SUMMER REFLECTIONS FOR "TEA IN THE GARDEN"

Summer Reflections and the 

passing of the season:

Welcome to Tea In The Garden

I generally only use flowers from my yard for my bouquets for blogging, but I snagged these sunflowers at the grocery store.  The squirrels will consume them today - I am sure.

A few weeks back I grabbed some of the older issues of Victoria - the September issues in particular to take a peek at past Septembers.  I was looking for September inspiration.  Isn't amazing how fast time goes?

I am ready to pour myself a cup of Autumn Delight Tea which is black with spices.

This little cat comes from who knows where every morning to torment the squirrels and I am glad to have the company here.

TEA IN THE GARDEN WITH THE BIRDS

This morning I set up Tea In The Garden- with the birds - that is, with my "birds" teapot.  Thank you for joining me today. Please pour yourself a cup of tea and sit on my old bench....rest a spell and enjoy the clean mountain air.

Our temps have been going down into the 50's at night and the garden is starting the closing down aspect.  Only a few roses are blooming but as you can see I still have plenty of Queen's Anne's Lace.

I'm not really a blue person

 but for today I am having 

fun with these pieces!

My friend had Breast Cancer

 surgery yesterday so the

 bouquet will be going to her.

Soon we will be pulling out all our fall things - I see some bloggers already have.  I usually do mine changes around labor day.  Our area must have substantial snow this winter or we are going to be on watering restrictions next summer.

MAKING A FRESH FLORAL WALL BASKET

 I hope you can join

me as I make a

 Fresh Flower Wall Basket:

This is my finished basket that greets you as you enter my garden:

The basket cost $6.00 on sale but I probably

could have gotten one at a yard sale for 50 cents and the flowers were all from the backyard flower garden.

Probably one of the most common mistakes when doing this type of floral is too much length on the stems and overfilling the basket.  A good rule to learn is that things should not be overly touching.  Also...make sure the stems don't come out so far that you loose the shape of the basket.

And here's how it's done:

  Attach twigs to the top with wire and unwind some very small wreaths which are attached with wire to the bottom.  Then spray paint all with white paint (or any color).  Inside of the basket, place a white trash bag stapling the rolled edges to reduce the bulk and place soft (oasis) foam inside. This is where the water goes and will keep it from seeping out.

It has been amazing to many how many

Facebookers come steal these old

photos and so I have returned to this

page in 2022 to watermark them.

TEA IN THE GARDEN

Welcome to a beautiful morning 

and time for Tea In The Garden!

 Please pour yourself a cup

 of tea and linger.

This week our temperatures have

 gone back to the 80's and

 are wonderful - this is

 Colorado as it should be.

Recently I happened upon one of those

 1950's vintage rose tablecloths - 

similar to one I found a while 

back but lighter in color!

Today is my 34th Tea In The Garden.

I am very fond of Foxgloves - I am sure because of Tasha Tudor - of course mine are very short because I failed to water them with her "goat manure tea" as she called it!

Thanks to the many who asked about my smashed toes - I noticed yesterday that I was no longer limping so I am definitely on the mend.

I have really enjoyed my small flower garden this summer.  I will be taking this bouquet to the lady behind the greenbelt behind our house. She is being cared for now by her daughter and I hope these will bring her some cheer!

I want to especially thank you all for participating.....

I know it is work to set up Tea In Your Garden....

I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

GARDEN BOUQUET

This morning I was out in the garden - seeing what was "available" for a bouquet - No roses blooming - but there were plenty of Queen Anne's lace, Tansy, Foxgloves, Pink Baby's Breathe, Larkspur and some kind of "Bush With Berries".

I don't like that FTD look where they

stick the same things in the same place.

My flower garden still has a little

 of this and that...

Many years ago when dried flowers were all the rage I used dried tansy (the little yellow button looking flower in the herb family) so that's how it eventually ended up in my yard.

  It can get "out of control" so I really don't want it in the back yard. Can't stay here on the buffet in the kitchen as my husband

has terrible allergies!

WILDFLOWER TEASET FOR TEA IN THE GARDEN

Last weekend I found a lovely old tea set (it really is a coffee pot) from Bavaria, Germany at the large antique mall on Broadway in Denver.  If I was guessing - I'd say it looks like it is from the 1960's and features 6 different wild flowers on each piece with the names of each in German and English such as: Viola, Creeping Crowfoot, Cowslip, Wild Thyme, Lady's Mantle, Daisy, etc.  One cup and saucer must have been broken because their are 8 plates.

A slip of paper inside this coffee pot revealed it was originally owned by a lady in Boulder, Colorado. A special thanks to Johanna in Germany who sent me an email letting me know that this "Meadow and Mountain Heights" teaset is from the 1930-1950's. 

She gave me a lot of information about it!  

This teaset was later sold on Etsy!!!!

AUGUST DAYS AND THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS BOOK

Each month of summer holds it's own personality and traditions:

The days of AUGUST  welcome a foretaste of fall....a time to reflect on simpler times.  Time to relax a bit and enjoy:

This morning, after cutting a few blooms in the garden, I took some time to enjoy reading Edith Holden's book "The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady and especially reading about August.  The book is a facsimile reproduction of a naturalist's diary for the year 1906 which was published in Great Britain in 1977.

I also enjoyed refreshing my memory about the meaning of many flowers which were beloved in the Victorian Era and recalled in "The Language of Flowers".  This copy is a reproduction of the original.

With all the troubles in this world and our own present economy - make time this summer for "opportunities of escape".  This is very important!  Relaxing is necessary to restore PEACE.