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I am so excited to welcome you here today! Some of you who follow me on Instagram might remember that just before our Stay At Home order began, we started re-doing our back garden. Luckily, garden contractors can still work here in California, so our garden is actually in place by now. We have the basics in, and John and I have been planning out our “new” garden, I’ll share the garden in another post soon. We had a French Garden planning luncheon in the back.
Please join us.
WELCOME TO MONDAY MORNING BLOOMS!
These Mondays are my favorite Mondays of the month, as we all join my good friends Shirley, Pam and Mary for floral therapy. I’ll share their links at the bottom of this post, they always deliver beautiful floral inspiration you won’t want to miss!
I’m ready to jump into spring, and a life in the garden! Sun. Birds singing. Beautiful flowers. We are just beginning spring here in Southern California, the trees are leafing out, the hydrangeas are just beginning to bud, and the birds are chirping! These days more than ever, as we are sheltering at home, I am so thankful for our garden areas. A place to enjoy the beauty God has created, to hear the birds sing, and to know that life goes on.
For our planning luncheon, I layered our small table on the back patio with a blue paisley tablecloth.
In the background, you can see my little French Garden House, and the old gingko tree with the bench built around it.
Since we’ve been on Stay at Home orders, I’ve not bought any flowers, and none of our flowers in the gardens are blooming quite yet. Except for this beautiful purple Santa Barbara Salvia Leucantha, or Mexican Sage Bush.
I’m making do with what we have, you too? Luckily, what we have blooming is delightful! I cut the flowers from the front garden. This plant blooms constantly from now all the way through fall here in our coastal garden.
The vibrant purple flowers are an appealing color combination with the antique French enamelware coffee pot . The flowers tend to droop, but oh that color! And the leaves are velvety too.
I used the tiniest antique flower frogs as place card holders for the gilded bee place cards.
The blues of the cotton tablecloth and napkins are a perfect mix with white and soft grey in the paisley design. Since we were having a salad and bread, these deep antique Victorian French plates are just the right touch for this garden planning session.
I love the French hand painted plates with blue delphiniums on the rims. Sadly, there were just two that survived over 100+ years, but two is better than none!
Under the old gingko tree, our bench is a favorite place to sit. The antique quilt adds a little softness, the pastel colors are sublime.
The tall pink blossoms are part of our Les Belles Fleurs faux floral collection, they’ll be added to the line soon. Just a few in an antique French enamelware body pitcher lends a touch of spring to this corner.
A white painted vintage wicker tray is so charming and handy to take drinks and glasses to the garden for an alfresco meal. I served the fresh green salad from an antique French canning jar, the dressing in the French white pitcher.
One of the napkins keeps the rustic bread warm, all wrapped up on an antique bread board.
I used a few antique brass hose nozzles and sprayers as decoration. It’s a garden planning luncheon after all!
I hope you are able to get out into an outdoor space soon to inhale the fresh air, watch flowers bloom, and hear birds sing!
These are challenging times, but we will get to the other side of it. I wish you a joy filled week with more blessings to count than you thought you would have.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Please be sure to visit my friends! Their links are below.
SHIRLEY at Housepitality Designs
and me, LIDY at FrenchGardenHouse
Please share with us some plans you might have for your garden, your balcony, or patio, or even a window sill, if that is where you “garden”, we’d love to hear about it!
A BIENTOT
Shop for the best in French Antiques, furniture with the patina of age, vintage accessories to delight you and your family & friends, and French Country utilitarian pieces. Treasures that make your home fresh, beautiful, inspirational and uniquely yours. Visit our shop FrenchGardenHouse.com
I so love your beautiful “planning table” I can just see you and Mr. FGH sitting out in your beautiful FGH backyard and dreaming and planning of a new FGH garden. I so love your tree that gives shelter and a place to rest and contemplate and enjoy the view. The table, oh the table with those gorgeous plates and beautiful antique French treasures.I bought a French picnic basket while is France years ago and it is sitting in the foyer waiting to find a home. I love your wicker basket…As always a gorgeous table and beautiful flowers…you are the master of thinking outside the box…Continue to stay safe and healthy and enjoy the transformation of your gardens. Always a pleasure to join you for Monday Morning Blooms. I love my flower friends!!
Shirley, it’s always such a joy to join you for our special Mondays. I love my flower friends too….wishing we could gather around a table all together. xo
It is so gorgeous,Lidy! The tablecloth, the flowers, the setting… Perfection! Would love a place at your table!
Kristy, thanks for the visit! I’d love to have you visit and sit in our back garden too!!
Love the salvia on the table, Lidy! The flower frogs and nozzles are the perfect accessories for the garden planning theme, and the wares from your online shop are gorgeous, as always.
Thanks, Rita! It’s such a blessing to have two gardens during this shelter at home time. In the mornings, we sit in the front garden for a coffee break and talk to our neighbors out for a walk. It’s gardening time….I can’t wait to go out to a garden center. Even though they are open, our garden plants aren’t really a “neccessity” so we are waiting. 🙂 Hope your week ahead is a happy one!
You always create such beautiful table settings, I imagine just sipping a cup of tea in that lovely space must be so uplifting in these times. I had a little chuckle and thought I wonder how many millennials would be able to identify a flower frog or garden hose nozzle! Enjoy your little bit of France in your garden.
Thank you so much Noreen. It is a blessing to be able to sit in the sunshine in the garden, especially during these uncertain times. I agree, I think the flower frogs might cause some confusion, although a lot of my younger clients really love vintage, so they might surprise us! Be blessed.
This sounds like so much fun. I had planned a spring celebration luncheon with my sewing group for May 7 before all this began to happen. I have garden areas or rooms with seating and was looking forward to having my friends over. But I am putting food on hold. Still working on yard.
Anne, how blessed will we all be when we can finally entertain people we love in our gardens again?! Wishing you a beautiful week and gardening. xo
Lidy, I can’t wait to see your garden grow in and watch it as it matures. Your garden planning table is so delightful and a lovely place to have salad and warm bread. I hope you will share your plans with us. The Mexican sage bush flowers are beautiful placed in the French enamelware coffee pot. The brass nozzles and tiny flower frogs are a wonderful addition for the garden lunch. The bench surrounding the ginkgo tree is the perfect spot to sit and take in the view, we have two ginkgoes that we planted several years ago that are very slow growing. It is always a pleasure to join you for flower inspiration and Monday Morning Blooms my friend. Happy Monday!
Pam, it’s always such a pleasure to gather with you all on our Monday Morning Blooms! The gingko trees are lovely, I feel that mine most likely would fit better in your grand property than my smallish California garden. 🙂 Wishing you a blessed day, friend.
You have created a corner of heaven right in your own backyard Liddy! The purple flowers are show stoppers, and beautiful with the vintage plates and pastel palette you’ve used throughout your garden~ I noticed the hose nozzles right away, what a fantastic addition to the gardening theme, along with the many other pretties! Your wicker tray of wine and salad is charming. Thanks for the peek into your beautiful space and let’s hope we can all throw a party soon!
Thank you Jenna! I am so looking forward to any kind of gathering, just like all of you. I’d invite. Half the world over, I think! Hope you have a beautiful day today. Xo
Oh Lidy, the purples, blues, pinks, silver.
So inviting, so heart-warming.
I’m grateful our paths have crossed this morning …
Bless you!
Linda, thank you for your visit! I’m blessed our paths have crossed this morning also! Wishing you a beautiful week ahead, Lidy
Lidy, love the salvia. I think the way it weeps is so pretty. It would be a delightful treat to be a guest at your table and then sit under your tree taking in your beautiful garden and all the sights, sounds and smells.
Have a lovely week, Lidy.
I love the salvia too, Sandra. Especially during this time, seeing it’s lovely tall spires of purple is happy making! I would love to have you join me at the table under the old gingko tree, too! Hope you have a beautiful week, friend. x0
I love planning our garden and home projects with my hubs, but the table never looked that pretty when we did, haha! You must be so excited choosing your new plantings. Thank the Lord that the garden centers are still open with so many things in full bloom to choose from. I am ‘re’ doing most of the planters at our new home and have already created a plant ‘wish list’! Several roses were started in pots way back in January and I look forward to getting them in the ground soon. Can’t wait to see what you end up with!
Donna, we are so blessed with the gardens we have. My Mr. FGH won’t let us go to the garden centers right now, but that hasn’t stopped us from planning when we do. I’m looking into shopping for plants online and doing curbside pick up. Happy gardening!
Your imagination has no limits. The tiny frog to hold place cards is so fun and salad in jar, it all makes me smile. I would love to a guest at that table.
I would love to have you here too, Alice! I hope you have a joy-filled day today, and sun. Every day is better with a little sunshine.
Thank you for that breath of beauty. I needed it.
Thank you so much for your visit today, and for leaving a comment, Kathi. I hope you are having a joy filled day today!
Your table is stunning, Lidy! So very “French’, not surprising! I’ve never used tablecloths much but you may have made a convert out of me! Paisley is so pretty and I love it in blue. Yes, using flowers we have is the best we can do, everything non-essential is closed here, so I have tulips and branches from my forsythia here and there. Soon, tulips.
I’m looking forward to seeing your garden! I’m making changes here and at the lake. Drawing out plans and looking at rugs, outdoor furniture and statuary, keeps me dreaming and happy!
Sending love from Chicago. Be well! ?
Thank you for inviting me to join you at your garden party. A garden party is not on my list but after viewing your garden and beautiful table II will going to the dinning room and bring a little spring into the house. Nice to know others use what in the garden for floral arrangements then add add a special touch with fresh and silk flowers. I have been a fan of silk floral and plants mixed it allows you to be very creative.
Sammie, thank you too! It’s so nice to see you here. It’s always a good idea to bring the freshness of spring inside, faux or real.