Red in the Garden

This photo is of the camellia outside my dining room taken today. I love gardening and want my garden to reflect my sense of style. Although spring has just sprung, my camellias, quince, and hellebores are already in full bloom and gorgeous. I plan to do regular posts on beautiful additions you might make to your garden. Today's post is on these wonderful red structural pieces, all from Smith and Hawken. Whether its this cast iron doormat, a pair of Wellies, a pagoda lantern, or one of these stunning Camden Court trellises or arch, red is a great choice for your garden. Any of these would add an elegant and striking chinoiserie element. The arch would be lovely with clematis or climbing roses. The trellises would be perfect to define a garden "room" or to hang on a wall. (Take 30% off any one regular priced item at Smith and Hawken online with Code WEBP288 at checkout.) 

The Reluctant Gardener

Would you like to bring a touch of the garden into your city abode, but not in a girly, floral way? Each of these pieces would add a bold, architectural, modern presence to any room.

   1. A Poet's Likeness-in neoclassical style, stunning for a bedroom, living room, or dining room-Wisteria-$129

   2. Small Floral Lamp-French reproduction in antiqued iron-Wisteria-$99

   3. Translucent Bird Lamp-reminds me of a Philippe Starck ghost chair-Wisteria-$179

   4. Aidan Gray Rusted Urns-vintage inspired-Smith and Hawken-from $49

  

    5. Red Wooden Lantern-Zen inspired-Smith and Hawken-$59

   6. Cast Stone Tufted Ottoman-expensive but so gorgeous and dramatic-I want one in front of my fireplace-Coleen and Company-$750

   7. Metal Potted Plants-used in 19th century France for the winter garden and conservatories-Wisteria-$59 and $129

Forcing Quince

In these shaky economic times, many of us are looking for ways to economize, but keep style and beauty in our lives. A perfect example is using things from our garden in lieu of buying fresh flowers. In my area (Washington,D.C.), Japanese Quince is just starting to show color. I have two of these shrubs in my garden. The branches are extremely easy to force. Just snip a few branches and place them in a vase in water. I particularly like the coral pink quince in a blue vase. The Chinese vase below called the Royal Court Vase is gorgeous and would work perfectly. I love its bulbous midsection and scenes of court life. It is on sale right now at The Source Perrier Collection for $75.00. It is regularly $162.50. If you haven't seen their catalog or visited their website, please do. They have an exquisite eye. The glass vase is from Crate and Barrel and is only $39.95. I love the free form curves and turquoise color. Flowers would arrange themselves. The two lovely photos below are courtesy of the excellent blog Style Court. Japanese Quince branches are very dramatic and architectural with their nearly bare branches and would look great in many settings, from modern to traditional to Asian. Think spring!

Style Court examples

Lovely oil on canvas  showing Japanese Quince in a turquoise vase from Olga Plam Gallery.

Crate and Barrel Evelyn Vase $39.95

Source Perrier Royal Court Vase $75.00

(photos courtesy of stylecourt.blogspot.com, olgaplam.com, sourceperrier.com, and crateandbarrel.com)