Tea tasties: the longer days and sunny afternoons of springtime make the garden a perfect setting for relaxing tea parties. (includes recipes)

A Teatime Party Has Special Appeal: As Slowly steeping -- tea and treat-filled trays beckon, one can forget the hurried pace of spring planting chores and indulge in one lazy afternoon.

It isn't a lot of work to create a tea table that will leave your garden guests feeling relaxed and pampered. Follow our recipe suggestions for a teatime menu, or use a similar selection of your own favorite treats. Though a tea menu may be rather unstructured, it benefits from featuring something savory along with something sweet. And don't forget the all-important tea accompaniments, such as sugar cubes or raw sugar, milk or cream and lemon slices.

If you work with your own recipes, be sure they, as the recipes given here, can be prepared in advance, so you are free of last-minute preparations and may devote all your attention to your guests. Also, before your friends arrive, set the table with some pretty china, good silverware and real cloth linens. In keeping with the genteel tea tradition, a garden setting provides a lovely backdrop for the occasion. Gardening guests will love admiring the flower borders from this comfortable vantage point. If the sometimes fickle spring weather doesn't cooperate, bouquets of flowers can lend garden atmosphere indoors. …