Celebrating Garden Beauty.......A Garden Tea Tablescape

This is the time of year that mesmerizes me and has me feeling humbled by the striking beauty of nature that is exquisitely displayed around us.  How can I not stop for a moment to appreciate the variety of brightly colored flowers and stunning plants that are in full bloom and rival for my attention and enjoyment.  I am totally at awe over the picturesque rolling hills of endless lush green corn and alfalfa fields and the kaleidoscope of beautifully designed flower beds dotting the farming landscape.

Each summer on a sunny day,  I particularly look forward to paying a late afternoon visit to the lovely, West of the Lake Gardens.   Once a privately owned home and six acres of beachfront property of the John and Ruth West family, it is now a public flower garden on the shoreline of Lake Michigan between the two cities of Manitowoc and Two Rivers, Wisconsin. This post will give you a glimpse of the spectacular gardens and although they were part of my inspiration for a garden-themed tablescape, I will leave a full tour of the gardens for another upcoming post.

My garden tea tablescape was surprisingly inspired in part by a cute, little tea pot which was unexpectedly given to me from my former neighbor, Mrs. B.  (Thank you so much Mrs. B for your precious gift!)  This adorable tea pot with it's whimsical butterfly lid along with my blue and pink garden-themed salad plates reminded me of the dazzling West of the Lake Gardens and conjured up all sorts of flower garden ideas that resulted in the following Garden Tea tablescape.

First, lets start with a sneak peek at some of the gorgeous flowers planted throughout the West of the Lake Gardens.  Lets begin with the ones I picked that were complementary to the dainty garden-themed tablesetting that I worked hard to achieve.  I can truly say that my original design for the tablesetting was far more rustic, but these pictures of the delicate, pastel flowers of pink, blue and lilac evoked more of a need to use soft, feminine elements like cream and white lace in the table arrangement.   The last two pictures of the charming "bleeding heart" plant were not taken from the public gardens but were taken in our backyard.  I love the unique heart shape and brilliant pink color of the flower.

Beautiful, aren't they?   The next five pictures are of my other inspiration pieces.  Don't you think the salad plates would also look sweet with denim placemats and distressed white wood chargers too? They each have their own gardening design.

Don't the plates and the teapot bring to mind the alluring setting of a exquisite garden full of radiant flowers and bustling with chirping birds watching over their eggs in their nests and vivid butterflies fluttering from flower to flower?

 

The little wrapped gift is a bar of homemade lavender soap from an Amish store near our town.  You might remember the white pearl birdcages.  They were used before in the Valentines Day tablesetting.  I made the cream and white lace toppers for them since I thought they would complement the lace-wrapped candle pillar (pictured further below). 

The butterfly napkin rings are Japanese porcelain and have such lovely details.

A cream colored lace-wrapped candle pillar adds more feminine touches.

And again, more detailed butterflies.

And here is the darling teapot and fresh cut daisies and lavender from our garden.  The teapot looks like something out of a children's fairy tale book.

I hope you had an enchanting time!  Visit again when we can stroll through the entire garden together.

  

Hugs,

Marsha