A Keeping It Rural Farming Tablescape

I put this tablescape together for two reasons. One, to honor Hubby when he retired from John Deere a few years ago. Two, to honor all the farmers and ranchers who continue to work to put food on our tables. Another tablescape with a gingham tablecloth, these tablecloths are fun to use on tablescapes. I think this tablecloth came from HomeGoods many years ago. I found the table runner on Etsy several years ago.

I bought the salad plates online somewhere several years ago, can’t remember where, they are melamine. I did this tablescape several years ago but the photos weren’t very good and I have made a few changes to the table with this version.

When I started tablescaping some of the first purchases I made were Fiesta dinner and salad plates in a few different colors. They are available online at several stores. They are a good quality basic plate and they come in many strong vivid colors. Our every day dishes are Fiesta dishes in the color Scarlet. This is a salad plate in the color Sunflower.

This is a Fiesta dinner plate in the color Shamrock, I love this vivid green.

This is a Color Spectrum charger by Mikasa, the color is Sun Yellow. I bought these chargers on Ebay a few at a time as I saw them on Ebay because I love the quality and the colors. I have them in several different colors.

Using my Madeline Green flatware on this table, I bought it at World Market several years ago. I really like the frosted design on the handles.

I can’t remember where the yellow gingham napkins came from. It might have been Sur La Table online. I really wanted a John Deere themed napkin ring but I didn’t have one. So I downloaded a John Deere scrapbook page design that I bought on Etsy and printed it out and Hubby cut it out and taped it around some flat napkin rings I have. I need to remember this in the future when I need a specific themed napkin ring.

The tree place card holders are courtesy of my daughter-in-law a few years ago. She bought them for a party and gave them to me after to use on my table settings.

The yellow goblet was made by Noritake and the pattern was called Yellow Perspective. These were made between 1970 and 1983 and I found them on Ebay. This pattern came in other colors, I have them in cobalt blue and sage green also. Ebay always has this pattern for sale in various colors. The green plastic goblet came from Pier 1 several years ago. If you read my blog, you have seen these goblets before a few times.

For many years Hubby got John Deere related presents at birthday and Christmas time until he ran out of space. I gave him this wood tractor one year. I can’t remember where I bought it but it was probably Etsy. It is sitting on one of the Fiesta shamrock dinner plates that is sitting on one of my Pottery Barn drink dispenser stands. I use these stands frequently on my centerpieces to add height.

I love Jim Shore designs and when I saw this tractor I knew I had to buy it for Hubby. Can’t remember where I found it. It was made in 2009 and he has had it for many years.

This Jim Shore John Deere barn was also made in 2009. I gave it to Hubby one Christmas, I think I bought it online.

I think I found this salt and pepper set online somewhere, probably Ebay. The set was made in 1998.

Celebrating Hubby’s retirement and farmers and ranchers everywhere!

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Time for a Picnic Tablescape

If you read my blog you know that I have a thing for red. When we remodeled the kitchen it changed from dark wood to white with red accents. I had been saving red kitchen items for years! I had been thinking about using these three red plaid plates together in a tablescape for a long time. I used one or two together before but never all three at the same time. The tablecloth came from Sur La Table online several years ago. It was one of my first purchases when I started tablescaping. It’s a nice thick cotton fabric.

The plates were made by At Home with Marieke and the pattern was called Sarah. This pattern has been discontinued.

The dinner plate is a nice size. I really love the graduated red plaid design on these plates as they are set together.

This charger is large and heavy, I have used it several times before on Christmas and 4th of July table settings.

This Milano Red flatware is Ginkgo International LePrix. I have had this set for years but it is still for sale. Not sure where I bought it. I use it several times a year on tablescapes.

The plastic red Koziol Pip Bird napkin ring came from Ebay several years ago, I have it in green also. It has been discontinued but you might be able to find it on Ebay from time to time. The lime green napkins were made by Fiesta. The red plaid napkin is marked DII (Design Imports) for the Home. I think I bought them at HomeGoods a few years ago.

The white place card holder can be written on as well with a special pen. Can’t remember where I bought them but it was probably Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel, I have had them for several years. It’s a nice simple place card holder, I have used it on many tablescapes.

Can’t remember what company made the red goblet. I bought them on Ebay and I have had them for a long time. If anyone recognizes the pattern, please let me know! I bought the green goblets at Pier 1 several years ago. I love the spiral design and the height. I wish they had sold this goblet pattern in other colors as well.

I bought this salt and pepper set on Amazon last year.

I love these condiment jars. I bought them online last summer on Ebay. They were originally sold by Williams Sonoma.

It wouldn’t be a picnic without a few extra guests. I bought these metal ants at Pottery Barn a few years ago. They were red but Hubby spray painted them black for me. They are place card holders but I decided to add them to this table for some additional interest and fun.

This basket is a Longaberger basket from 2002. These baskets were handmade by the Longaberger Baskets company in Dresden, Ohio. They were sold at house parties (like Tupperware) for many years. The company is still in business and sells beautiful handmade baskets online now.

Definitely time for some hamburgers and hot dogs!

If you like gingham, check out my green gingham and strawberries tablescape here: https://www.whispersoftheheart.com/blog/2019/6/3/a-strawberry-table

This blog post was featured at Scrapality, https://www.scrapality.com/ and Grammy’s Grid, https://grammysgrid.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!

Spring in my Southern California Garden

Time to take a walk around my Spring garden. I am not sure what planting zone we live in but we are about 1 1/2 miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies, it never gets too hot or too cold here. My garden is a bit wild and wooly right now. I got behind last year with radiation and I need to catch up now. The weeding has gotten behind but we will take care of that. Spring came a bit late this year with the cooler weather, rain, and my late pruning but plants are finally blooming. Snaildon guards the front garden. I found him at a local nursery a few years ago but Hubby wasn’t enamoured with him as much as I was. (For one thing he is about 3 feet tall and weights about 500 pounds! He is solid concrete.) I visited him off and on for a year or so continuing to tell Hubby that we needed him. One day after I had given up, Hubby went to the nursery to pick up some flowers for me and came back and told me that Snaildon was on sale and he had bought him! It took a bit of work to get him moved into place but I love him! And every child who comes near climbs on. I just love the expression on his face! He is surrounded by two of my regal geraniums and in the background purple Osteospermum and Bird of Paradise. You can also see the bottom of my bougainvillea that I will talk about later.

This is my Pinkerbell regal geranium that I bought last year, I think it was at Armstrong Garden Center. It was such an unusual color and it is doing very well. I love regal geraniums (look at the spiky leaves), ivy geraniums (grow like ivy) and scented geraniums, but not zonal geraniums (fuzzy scalloped leaves). The zonal geraniums can get budworm caterpillars that will eat the new flower buds. I finally gave up buying them several years ago because the caterpillars were having a feast on them.

These are mostly ivy geraniums. I buy them in different colors and they can make quite a show. I found the white metal stands at an antique mall many years ago. Hubby has repainted and repaired them more than once. Full disclosure, this photo was taken last June but the geraniums look about the same today. You can see my purple agapanthus (or Lady of the Nile) blooming in the background. (It wouldn’t be blooming this early yet.)

This is one of only three zonal geraniums that I have. I have kept this one because of the unique variegated pink color of the blossoms. I can’t remember where I bought it several years ago. It was either at Armstrong’s or online. I have bought geranium plants and daylilies online in the past with great results.

This is one of my scented geraniums, they tend to have smaller blooms and they can get huge if they like where they are planted. I am going to have to prune this one way back this fall. You can see my agapanthus buds in the background, they will flower later. There’s a white regal geranium in the back left too.

These geranium blossoms have almost a neon pink color to them. This is an example of how a geranium can just take off and grow into a bush! I will need to prune it back in the fall for sure.

There are five different colors of geranium in this photo. In the foreground you can see the buds from one of my daylilies.

There are three or four different colors of regal geraniums in this photo. You can never have too many regal geraniums!

This purple Osteospermum grew from a small 4” pot. It can take over an entire garden area if it is happy where you plant it. When it gets too large I yank it out and it often comes back again. If you deadhead it, it continues to flower for quite some time.

Found a friend on the milkweed while I was taking photos today. This monarch caterpillar is the first one I have seen this season. I am losing them to pests I’m afraid.

I love double impatiens, they look like small roses but they like shade. The nursery sells out quickly so I have learned to start watching for them early in the season. I bought the basket online somewhere a few years ago.

One of my irises that I bought. I didn’t like the color at first but it is growing on me. I like to plant perennials that come back every year and bloom all season. I love irises and daffodils but they last such a short time.

Another happy geranium.

Love these colors! They are all just a bit different from each other.

And another regal geranium, the hanging planter came from an antique mall in Missouri a couple years ago. We brought it back in the car much to Hubby’s chagrin because it isn’t small! We enjoy the neighbor’s bougainvillea on the wall too.

I planted this bougainvillea about 15 years ago at the front corner of our wood fence. It was in the shade a bit so I was afraid it wouldn’t do much. I was hoping that it would grow enough to catch the sun at the top of the fence. It sat there for three years doing nothing and then took off. I learned later that they sulk a bit when planted sometimes. I wanted it to grow down the fence completely so I could see it from the kitchen window. Last year the neighbor wanted to replace the wood fence with this white vinyl one and we shared the cost after they promised me that the bougainvillea would carefully be taken down and then put back up. It is doing fine.

It has reached the kitchen window and moved on down toward the back yard. The neighbor is getting ready to prune their pine tree a bit, it is coming our way and it is blocking the sun for the bougainvillea a bit more than it should. I will have more blossoms when there is more sun.

The coleus started a bit late but it is beginning to grow now.

I have a few early daylilies blooming, I really love their unique color combinations.

Another daylily, I wish they bloomed longer!

Time to do some work in the garden!

A Bit of French Provincial on the Tablescape

I have thought about pulling together a blue and yellow table setting for a couple of years but just never got it together. My yellow tablescape last week was really popular on many tablescaping sites so I decided to keep some yellow this week only a different shade, lemon yellow, and add blue. I have always loved the way this color combination works together. This table was another case of just looking through my tablescaping collection to see what would work on the table. The tablecloth is marked Ridgefield Home, it probably came from HomeGoods a few years ago. HomeGoods often has a good selection of random inexpensive tablecloths and I have learned to buy it if I see something I like.

These colorful salad plates came from HomeGoods a few years ago. I think the plate is no long available except maybe on Ebay. The pattern is called Mandarin Blue and they were made by Ralph Lauren. I really love the overall design that covers the entire plate, the rim design, the yellow flowers, the butterfly, everything makes it pop. The design really compliments the yellow dinner plate and cobalt blue charger.

I bought these yellow dinner plates on clearance at Sur La Table online several years ago. They were part of their Fresh Squeezed Lemon Collection.

This bright blue metal charger came from Pier 1 several years ago. The color really pops on this table with the yellow.

This flatware came from Villeroy and Boch online several years ago. I had been looking for yellow flatware for a long time and was delighted to find this set, the handles are some kind of plastic. The pattern was called Play!.

The yellow napkin came from Linen Tablecloth online. I have bought several table linen sets from them from time to time. The flowered napkin came from Pfaltzgraff online several years ago. The pattern was called Summer Breeze, they are still available on the secondary market right now. I think the ceramic napkin rings came from Ebay, I have had them for several years.

The plastic cobalt blue goblets came from Pier 1 several years ago. They currently have them on sale in various colors. I have this style in several colors now. The yellow goblet was made by Noritake and the pattern was called Yellow Perspective. These were made between 1970 and 1983 and I found them on Ebay. This pattern came in other colors, I have them in cobalt blue and sage green also. Ebay always has this pattern for sale in various colors.

I really love these small vase place card holders. I put a few small faux flowers in them and they were ready to go. I bought them on Amazon last month.

I bought the faux yellow tulips on Amazon a few months ago. I have had the cobalt blue glass vase for many years, I can’t remember where it came from.

I love this color combination!

Quiche for dinner!

This blog post was featured at Grammy’s Grid, https://grammysgrid.com/ , The Dedicated House, https://www.thededicatedhouse.com/ and Zucchini Sisters, https://www.zucchinisisters.com/ Please visit these blogs, you will enjoy them!