Blue and Gold Watering Can Hand-Painted Limoges Box

Picture the old style garden watering can, spout tipped forward and handle arched over the top, then cast it in porcelain and paint it a deep blue edged in gold. That is this little Limoges box, hand-painted in Limoges, France.

Blue Skies Over the Flower Bed

The cobalt body gives the shape real weight on a shelf, while the gold accents pick up lamplight along the spout and rim. It reads as a tribute to the gardener's most trusted tool, scaled down into a small porcelain form.

Planting It Among Friends

• Hand-painted porcelain from Limoges, France
• Anchors a garden, greenhouse or potting shed grouping
• Looks right beside flower baskets, seed packets and garden hat boxes

A Spot by the Sunny Window

Try it on a kitchen windowsill above a row of herbs, or on a bookshelf next to well thumbed seed catalogs. Gardeners tend to grin when they spot it.

It suits a spring birthday, a garden club thank you, or a retirement for someone who finally has time for the roses. Give it to the friend who shares cuttings every summer, or to the neighbor whose borders stop people on the sidewalk, and it will likely end up somewhere they can see it each morning.