Tag Archives: Nuthatch

Miscellaneous

Plant Pots

Botanic Garden always has had a great variety of planters and plant pots. Here are three small pots made for Kew Gardens:

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These have the Forget Me Not, the Rhododendron and the Speedwell.

Here are my favourite 4 by 5 inch pots, with the original oatmeal motifs:

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Thet are the Ivy Leafed Cyclamen, the Orchid, the Purple Iris, the Canterbury Bells, the Barbados Cotton Flower and the Orange Cactus.

Portmeirion also had boxed planters or cache pots, here seen with the Common Tomentil:

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The backside of the box advised which plants they were meant for:

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Here is a bell-shaped planter with the Trailing Bindweed:

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Although many planters have the Botanic Garden motifs there are also Pomona planters, here seen with the Ingestrie Pippin, the Imperatrice Plum and the Red Currant:

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and Birds of Britain planters, such as here with the Nuthatch:

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The Spring Gentian can also be found on planters:

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Birds of Britain

Portmeirionlore: Birds of Britain Plates

Like the Botanic Garden range, the Birds of Britain started out with sets of six different plates. The 11 inch dinnerplates were the Grey Phalarope, the Little Egret, the Magpie, the Harlequin Duck, the Barnowl and the Black Cock:

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The Barnowl was thought to bring bad luck in some countries and was therefore withdrawn. The Black Cock was also withdrawn,”as its name was thought to discourage sales”. They were replaced by the Wood Duck and the Common Sandpiper:

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The older dinnerplates have the green band, but I have two with another border, the Harlequin Duck and the Magpie:

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Portmeirion also created a series of four Birds of America:

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They are the Mallard, the Pintail, the Bobwhite Quail and the Ruffed Grouse. Here they have the Botanic Garden leafed border. There are more items in this short-lived range, such as a set of 4 inch mugs:

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There are six different 8 inch salad plates:

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They are the Waxwing, the White Wagtail, the Turtle Dove, the Roller,  the Rose Coloured Starling and  the Hoopoo.

I have four of these plates in the borderless variety:

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Here is the Rose Coloured Starling with another border:

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The 8 inch soup plates and the 6 inch bread and butter plates have the same birds:

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They are the Nuthatch, the Bullfinch, the Nightingale, the Chaffinch, the Cirl Bunting and the Kingfisher.

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My plates all have the old green band, later Portmeirion introduced the oak leafed border:

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Except for the changes in the dinner plates, Portmeirion kept the same birds on the plates all the time. A new range of birds was introduced recently, the Botanic Garden Birds:

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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.

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