Tag Archives: 10 inch

Portmeirionlore: Botanic Garden Dinner Plates

IMG_2460

The Botanic Garden range appeared in 1972. First there was a coffee set and a few months later Portmeirion proudly presented the dinner service. Here are the original six dinner plates: Mexican Lily, Blue Passion Flower, Venus Fly Trap, Manchineel Tree, African Daisy and Yellow Crown Imperial.

IMG_2427

All early plates come with the beautiful first Botanic Garden backstamp:

IMG_4556

 

They were a magnificent set of dinnerplates:

IMG_4383

The African Daisy, here seen with some African Daisies in the background, was the first flower that Susan Williams-Ellis put on a dinner plate for the Botanic Garden dinner service.

IMG_4393

The Mexican Lily, with the dark butterflies.

IMG_4385

The Manchineel Tree , with the dark greens and browns.

IMG_4380

The Blue Passion Flower, a Botanic Garden classic.

IMG_4389

The majestic Yellow Crown Imperial.

IMG_4391

The Venus Fly Trap with the crawly insects.

There were all sorts of variations in motifs and lettering.  This is the Yellow Crown Imperial, with and without the green border. The top one has the newer lettering.

IMG_2430

The African Daisy had an early version with brown butterflies. Later versions show the yellow and green butterflies,  a dragonfly was also added.

IMG_2433

The Mexican Lily also had changes in butterflies. There are even three different butterfly variations, from the early dark butterflies, then the spectacular pink butterflies and finally the greenish one, matching with the bulb. As with all the plates, the lettering changed a few times.

IMG_2435

There were sets of six dinner plates and apart from that  there was one 13 inch platter. It had the Blue Passion Flower motif with three large flowers instead of two on the dinner plates:

IMG_3353

A later version of this 13 inch platter had an extra butterfly:

IMG_3540

From here my pictures of the dinner plates are not all in chronological order. Hera are: Royal Highness,  Flowered Chrysanthemum, African Lily, Honeysuckle, Shrubby Peony and Christmas Rose.

IMG_2465

The Christmas Rose has always been one of my favourites:

IMG_4396

There are two versions of the Honeysuckle, the older one with sturdy brown colours, and a newer pink version. There seems to be a mix up in the Latin name as well.

IMG_2438

In the following picture the Honeysuckle, Virgin’s Bower, Rhododendron, Sweet Pea, Asiatic Magnolia, Lily Flowered Azalea

IMG_2440

The Sweet Pea, with some Sweet Peas:

IMG_4561

The Asiatic Magnolia also has two versions, one with a blue butterfly:

IMG_2459

Portmeirion keep producing new motifs, such as the Foxglove, Sunflower, Poppy (new in 2014), Hydrangea (new in in 2012, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Botanic Garden), Pink Parrot Tulip and Arborea

IMG_2442

The Hydrangea plates are among my favourites:

IMG_5860

Exotic Botanic Garden is another recent range, featuring the Hawaiian Hibiscus, Moth Orchid, White Waterlily,Red Ginger, Bird of Paradise, Dragonfly and Winged Passion Flower. They really are an exotic lot of plates, very colourful, with lovely flowers.

IMG_2445

A dinnerplate made for the Korean market looks very much like the Hawaiian Hibiscus, it features the Rose of Sharon:

IMG_2422

This is an older motif, the White Gum Cistus, rarely seen on dinnerplates.

IMG_2446

The White Gum Cistus was originally seen on soup plates and bread and butter plates. There is a double version that occurs on early salad plates:

IMG_3889

At Portmeirion they are very good at what-iffing, here are some trials with salad plate motifs on dinner plates, the Fuchsia,  Ivy Leafed Cyclamen, Belladonna Lily, Blue Iris and Dog Rose.

IMG_2448

When Susan Williams-Ellis died in 2007 the company honoured her life with the return of one of the earlier motifs, the Meadow Saffron, on a dinner plate.

IMG_2450

IMG_2473

IMG_5398

Here is a rare dinnerplate withe the Botanic Garden border and a Ladies Flower Garden motif.

IMG_2451

In 1980 the Mexican Lily appeared on a specially made plate:

IMG_2453

There is a version with green lettering and one with pink letters:

IMG_3322

The Collectors Club was presented with a hand-painted version of the Christmas Rose in 1993. There is no longer a collectors club now, and  no new Collectors Letters have appeared for a long time, which is a pity.

IMG_2455

IMG_3523

The Year 2000 and the new millennium  were celebrated by a new plate with the Millennium Rose:

IMG_3324

 

Portmeirion designed a series of four Birds of America. My plates have the Botanic Garden leafed border:

IMG_2938

They are the Mallard, the Pintail, the Bobwhite Quail and the Ruffed Grouse.

I am not quite sure whether the Botanic Birds are part of the Botanic Garden range, or whether they should be classified as Birds of Britain. Anyway, I put the dinner plates here. They are the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Baltimore Oriole, Chickadee, Lesser Goldfinch, Western Bluebird,  and Scarlet Tanager. Lovely birds, on dinnerplates with the Botanic Garden Border.

IMG_2424

And there’s always this one:

IMG_3447

 

poppies

IMG_2230

This is a new motif for 2014,
in commemoration of the Great War,
a dinnerplate with Poppies

1818133POP-service-w-sq-g

Here is a promotional picture by Portmeirion. Unfortunately, unlike the small teapot, the salad bowls are not available in the Poppy motif.

IMG_2359

but here it is, in my very own kitchen: the Poppy salad bowl:

IMG_3553

and here is the 8 inch salad plate:

IMG_3859

and last but not least: 4 inch straight mugs:

IMG_4889