”, it seems, but is an aspect of which I could live without. I liked the pagoda, however, and the shades of teal and green. The green scalloped edge dinner plate is Aerin from Williams Sonoma, no longer available but can sometimes be snagged on eBay.
My biggest and most pleasant surprise with the magnolias is how they opened up at night and scented the entire room. The fragrance was heavenly. Alas, it was for one day only. The following morning they were turning brown and acting disagreeable.
Oh well. They didn’t owe us anything. And they will live on in photographic form.
Happy Sunday, all! We are finally getting some warm weather and hope to spend the afternoon walking on the beach at low tide. Good for the soul and for the feet.
Such a pretty table setting. I never thought of cutting these for an inside vase. I’ll try it next year. But I do cut my azaleas which last forever. See you at the beach
They were a little awkward to work with, but I used several small vases anchored in wooden containers. The fragrance was divine!
A very pleasing table and I like the tablecloth you used!
Dear Helen, It’s nice to see a new table after your little break; I was wondering what you were up to. Of course, I would choose the most obvious colours in the Pier 1 plates, and you chose the least…acid green and pink. It’s very provocative and refreshing, and my choice (turquoise/orange) would have been dull, I think. That Chippendale tablecloth really works with the chinoiserie plates! I will miss our magnolia tree, but the lilacs are still blooming here. Happy spring!
Hi Beatrice! It’s been a lovely extended lilac season here, too. A cool spring has helped keep the blossoms going, and most welcome it has been.
Turquoise and orange would be a very striking combination with the chinoiserie plate – I’ll have to give that one a try. I did it once with turquoise and pale pink tulips, and that worked.
One of my neighbours has a yellow magnolia, and I used some of those blossoms for a table set with Wedgwood Prunus, a Jasperware pattern. I thought I’d better strike while the magnolia was blooming!
I have been in the throes of editing, editing, proofreading and more proofreading for Entertablement – Much Depends on Dinner. I’ve hired a professional editor and discovered the manuscript is 47,000 words. Yikes! No wonder it felt like a much bigger endeavour than last time. Now I’m wrestling with uploads, PDFs, bleed margins and all the other printing challenges that comprise the modern publication world. It’s fascinating and frustrating, all at once!
I LOVE those beautiful magnolias! They look fabulous on your lovely table, even if they didn’t last long! Thanks for another round of inspiration! 🙂
Thanks, Barbara! It’s fun to get back to entertaining, isn’t it? Woot!