French country decor has a blue that is not blue — it is the specific grey-blue-green of old shutters on white limestone walls, of faïence pottery in Provence markets, of the color that appears when blue and green and cream have been mixed by something other than a paint manufacturer. The Milk Teal Elegance Ranunculus is a handmade ceramic wall flower from the France Collection, kiln-fired in Toronto in a milk teal glaze that sits precisely in that register without being teal in the way that teal is usually understood.

The unexpected color in a collection French Vogue chose to feature

When French Vogue ran the France Collection in their home section, milk teal was one of the colors in the spread. Chive continues to interpret this as an endorsement. The France Collection palette is built primarily on warm tones — blush, peach, rose quartz, burnt yellow — and milk teal is the cool counterpoint that prevents the palette from becoming monotonous. On a wall with blush and peach pieces, the Milk Teal Elegance Ranunculus is the color that makes the warm tones look more warm by contrast. The Elegance cultivar holds the milk teal in the same tight, architectural form it holds every other color.

The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens carries the France Collection. The Denver Botanic Gardens stocks it. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden carries it. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show awarded Chive the 5-star booth award — the highest rating given — for 13 consecutive years. Botanical institutions in California, Colorado, and New York have independently decided this collection belongs in their shops. Chive has been designing and making ceramic flowers in Toronto since 1999.

A gift for someone whose walls are already warm and need the cool point

The Milk Teal Elegance Ranunculus ships in a Chive gift box. It hangs with one screw in 90 seconds. The Huntington Library carries it. The person with warm walls receives the cool botanical element that makes everything else read as more intentional.