In French or English, Fleur du Soleil or Sunflower says “summer” like no other flower!
Grown for beauty as well as harvested for seed, sunflowers symbolize the sun, conveying warmth, happiness, adoration and longevity.
These cheery flowers never fail to make me smile with their sunny faces.
You may have noticed I have lots of watering can love.
I harvested a Fleur du Soleil watering can on a trip to the NC mountains at the end of summer last year. It’s been sitting in a corner of my Potting Shed waiting for some blooms and its day in the sun!
Sunflower plates were blooming on the aisles of HomeGoods a couple of weeks ago.
And are paired with sunflower bowls, picked from Pottery Barn several years ago, from a picnic on the porch, here.
Mr. Marshal’s Flower Book is providing a few blooms from the pages. . .
Mr. Marshal’s Flower Book:
Alexander Marshal’s Florilegium, or flower book, is one of the most exquisite and fascinating historic works of botanical art. The only surviving compilation of flower watercolors from seventeenth-century England, it has been admired for centuries for its dazzling color and its incredible attention to the intricacies of a varied array of plant species. A highly skilled, although self-taught artist, Alexander Marshal was a horticulturist and famed entomologist who believed the cultivation of plants was essential to the study of the natural world.
“Exquisitely beautiful, the flower paintings of Alexander Marshal have a timeless resonance that makes them look as fresh today as they did when they were first created more than 350 years ago.”
– House and Garden
For more sunflower love, visit Sunflowers and Busy Bees, here.
Sunflower Details:
Dishes and Pitcher / Maxcera Sunflower Crown, HomeGoods
Goblets / Hobby Lobby, several years ago
Jute Runner, Sunflower Bowls, Napkins, Napkin Rings, Flatware / Pottery Barn, several years ago
Chargers / World Market, several years ago
Thank you for your visit, I’m joining:
Metamorphosis Monday
just beautiful- everything- the photos, the designs, the happy way these sunflowers make you feel!
Have you ever seen a field of farm-grown sunflowers? It is truly a sight to behold! Love your potting shed tablescape–pure delight.
Yes, they are! I took photos here: http://homeiswheretheboatis.net/2012/08/23/sunflowers-busy-bees/
Loving your blog. The Sunflowers are BEAUTIFUL. Thank you for making my day Brighter.
Love your settings with the sunflowers and especially the watering can. I am a sunflower junky, it is my fav flower of summer, the wild ones are starting to bloom along the roadsides here and it is yellow everywhere. They are just gorgeous.
What a treat for a cloudy August morning! I love sunflowers, but who doesn’t. My father always planted a row of sunflowers in his vegetable garden. My brother and I loved them and our ability to get “up close and personal” in all stages of their growth. Of course we ate the seeds.
LOVE🌻
This has to be my favorite post yet!
Everything is just cheery & makes a person smile.
Sunflowers!!!🌻🌻🌻 Oh, how we love them!!! Like the sun, they make me/us very happy. I grow them so I can watch the birds sit in the middle and eat the seeds. At this time, I have the pattern all over the kitchen, on plates, placemats, pictures, in floral arrangements, everywhere!! Love yours and love mine too!! Thanks for sharing!!🌻🌻🌻😎😎😎
So loved your sunflowers, every picture was beautiful and fun.
Thank you!
Your sunflower love is evident in the beautiful potting shed tablescape, Mary, and in all your photos Your fleur du soleil watering can must be one of your favorite finds! Thanks for sharing the sunflower cheeriness to get my day off to a sunny start!
Sunflowers always make me smile. Wonderful to see all these sunny faces. Thank you Mary..
Must try and track down those plates!
It’s like seeing my old life, filled with color, gardens, books and dishes just playing to my hearts content… HUGE SMILES ! To play with nothing but passion in your heart is to just creatively soar free! So many fabulous shots, so little bandwidth to steal them all ;-)
Just delightful, Mary…makes my eyes dance! LOVE your stemware & the little sunflower bowls are precious.
You sure DO have a great collection of watering cans!!! I have 3 & two of those are plastic. :(
Beautiful! I walked thru a sunflower field in Italy a few yrs ago…..sigh…made my heart sing!
Thanks for that memory this morning!
What a sunny way to start the week Mary! I love sunflowers, especially this time of year, and thank goodness I haven’t been to HG lately, I would have harvested those plates myself! Love your new old fleur du soleil watering can too, simply charming~ of course all the details are perfect, from the bee skep to the napkins, the book, paintings and photographs- it all brings smiles!
Jenna
Oh how HAPPY this post made me this morning! I am off to get my nails done so will be back later to SAVOR this beauty. Love the dishes and pitcher. The watering can is fabulous. I just got a copper watering can yesterday!!! It is being saved for Fall. I LOVE IT!!! You have inspired me to see the beauty in watering cans!!!I also never knew the end was called the rose!!!
Oh, Mary! I love this post because I’m all about sunflowers….I love how their sweet little faces follow the sun! I also enjoyed your sunset cruise post. We went to the lake over the weekend, but my husband and daughter spent most of their time on the Boston Whaler he totally restored for her (It’s “Shelley’s Boat”).
xo,
RJ
Beautiful post. Sunflowers are such a happy flower.
Adore the watering can! Just perfect. Thanks for another beautiful post, Mary.
Love sunflowers and this setting!!
My love of sunflowers came late in life…for some reason, I didn’t care much for them until I was in my 50s …but I do love them now…all types of sunflowers from the small insignificant blooms of veggie sunflowers to the magnificence of the large charger sized ones…I now love all of the members of the Asteraceae family…
I have sunflower bowls (not exactly like yours) and have been looking for stunning plates to go with them…I think you found them!
~Mary~
Thank you for sharing such “sunny” pictures ! Everything is adorable !! When I see sunflowers I think end of summer, and beginning of fall .
Paula
IN
Sunflowers, yes, they do light our souls with warmth, happiness and love. Thought I would share this website with a story about sunflowers that inspired many along a highway that is traveled daily. It will touch your soul I am sure. http://prayersfrommaria.org/#3. Bring on that yellow glow I say!!!
Very pretty Mary! I just passed a fence yesterday that had a bunch of sunflowers growing against it, it looked great:@)
What a great display of all things sunflowers….you truly made me smile all through this post..still smiling…can you see?…Sunflowers can certainly brighten anyones’s day…and you truly gave me an idea. Now, I can just pull up a stool at the table top of glorious dishes of the sunflowers. Just love the sunflower watering can…great find!
Mary, This is a wonderful end of summer table. The sunflower plates are wonderful! And the tiny checked black and white napkin really is a perfect accent piece. Love your watering can! Next time I am in the NC mountains I will be on the hunt for one :) Linda
What a delightful post………..I love sunflowers……….they say summer and Fall to me………… a.great late summer
bloom to take us into Fall………
Your plates are gorgeous and looks so adorable with those lil sunflower bowls. Lovely, fun and whimsical vignette.
Enjoyed it very much.
Blessings, Nellie
What a lovely table for two! The heat where I live is oppressive and dangerous for the next few days, so I’ve been wishing summer would hurry up and move on in to fall – until I read this lovely post. I love sunflowers and your pictures are beautiful! I think you’ve inspired my fall tablescape. The colors will transition beautifully!
This ranks right up there with my all time favorite of your posts!! Everything about it is beautiful! Your styling and photography make your posts a feast for the eye. Thanks so much for your amazing creativity shared with your viewers.
I love seeing sunflowers in fields! They’re blooming here and I would love to have an armful of them! I will check that book out- it looks like a good one to add to my little library! I enjoyed all of your pictures and being in the potting shed!
As words cannot adequately describe how much I love the sunflower set up here and your photos of it, I’ll just say “absolutely stunning”. Pinning…
Oh my word, you take exquisitive pictures and your post is amazing.
Well done, just such happy eye candy! Gorgeous!
Oh what a fun post. I always love my visit. Love the sunflowers and the potting shed. I was wanting to see inside!
Sunflowers do speak Summer but they lead the way to Fall. I’d love you to come over and link this and any of your Fall posts at The Fabulous Fall party. It’ll be running until Halloween week so come by any time and link. I’d love to have you! Thanks for sharing and letting me see inside!
Mary, not sure how I missed this one earlier. I love sunflowers! You’ve found just the perfect details for this tablesetting. I have Mr. Marshal’s Flower Book. ;-)