Wildflower Tea dedicated to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart

Sweet Pea and I watched an episode of the Barefoot Contessa that inspired us – it’s the one that Ina cooks a delicious meal with a potluck and friends. Do you remember that one? We’ve seen it a couple of times, but this time Sweet Pea wanted to take the idea and run with it. In this episode, Ina makes a delicious menu, but she has various friends offer their talents – one to hostess, and one to decorate. Seems like there might have been one more? Anyway, Sweet Pea and I decided we’d love to coordinate a pot luck like that…so we started brainstorming. We decided our potluck would be lovely as a Wildflower Tea – and we set out to ask some of the most special people in our lives to join us.

We asked Mom (aka Nanny) to hostess. The setting at Mom and Dad’s right now is lush. Dad’s rose gardens are abloom and glorious, the wildflower patches my sister planted a couple of years ago are all blooming spectacularly, and the trees provided an idylic canopy. To top it all off, Grandpa tree is in full bloom. Grandpa tree, a catalpa, is a huge tree with an enchanting, twisted looking trunk on our property – must be over 100 years old, wouldn’t you say, Mom? Every spring, catalpa trees are covered with lush, white flowers that rain down in the breeze. Magical. Simply magical. I wish you could all see Grandpa tree in the spring. So, Mom was in charge of the magical setting and…the tea. 🙂

We asked my sister, Kim, to decorate for us. Aunt Kim has a creative, artistic eye with a talent for decorating. How perfect a job for her then! As you will see from the pictures, she does not disappoint. We had a beautiful table with flowing white tablecloth set out on the watermelon porch. Kim chose wildflowers and arranged them on the table for our tea. She had a little help from my boys! 🙂 How good Kim was to let Sparkly and Peanut set out dead, crunchy, brown leaves amidst our fresh, colorful wildflowers!

Aunt Pam was asked to bring a treat to share and she wowed us with her delicious whole wheat banana bread made with…what else?…wildflower honey! It was delicious. Sweet Pea and I made cucumber sandwiches – they were a huge hit with Uncle Chris! And mom, in addition to making tea for us, offered brownies – a crowd pleaser any day of the week.

We each chose something to wear for the tea with flowers on it – Sweet Pea chose her tulip dress ( a delightful gift made by a dear friend of mine for her girls, and then kindly passed on to us – thank you J.! ). Aunt Kim also gifted Sweet Pea with some vintage gloves picked up at a flea market – you can surely imagine how Sweet Pea welcomed this treasure of femininity!

If the wildflowers are blooming in your neck of the woods, why not consider a wildflower tea? Throw a big white sheet over an outdoor table, or make do like we did – setting out two sawhorses and a big sheet of plywood (you couldn’t tell, could you?). Offer tea and a few treats and allow the wildflowers to set the atmosphere. If you don’t have any wildflowers blooming, consider picking up a few fresh flowers at the market…splurge a little. The memorial of the Immaculate Heart is coming up on June 20, this would be a lovely way of remembering Our Lady on her memorial. Set out a beautiful statue of Our Lady and consider making a family Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart. May your Wildflower Tea be lovely, fragrant, and full of blessings!