Happy Monday, Did you have a good weekend? Mine was productive and HOT, spending some time planting and working on a painting project before retreating indoors to recover in the comfort of the air conditioning.
Endless Summer Hydrangeas are thriving and loving our abundance of rainfall, the Lamb’s Ear and lavender, not so much.
I had a little tabletop fun in celebration of the hydrangeas and took a little break to putter and play in the Potting Shed with dishes and flowers, filling mason jars with beautiful blue hydrangeas and spiky purple butterfly bush blooms.
To help your cut hydrangea blooms last and prevent them from wilting, use the alum-dipping method.
I pulled out my colorful majolica bird plates that flew home with me from Pottery Barn last spring.
The four assorted salad plates have embossed bird designs with leaves, flowers, and berry details, in the colorful style of vintage majolica dishware.
Bunny majolica plates from Pottery Barn hopped home with me this spring, for a little mixing and matching with the birds at the table.
Napkins are used as placemats, layered over a jute runner. The napkins are a lilac pattern, but pretend along with me that they’re hydrangeas. ;)
Birdhouses collected over the years, along with bird finials and a nest, were added for a tabletop garden vignette. . .
And arbor flatware is ideal for feathering my nest, twig by twig ;)
Tabletop Nesting with Majolica and Hydrangeas Details:
Majolica Bird and Bunny Salad Plates / Pottery Barn, last year, this spring
Arbor Flatware / Pier 1, this spring
Napkins / Ralph Lauren Cape Elizabeth Floral Napkins Lilac, HomeGoods
Jute Runner / Pottery Barn, several years ago
Chargers / World Market, several years ago
Dinner Plates / Paula Deen Whitaker, Target, several years ago
Blue Wine Glasses / Dollar Tree
Hope you’re enjoying some beautiful blooms where you are!
Thank you for your visit!
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The Scoop, Wow Us Wednesdays, Tablescape Thursday, Foodie Friday and Everything Else Link Party
Love those majolica plates….I totally missed out on them…I hesitated buying them….went back and of course they were all out of them…talk about remorse…I just cut my first blooms (2) from one of my hydrangea bushes…not fully bloomed out, but couldn’t wait to place them in a vase….Are you painting the shed? Stay cool…lots of rain here lately…
Have a great week!
Love all your cute plates from Pottery Barn. I am excited, the first Pottery Barn just opened here in Lexington. You always have such adorable things from there. Xo
So pretty! Aren’t the hydrangeas a happy change in the garden this year? Your hydrangeas and butterfly blooms are at least 2-3 weeks ahead of ours, but between 2 bad winters and a one hard pruning on my own hydrangeas, I am thrilled with this year’s crop of budding blooms! I love those plates, Mary. Great coordination of your table elements. You could’ve fooled me without mention of lilacs vs hydrangeas. ;)
The endless hydrangeas are just gorgeous…I love the majolica plates! We are having lots of rain, hopefully we won’t have a drought like last year! Happy Monday to you!
Always enjoy Monday mornings with a cup of coffee and your blog post! Thank you for this loveliness.
Such a happy sweet scene Mary! I think the lilacs look just like hydrangeas and I love the way you used the napkins on the diagonal. I can almost hear the birds singing and see the bunnies hopping among your blooms~ so adorable! The blue Ball jars make the perfect vases for you lovely fat blooms.
Jenna
Gorgeous!! Love love those plates!! The whole setting is very summer!! 🌻🌸🌼🌺🦋
You have an eye for beauty. More than once I’ve used one of your photos for a desktop background. Today I chose the blue hydrangea. Thank you for making my days so lovely!
Lovely, lovely, lovely!!! Beautiful shades of blue and purple, so charming with your bird-and-bunny plates and floral napkins!
Always amazing. Love those plates and the flowers are stunning.
Happy post. I also didn’t get the plates when I first saw them and now I get to love on yours.
Everything you do is absolutely gorgeous!!! I could sit or walk around with a cup of coffee or glass of wine and just admire all the surrounding beauty you have done. It’s just beautiful!
Gardenias, magnolias and hydrangeas are my very favorite flowers. Your hydrangeas are stunning, for sure! What a happy place your shed is…men can have their ‘man caves’ and I’ll take the ‘happy shack/shed’ for my retreat…:) Another beautiful post today…many thanks..
I totally missed those adorable plates, but happy to see they are nesting in your abode. I get such pleasure from your potting shed play dates! Your style continues to soar, offering something new to inspire with each new post. I sometimes think this must be a full time hobby. ;-)
We had some wonderful rain yesterday. It is much needed and has cooled the temps again. How I wish all of June could be rainy and cool.
I envy your beautiful hydrangeas. Not much luck growing them here, but I recently considered bring home a large beautiful potted hydrangea. Of course I would probably need to water it daily in the Texas heat!
Have a great week. This is a beauty of a way to start it off!
You sure know how to put things together! So pretty! I was never able to find endless summer hydrangeas and now in garden shops hydrangeas are almost gone. Guess I will have to special order next year.
That birdhouse is lovely.
Marilyn
I love those salad plates.
Marion
Thank you for sharing all these lovely photos and objects.
Joan
Birds and bird houses are among my favorite things so I’m liking this potting shed setting. Hydrangeas are some time away for me but the bids are there.
~Mary~
Love those pretty plates !!!!
After you were done painting you should have jumped in the lake !!! :)
Stay cool Mary !!
Paula
IN
The birdie and bunny Majolica plates look so happy together, Mary. The Arbor flatware is so perfect for your setting. You could’ve fooled me with the napkin print…I though they had hydrangeas on them. I’m glad that you got to play in the potting shed as a break from your hard, hot outdoor chores. Hope you have a wonderful week! We’ve had lots of rain, which always makes me happy, in not having to lug the hose around.
Perfection! Agree with all the above comments ~ thank you Mary. Always a special treat when the post is about the shed or anything in it! :)
You always brighten our days. We are so in love with that shelf in your shed. A perfect vignette each and every time.
Your photography skills are worth mentioning as well. You need your own magazine with page after page of ‘shed inspirations’.
Mary your potting shed seems like the perfect retreat and I always love to see the beautiful place setting you create, so very pretty and singing of spring. I too have a blue endless summer hydrangea and a white hydrangea blooming now. Yesterday was our spring ladies luncheon at church and I cut blooms in the morning using your alum dipping method for table arrangements, it works like a charm. Thanks so much for inspiring us.
Oh Mary, it’s Virginia again, I meant to ask if the alum method works for other flowers or is it just specific to hydrangeas. Thanks again.
What a beautiful setting and those hydrangeas are gorgeous.
LOVE the dishes and flowers. Thanks for brightening a rainy day.
I love the plates and your hydrangeas are so beautiful. I adore them but the deer have destroyed all the bushes I planted. How do you keep them away?
Love your blog. Your posts are always so beautiful and inspiring.
The Majolica is very beautiful and fun to see in a table setting.
What gorgeous majolica plates! I love them, Mary. Your post is lovely, and I think hydrangeas are so pretty….they’re one of my favorite flowers!