Tag Archives: Garden Lilac

Botanic Garden

Botanic Garden Drumshaped Tea Pots

August 5, 2014 Lia

When the Botanic Garden range was launched in 1972 it had drumshaped tea pots:

The first tea pots had the Spanish Gum Cistus on one side:

and the Trailing Bindweed on the other:

Later other motifs appeared on the tea pots as well:

There were two sizes in the tea pots, a 7 inch pot containing 2.25 pints and a smaller 6 inch pot containing 1.5 pints.

The smaller pots also had the Spanish Gum Cistus on one side, but the Daisy on the other:

Other motifs on the Tea Pots were the Citron:

The Barbados Aloe:

The Trailing Bindweed:

The Meadow Saffron:

Since we only use the pots for tea, we call them Tea Pots, but they could be used as Coffee Pots as well. For a long time they were the only Botanic Garden Coffee Pots:

Here are the Rhododendron, the Barbados Cotton Flower, the Ivy Leafed Cyclamen and the Snow-drop and Crocus, all the larger size.

The Trailing Bindweed had a change in butterflies, not only on the plates but also on the tea pots:

I have one teapot with the Garden Lilac on both sides, and a differently shaped lid:

Here are my small tea pots seen from one side:

and from the other side:

There is one tea pot I would really like to add to my collection, the one with the Spring Gentian, but so far I have not managed to get one.

Portmeirionlore: Botanic Garden Bread and Butter Plates

July 20, 2014 Lia

There were six original 7 inch Bread and Butter plates in the Botanic Garden range, when it was launched in 1972:

They were the Spanish Gum Cistus, the Trailing Bindweed, the Meadow Saffron, the Citron, the Daisy and the Barbados Aloe.

Most motifs were from The Universal Herbal, by Thomas Green, published ca. 1820:

The Meadow Saffron, here seen with the original:

The Trailing Bindweed has differences in the position of the lettering:

At one point the Trailing Bindweed had a butterfly change, the colorful old butterfly was replaced by a yellow and blue one:

The oldest versions of the Bread and Butter plates have the script writing, later versions have other lettering:

Here is the original set with the newer lettering:

Very soon there was a seventh motif on the Bread and Butter plates, the Spring Gentian:

Spring Gentians now are rare and hard to find. A pity, it is such a lovely motif, with its small, bright blue flowers.

Later Bread and Butter plates were

the Ivy Leafed Cyclamen, the Barbados Cotton Flower, the Blue Primrose, Snow-Drop and Crocus, the Pansy, the Fuchsia, the Small Narcissus, the Rhododendron and the Barbados Cotton Flower.

As can be seen, there are two versions of the Barbados Cotton Flower, one with three flowers and one with two:

There are also two versions of the Snow-Drop and Crocus, he older one being lighter, whereas the newer version has darker colours:

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Botanic Garden special sets were for sale, comprising of one cup and saucer and one bread and butter plate:

There were two different plates, the Snow-Drop and Crocus and the Small Narcissus. They had the special anniversary backstamp:

And here is my latest, the Arborea:

There are several motifs that occur not only on Bread and Butter plates, but also on Salad Plates, or on Dinner Plates, or on all three, such as the Pink Parrot Tulip :

There are more such sets of three;

They are the Flowered Chrysanthemum, the Virgins Bower, the Christmas Rose, The Honeysuckle and the Asiatic Magnolia.

Here are a few sets of Dinner Plates with Bread and Butter plates, the Lily Flowered Azalea, the African Lily and the Sweet Pea:

These are Salad Plate motifs on Bread and Butter Plates, the Garden Lilac, the Treasure Flower, the Dog Rose and the Eastern Hyacinth:

There were Bread and Butter plates without the Botanic Garden leaf border, here are the Trailing Bindweed, (new version) the Pansy, the Blue Primrose and the Fuchsia:

There is a Millennium Bread and Butter plate:

Portmeirion have the Botanic Roses range, one of the roses is the Portmeirion Rose:

Other sets of Botanic Garden Bread and Butter plates are the Flowers of the Month.They are: January – Snowdrop, February – Sweet Violet, March – Wild Daffodil, April – Primula, May – Bluebell, June – Dog Rose, July – Pinks, August – Pansy, September – Aster, October – Dahlia, November – Bell Heather, December – Hellebore:

The Botanic Birds. They are the Chickadee, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, Lesser Goldfinch and Western Bluebird:

and the Exotic Botanic Garden: Bird of Paradise, Moth Orchid, Winged Passion Flower, Hawaiian Hibiscus, Dragonfly , Red Ginger and White Waterlily:

And this one, a do-it-yourself plate perhaps?

Botanic Garden

Portmeirionlore: Botanic Garden Salad Plates

July 13, 2014 Lia

When the Botanic Garden range was launched in 1972 these were the original 8 inch salad plates:

They are the Water Melon, the Night Flowering Cactus, the Dog Rose, the Red Pepper, the Eastern Hyacinth and the Woody Nightshade. These motifs also appeared on the original 13 inch platters. They have all been retired now. I am very fond of the dark reds, greens and browns, the insects and the almost scary flowers of these early motifs.

Some of the original salad motifs had two versions, such as the Eastern Hyacinth, first with brown butterflies and then blue ones:

And the Woody Nightshade, originally with a dark brown butterfly and a huge bumble bee:

There is a double version of the Spanish Gum Cistus, a motif that appeared on the soup plates and the bread and butter plates:

The double Spanish Gum Cistus looks really well on a salad plate:

The Cistus later appeared in a pink version, the Purple Rock Rose:

The Slender Columbine also has two versions:

In 1981 a special series of salad plates was commissioned by Bloomingdales in New York. 250 plates with the Eastern Hyacinth and 250 with the Dog Rose , all with a gold leaf border, were specially produced. Mine has the Eastern Hyacinth:

The backside has a special backstamp for the osccasion:

More salad plates :

The Treasure Flower, the Sweet William, the Belladonna Lily, the Purple Rock Rose, the Blue Iris and the Garden Lilac. Of these, the Treasure Flower was the pink version of the African Daisy, one of the original dinner plate motifs:

The Garden Lilac appeared on a millennium plate in 2000:

A few salad plates, including the Garden Lilac, were also produced without the Botanic Garden leaf border:

the Blue Iris, the Eastern Hyacinth and the Sweet William:

Other salad plate motifs are the Poppy, introduced in 2014,

the Pink Parrot Tulip and the Hydrangea :

The Blue Hydrangea plates:

Botanic Garden has a range of Christmas plates called Mistletoe:

In 1998 Portmeirion introduced Options, a new addition to the Botanic Garden range, complementary pieces that can mix and match with existing Botanic Garden items.

As a collector I thought I should have at least one Options plate in my collection, here it is:

The new Exotic Botanic Garden range also has the 8 inch salad plates, featuring the Hawaiian Hibiscus, the Moth Orchid, the White Waterlily,the Red Ginger, the Bird of Paradise and the Dragonfly:

And the Botanic Birds also have salad plates. They are the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Baltimore Oriole, Chickadee, Lesser Goldfinch, Western Bluebird, and Scarlet Tanager:

In the last few years several dinner plate motifs have also appeared on salad plates, such as the Shrubby Peony, the Christmas Rose, the Foxglove and the Virgins Bower:

Here are the Asiatic Magnolia, the Flowered Chrysanthemum and the Honeysuckle:

A special range of 8 inch plates was produced in the nineties, the Christmas Plates:

Starting in 1993 with the Christmas Rose, followed by the Shrubby Peony, the Flowered Chrysanthemum, the Virgins Bower, the Blue Passion Flower, the Honeysuckle, the Lily Flowered Azalea

and the last one, in 2000, the Sweet William:

The Butterflies were specially made for the USA:

The Daisy usually appears on soup plates and bread and butter plates:

Here is a rare example of an 8 inch salad plate in the Ladies Flower Garden range with a Botanic Garden leaf border:

The following plates have the Botanic Garden leaf border with Pomona motifs, the Roman Apricot and the Late Duke Cherry:

The following plates have a Variations motif combined with a Botanic Garden leaf border:

These salad plates have different shapes:

and there is this one

Miscellaneous, Trials

Millennium Plates

July 3, 2014 Lia

Portmeirion produced the Millennium Collection in 1999 and 2000. Most items featured the new Portmeirion Rose, such as the dinner plate:

and a range of smaller plates, bowls and dishes:

Here is a 9 inch plate:

One Millennium plate comes from the Botanic Garden range and has the Garden Lilac:

There was a 13 inch platter, made exclusively for Debenhams, featuring the Lily Flowered Azalea, with the green Botanic Garden border. Mine is a trial, with a gold border:

Here is the backstamp: