May is my favorite spring month as it brings beautiful May flowers after all those April showers. . .
And as it’s the first Friday of the month, I’m joining my blogging friends for Floral Friday! You’ll find their links for more floral inspiration and flower therapy at the bottom of this post.
I set a table lakeside to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather we’ve had this past week. I wish I could order up a month of these beautiful, breezy 70 degree (humidity-free!) days. All too soon (as in today) we will be in the 80s and 90s.
The azaleas have been beautiful and peaked last week and are now starting to fade.
I cut a few azalea blooms from the shrubs to enjoy at the table.
Our common theme for this edition of Floral Friday was a teapot arrangement with Mother’s Day around the corner.
I gathered some white teapots for trio of arrangements to make an easy table centerpiece you could use to celebrate Mom, for a spring tea or a girlfriend or garden club lunch.
A quilt serves as a tablecloth and provides additional blooms with a patchwork of calico squares and sprays of embroidered flowers.
For the two shorter teapots, I cut some fresh boxwood from the shrubs as a base for the arrangement. The new spring growth on the boxwood is supple but strong enough to support the flower stems.
Sprigs cut from the abelia shrubs add a garden touch with their variegated leaves, to alstroemeria from the grocery store.
I’m always on the look out for a blooming fork, knife, or spoon to add to bouquet vintage flatware, especially when I can pick up a piece for a dollar or two at an antique mall or consignment store.
A blue hydrangea bloom is nestled in cut boxwood, along with white spray roses that I separated to tuck in along the edge of a second teapot.
Keep your cut hydrangeas from wilting with the alum-dipping method! When arranging them, cut each stem at a 45 degree angle for maximum water uptake and dip 1/2 inch of each cut stem in alum powder, found on the spice aisle at the grocery store. Place your dipped hydrangea stems in your vase of room temperature water (the temperature it runs from the tap). For best results, remove the leaves from hydrangeas since they cause evaporation loss and take water from the head of the flower.
Teacups at each place setting offer a mini bouquet of blooms. . .
And are served up on delicate rose Limoges plates that belonged to my great aunt.
Visit my talented blogging friends to see their floral inspiration this week:
Pam at Everyday Living
Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse
Shirley at Housepitality Designs
Table Details:
Dishes / Limoges
Chargers & Cake Plate / HomeGoods, several years ago
Assorted Teapots and Teacups / HomeGoods, several years ago, used here
Stemware / Mother-in-law’s, pattern unknow
Flatware / Vintage, assorted
Quilt / Bed, Bath & Beyond, several years ago, used here
Ralph Lauren Antibes Floral Red Napkins / HomeGoods
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Sharing with: Tablescape Thursday
Magnifiques bouquets ! Et très jolie vaisselle : j’ai reconnu entre autre le service à thé “Moss roses ” de Royal Albert;
Merci de nous montrer de si belles images.
Bonne journée
Lovely! What are those purple flowers that look like daisies? We have yellow, purple & white in our new garden & petunias were as purple as I could find.
Thank you Janean! I think they’re in the chrysanthemum family. I found them at the grocery store and they weren’t labeled. Happy Friday!
Mary, Bonjour from Brittany!
Your Friday flower scapes arrived in my box this a.m. What beauties they are! I am planning an afternoon tea for friends next week and will decorate the outdoor table which, like yours, is on the edge of a lake. I will attempt to achieve a similar prettily lush effect to your own. Spring is late here in Brittany-making it all the more welcome. The rhododendrons are spectacular this year and we are surrounded by the fresh limey new leaves on the trees.
The regional flower of Brittany is the ‘hortensia’ (hydrangea) which grow with mad abandon everywhere. I love your tip regarding Alum and will search for it as I’ve never seen it in French supermarkets.
Thank you for sharing your super ideas and expertise with us, you really are an inspiration and one of only a handful of blogs I follow – now, off to the jardin!
Best wishes,
Sylvia
If you don’t find alum in your spice aisle you can also take a sewing needle & insert into the white fleshy center where you have cut the hydrangea to open the area that is damaged when actually cutting the hydrangea to receive the water up the stem. You need to put the sewing needle about an inch or so into the stem. I’ve had great luck with this method. Bonjour Clara
Oh the wonderful low humidity, mild temperatures and the glorious background of the beautiful Azaleas on the water indeed make the perfect backdrop for a beautiful table setting! Not only are your tables simply exquisite, they also exude such a sense of beautiful serenity and calm. You always so wonderfully curate the perfect pieces to create that breathtaking table for us to swoon over! I love the selection of the beautiful flowers and colors that pop against the brilliant azalea bush!….As always, it is always a wonderful pleasure participating in our Floral Fridays with you!! Have a great Friday and weekend Mary!!!….P.S. now you are getting me to look for pretty silverware with flowers!
This is such a cheerful table, Mary! I love flowers and all things feminine such as pretty tea cups. Please tell me: What method do you use to clean your silver plated flatware, and how have you found to best store it to keep it clean?
Thank you!
Blessings,
Maureen
Thanks Maureen, I use Wright’s Silver Cream which is what my mom and grandmother always used. You can store fine silver/silverplate in silver cloth which you can buy by the yard. I keep my thrifted flatware in ziptop plastic bag with a couple of silcia gel packets inside to keep the moisture and tarnish down. I always save those little silica gel packets that come with things you buy to toss in my camera bag and storage boxes of things in the attic, like Christmas ornaments. Happy Friday!
Thanks for your reply, Mary. But just to clarify: Are you saying you wrap both your fine silverplate and your thrifted flatware in the silver cloth and then put them in ziptop bags, or that you wrap your fine silverplate in the cloth (no bag), but the thrifted flatware you put in a bag with silica gel packs and no silver cloth?
Maureen (just now learning about silverplate)
I have a set of silverplate flatware that came in a silver chest that I store there. The rest of my thrifted pieces I store in plastic bags with silica gel packs. If you want to give your flatware more TLC, wrap them in cloth first before storing them in a bag or drawer :)
So gorgeous with vintage appeal, Mary! Your flowers mixed with garden greens are really great. That quilt is amazing. I have a set of one of your fork patterns (2nd photo showing the flatware, salad fork). You make flower arranging very unique and special with even ordinary specimens! Have a great weekend.
Oh, and I would also love to know what your favorite silver plated flatware pattern is!
Maureen
What a BEAUTIFUL setting with the lake and azaleas as a backdrop! I am swooning here! Your seledcion of flowers is beautiful, I love the teacup arrangements. You never disappoint. We have had 2 days of 88 degrees (after Monday being in the 50’s) the same today, then 5 days of glorious 70’s!!!! I am in Heaven! Thank you for sharing your abundant talents with us. Have a great weekend!!!!
Mary, what a gorgeous trio of blooming teapots! The setting is so perfect with the backdrop of the lake and azaleas. My azaleas are completely spent, but were beautiful while they lasted! The quilt provides a gorgeous foundation for your table setting! With no humidity, an alfresco table is a delight. The mix of flowers is stunning and your artful arrangements are always the best! I love sharing Floral Friday’s with you❤️
You flower arrangements are beautiful, as always. Thx for alum tip
Beautiful
So beautiful!!! I love the tea theme for Mother’s Day. Your arrangements look goegeous amd the setting is spectacular. Thank you for the tips, I always learn something new every post 🌸🌞🌼
Thank you so much for your great idea to use teapots as floral centerpieces.
I fell in love and purchased the same white teapot with the bird perched on top last year and didn’t have a clue what to use it for!
The teacup mini bouquets had me at first sight.
I Love it!!! I have been so looking forward to this floral Friday, in hopes Mary, that you would use your alfresco lakeside table to display your lovely arrangements!!! I love the white teapots!!! Especially how you put the lid to the teapot in the floral saucer/ berry bowl. Mary, what pattern is that piece? It is beautiful! The mix of garden and store brought florals are just so, my taste!!! A lovely way to start my day!!! Happy Weekend! 😊
Thank you for your sweet comment and visits Karen! The bird teapot is Victorian Bird Gracie China. The floral ‘bowl’ is the saucer to a teacup, Gracie Bone China. It says ‘Stechcol’ on the back but I think that’s refers to a floral series, not pattern. Happy Friday! :)
What a beautiful setting, love your great aunt’s china. I have the shorter squatty teapot with the bird top and love it. Love the quilt too. Very lovely Mary. Than you for the information on Wright’s silver polish and saving the silica gel packs. Now I will too😉
Good morning Mary! Happy floral Friday! Your table is gorgeous as usual and I will be using your share about the use of boxwoods as a base with flowers. Echoing others when I say I always learn something new from you. Your creative ideas are an inspiration. Thank you for sharing with us. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Clara 😃
May is always a delightful month and you’ve captured the magic of the season with your artful arrangement of blooms Mary! Using the boxwood is totally brilliant, and I love your unique flower combos and the added shrub cuttings. The individual teacups with their varied blooms are so special! The teapots make wonderful vessels for flowers, the whole scene is welcoming and beautiful!
Jenna
My heart is going pitter patter with the bouquets in the teapots, Mary!! What beautiful arrangements you made, and then the pretty flowers in the teacups at each place setting, tops it off. I just love this romantic, gentle, beautiful, quilt-topped table with the water view. Oh, how I love the Limoges plate that were your great aunts. Thank you for sharing the beauty!
p.s. What do you feed your azaleas to make them so beautiful?
Thank you Kitty! I use Pennington UltraGreen Azalea, Camellia & Rhododendron Plant Food, it’s good for the hydrangeas and snowball bushes too. ♥
Thanks, Mary!
Mary, what a delightful table you have set. It’s just beyond gorgeous, that quilt, the flowers, the dishes, and of course, your lake! Dreamy. Each detail is so beautiful, and thoughtful, we couldn’t help but feel special at your table. And then ofcourse, your use of Limoges and vintage flatware always makes my heart sing. Beautiful, Mary.
I am so blessed to do our Floral Friday’s with you. xoxo Lidy
Mary thank your for such a beautiful and fresh approach to this stunning spring table by the lake. You certainly have a way of putting tableware and flowers together and explaining how to achieve the same look. I keep alum in my flower arranging cupboard thanks to your suggestions and will remember the recommendation from S. Williams regarding using a needle to pierce the stem. My Mother always hammered the end of stems of woody hydrangeas to promote water absorption. Hope you have a beautiful day, mine is going to be spent pruning azaleas since their flowers have faded and planting flowers in my garden. I too use Wrights Silver Cream for cleaning my silver and followup with Mish’s Silver Polish, which I think extends the shine. Thanks as always for inspiring us to make the world a more beautiful place.
Beautiful setting by the lake! Love the mini teapots at each setting!
Mary, like Tablescape Thursday, Floral Friday is a something I eagerly anticipate. Thank you for participating because you always offer such beautiful inspiration and tips. I love the idea of using the teapots as containers. For me, the odd container is much more fun sometimes than simply using a vase. Your collection of white teapots is perfect for a floral centerpiece. I have one like the one with the little leaf finial. And that quilt! It is so perfect for a spring tablescape. It has captured my heart. I regret that I missed getting one of these.
Love every picture! Do you know the name of the Limoges delicate rose pattern that belonged to your aunt?
In your flatware picture with two patterns featured, the pattern on the right with the squared bottom looks like Oneida’s “Milady” pattern from 1940. Here’s a link to compare:
https://www.replacements.com/webquote/ohsmil.htm
Both are so pretty, and go so well with your displays.
Thank you Dee! I searched Replacements years ago, I was able to narrow it down to a pattern by G. Demartine & Cie, which produced and decorated porcelain from the late 1800′s to early 1900′s, but only as far as a pattern number and ‘manufacturer status unknown’. Thanks for the link to the flatware!
So, so beautiful, Mary! I want it all…the teapots, the quilt, the flowers & especially coveting your dear aunt’s delicate rose Limoges plates!!! Lucky you!! Oh & not to forget that gorgeous setting you have as your backdrop. *drool with envy*
Thank you Rett! I’ve been thinking about you. I hope you’re quilting up a storm and doing well. ♥
Beautiful, thank you & have a nice weekend!
Breathtaking and not just the fragrance!! franki
Thank you dear Mary and friends,such a delightful treat.
Love love loving all that fresh garden color!
Oh my…all my favorite things…a tea themed tablescape with fresh flowers, vintage china and floral quilts! What a lovely and beautiful inspiration for a May table…Thank You!
Mary,you never disappoint me with your lovely settings. You always make everything so lovely and elegant.
Marilyn
I love the way you have used the quilt as a tablecloth. The dishes are so pretty as is everything.
Joan
All of he flowers are beautiful. I am partial to the yellow roses since they are my favorite rose. Thank You for sharing this lovely display. Have a great week end.
Marion
Your table is really fabulous,magnificent!!!Made me smile…
Bonjour Mary, Que de jolis petits bouquets…J’aime beaucoup les fleurs jaunes, blanches et parmes/violettes…Que de belles tables en vue d’un printemps ensoleillé…Bravo Mary ! Je vous souhaite un agréable week-end ! Bon baisers de France
Very pretty and delicate! Love all of the great colors Mary:@) Happy Cinco Derby Day-Enjoy!
Just now got to visit…have been busy thanks to our nice weather FINALLY! Love those teapots and your tablescape is delightful…thanks for the silver tip..I remembered the alum tip from last year and used it…thank you again and Happy Friday (a day late)..🌷🌺🌼🌹🌸🌻💐🍽
Just…stunning! Thank you for the time you put into sharing these beautiful posts :)
Thank you so much for sharing the beautiful flowers and tips about hydrangeas :-)
~Mary~
Beautiful arrangement indeed !!
Paula
IN
Thank you Paula, enjoy your weekend! 🌺🌸💐
Happy Mother’s Day, Mary! I love this table setting. Teapots, flowers and quilts, my favorite things.
Mary, The idea of Floral Fridays makes me so happy. Something to look forward to after a long week! Our yard is busting with color suddenly after two warms days, leaves just opening with all the delicate spring colors, waves of daffodils from all the bulbs we planted the last two falls, and my pink tree still going strong! Azaleas are just beginning to bud though, and the hydrangea bushes are just leaves peeking out of the ground still surrounded by the old stalks. I would LOVE to sit at your beautiful table next to the lake and your azaleas with your family china and stems and the miniature teacup bouquets at each plate. A wonderful idea for an addition to a pretty luncheon table! Hope your pleasant weather continues. Linda
One of your pictures shows two forks. The one on the right is my Mother’s wedding silver pattern – Evening Star by Oneida, which she acquired at her wedding in 1950. I have her place settings for 10. We lost my Mother 4 years ago this week, and it gave my heart a boost to see this silver pattern this evening! I love all your pictures in this post!
Alum will be in my pantry by tomorrow. Thanks for the tip. Your table is beautiful as always with your lovely gentle touch. Thanks for inviting us for a peek. Cherry Kay
Your floral arrangements are beautiful and I like the teapots for vases! Those Limoge floral dishes are the sweetest! With the lake in the background it’s truly an inviting setting.
May is a wonderful time of the year isn’t it! Though we’re not as far along in the spring season as you are we are beginning to burst with flowering shrubs and tulips! I need to remember the tip about using alum!
Lovely! I do like so many things that you’ve done here. Did you have to make any adjustments to the quilt. To me, it seems that it would be too thick to use it in this manner – but I absolutely love the idea.
Thank you, no adjustments!
What an enchanting grouping. I never knew about alum. I can’t wait to try it since my last batch of hydrangeas drooped pitifully. Thank you for sharing at the Tea and Roses Linky party. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!
Thanks for sharing this gorgeous post with the Spring Link Party celebrating the Tea and Roses Blog Hop! i will be featuring it in my post on Wednesday!
Thank you for linking up this beautiful post at the Spring Tea Party! I am featuring you as one of my party features! Have a great week!https://followtheyellowbrickhome.com/spring-tea-party-features/