Some gardens fit in the palm of your hand. This collection gathers Limoges boxes that celebrate everything that grows: roses and rosebuds, sunflowers and daisies, water lilies and forget-me-nots, along with the little things that make a garden feel lived in, like watering cans, birdhouses, garden benches and well-loved gardening books.
A Limoges box is a small porcelain box with a hinged lid, made in and around Limoges, France, and painted by hand. That handwork suits flowers especially well, since every petal and leaf carries the touch of the brush, and no two blooms look quite the same.
Garden boxes make easy, heartfelt gifts. They are a natural choice for the friend who is always out in the borders, a thank-you for a host with a beautiful yard, or a birthday surprise for someone who loves a particular flower. And unlike a bouquet, a porcelain bloom stays fresh on the windowsill through every season, long after the real garden has gone to sleep for winter.
Watering Can Limoges Box Figurine with Snail
Early in the morning, while the leaves are still wet, a snail sets off across the potting shed with a grand ambition. By noon he has reached the handle of the watering can. By teatime he is near the spout. He is not in a hurry. The view, he says, is magnifique from up here.
Rochard Bonsai Tree Limoges Box, Japanese Garden Theme
In a quiet corner of the garden, a tiny tree grows the way old trees grow on windy hills, twisted and patient. Each morning the gardener kneels, studies one branch, and trims a single leaf. Then she sits back with her tea and lets the little tree do the rest of the thinking.
Gardening Book with Tools Porcelain Limoges Box
Chapter Four, Tomatoes. The page is smudged with soil and folded at the corner, because this is the book that comes out to the garden, not the one that stays on the shelf. The trowel lies across it like a bookmark. Somewhere between the seed packets and the sunshine, the gardener is learning something new again.
Poetry Book with a Rose Porcelain Limoges Box
She was reading aloud in the garden when the rose fell from its stem and landed right across the page, as if it had been listening. She left it there. Years later, the poem is still her favorite, and the book still falls open to that exact spot, petals and all.
Rose Trellis Limoges Box Figurine in Light Blue Porcelain
Every cottage in the village has a wall, but only one has these roses. They climbed the trellis one June and simply kept going, past the shutters and almost to the roof. Neighbors slow down on their bicycles to look. The owner pretends it was all careful planning, though everyone knows the roses did it themselves.
Small Rosebud on Stem Porcelain Limoges Box
Not yet, says the rosebud. Not today. The garden is full of open roses showing off, but this one is holding its petals close and waiting for exactly the right morning. It might be tomorrow. It might be next week. When it finally opens, it plans to make quite an entrance.
Rochard Lily Resting on a Lily Pad Limoges Box
On the pond, nothing moves but the dragonflies. A lily rests on its round green pad, drifting a few inches to the left, then a few inches back, as if it cannot decide where to nap. A frog considers joining it, thinks better of it, and the afternoon carries on, very slowly, exactly as it should.
Rochard Mini Butterfly on a Daisy Limoges Box
A butterfly lands on a daisy for one second, then two, then decides to stay a while. She has visited the lavender and the poppies already this morning, and she is tired of all that fuss. The daisy is simple, sunny and polite. Sometimes, she thinks, that is all a flower needs to be.
Rochard Potted Sunflowers Limoges Box with Watering Can
Monsieur Dupont swears his sunflowers grew six inches overnight. His secret, he says, is the little watering can and a good word every morning. Bonjour, mes belles. The sunflowers turn their faces toward him as he passes, and he is fairly sure that they are saying bonjour right back.
Blue Flower Bulb with Bee Hand-Painted Limoges Box Figurine
The bulb was planted in autumn and promptly forgotten by everyone except one bee. All winter long she checked the spot, buzzing hopefully over the frozen soil. Now spring has come, the bulb is plump and blue and nearly ready, and the bee has made sure to be first in line.
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