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Designing With Containers.

12/28/2012 3:25:01 PM

Here are a few simple tips to help when thinking about what type of potted containers you are going to tackle for your yard or garden areas.

Grow the tastiest and most nutritious fruits right on your deck or patio. Start by planting a dwarf peach tree in a wooden box or terracotta pot. Add three strawberry plants, and then dress it all up with a bunch of annual flowers. Sit back and enjoy luscious berries in spring, peaches in summer and flowers all season long. Nice pot eh?

Forget trying to get grass in shady areas. Plant a rustic pot with shade loving fuschia, ferns and impatients. Then sit back in a comfy chair with a glass of lemonade and watch your neighbors mow their lawns.

Lastly, does your porch lack pizzazz? Fill a plain container with ivy, bright faced pansies, sapphire lobelias, and wine red geraniums. In just a few weeks, the pot will be stuffed with blooms, enticing passerbys to stop and admire your creativity.

If you are ready for something different or more challenging, we offer lots of ideas right here in the Arizona Pottery Pottery Post Blog. You can follow our simple instructions and ideas and delivery yourself with your newfound green thumb.

Helping Your Garden Containers Thrive!

12/26/2012 3:04:36 PM

Caring for potted containers has it's ups and downs. On one hand it's easier than regular gardening, weeding is minimal, no tools needed, and you can just pluck out the plant and toss when done. But the other side is that plants in pots have special needs you should consider.

Using pots makes it easy to plant them with different kinds of materials. One pot of cactus and succulents can sit next another pot filled with flowering azalea. Keeping them separate help with providing each one's unique needs. Having insects pass disease from one pot to the next is less likely when the plants are potted. And, if that should happen you can easily move the plants apart while you control the situation.

Some pots obviously need more sun that others. The key is choosing the right pot and plants to the correct location. Take wind into consideration because many plants are sensitive to it. You can create different spaces in the yard or create a outdoor room by separating areas with large potted trees and bushes.

Hightlight Your Garden Pottery With Color. Part II

12/20/2012 12:28:41 PM

Here are a few more tips we promised in the earlier blog. They should aid you in selecting color to put in your garden pottery & planters.

Did you know that color effects your emotions? Bright colors such as red & yellow excite us and make us feel warm, where blue, green and pink are considered cooler and calmer! Maybe you want to create a planter that makes you feel warm and exited. Use exciting colors as yellow and scarlet. In the backyard where you want a more relaxed feel select the pots with rose, and blue shades.

Monochromatic potted arrangements emphasize a single color with flowers or foliage of various hues. Though the emphasis is on one color, its not the same color but different hues of the same color. Even an all white garden pot is best emphasized with shades of silver, cream and pale yellow. Stunning!

When setting up your color palette, plan it out so that your potted display is focused and unified. The area of display inside a garden planter is small and confined. The details, colors and combinations should accent the rest of the yard, finding the right mix is sometimes difficult but rewarding.

If you are stuck about what color palette to use, try white, which is very calm and neutral. It combines with many colors to develop different moods. White and green create a fresh feel and by adding yellow to the mix produces a cool tone that still lively. White combined with pink and blue gives off a romantic feel.

Lastly, for a restrained, yet vibrant attention getting feel, try purple. Place with gray and pink, it produces a sophisticated look. For a lighthearted stylish feel position it with yellow and light brown.

Highlight Your Garden Pottery With Color! Part I

12/18/2012 12:11:41 PM

Choose from all the colors of nature to create garden planters that are the highlight of your garden or patio area. Many times adding color to your garden area in pottery is a way to bring that color into your life. It can excite, stimulate, soothe or refresh you. Many times the hues of color in your planters is a way of showing who you really are. Besides the beauty of it all, the smells are wonderful.

When planning your future pots, use light colored annuals such as white, pink and pale blue rather then dart tones to bring light into the area. If you use deep dark colors in shady areas try to mix colorful bright ones among them to help develop a contrast that will stand out.

For maximum effect think about how the flowers & greens will blend or contrast with their surroundings. Pot of deep red geraniums against a red brick wall or redwood fence will not pop as would white or pink. On the other hand, white geraniums will not stand out against a white picket fence or siding of your home. Use bold colors like burgundy or purple against white backgrounds and light colors like pink or peach against darker surfaces. Easy!

For the inside of your home, use 3 or 4 colors as a theme. Use with repetition they unify garden areas just as they unify the rooms inside a home. Example: containers with gold or pink petunias can tie different areas of your home together just like it can the garden, patio or yard area.

Try to stick with focal points. Group containers of one color in the center of an area, then surround these with pots of flowers or foliage that contrast in color, texture and height. You can use this same technique to draw attention away from an unsightly area, since the views eye will be drawn to the vivid display.

These are just a few of the tips that we can share. Read the next Pottery Post Blog entry for a few more.

How To Make A Fountain Out Of A Garden Pot!

12/14/2012 11:15:42 AM

Everyone knows that the sound of running water is comforting & soothing. You can take a garden planter and turn it into a recirculating water fountain by following these easy steps.

1 - deep 30" pot single drain hole in bottom

1 - 6" pot single drain hole in bottom

1 - 5 gallon plastic bucket, wider than the large pots base diameter

Tin snips

Electric drill with masonry bit

Submersible fountain pump that lifts water at least 3 feet.

1 - 2" square of sturdy expanded steel mesh.

42" of plastic tubing that fits the pump outlet

Silicone caulking

Stone to cover the steel mesh

Step 1: Dig a hole in the soil deep enough to hold the plastic bucket. Using tin snips or a drill, create a 1/2" notch in the bucket rim. Put the bucket into the hole with its rim at ground level. Set the pump in the bucket.

Step 2. Using tin snips, cut a square opening about 1/2" across in the center of the mesh square.

Step 3. Attach the plastic tube to the pump, then thread it through the center opening in the steel mesh. Position the mesh square atop the bucket. Pull out the free end of the pumps power cord, position so it exits the bucket through the cut notch.

Step 4. Slide the plastic tubing's free end through the drain hole of the large pot.

Step 5 - Center the large pot atop the steel mesh and slide it down the tubing until it sits firmly on the mesh.

Step 6 - Put a bead of silicone caulk around the inside of the outer container. Slip the shallow bowl into the outer container, fitting its drain hole over the plastic tubing, trim the top of the tube so that its end is fluent with the bottom of the shallow bowl. Make sure the bowls rim has good contact with the caulking and allow to dry overnight.

Step 7: Put landscape rocks around the pot to hide the mesh and fill the plastic bucket under the fountain with water and turn on the pump.

Why Grow in Garden Containers?

12/10/2012 10:40:44 AM

Everybody has the time and the space to have a garden if you really want one. No matter how busy you are or how small your yard or patio areas are you can always find the room for some potted plants. Even if you don't have a yard but a balcony or patio only, you can surely find the room to plant a container or two. Potting items is not just for high-rise people, even if you have a large yard, it's nice to have some potted plants around to add color and texture to your landscape. And, it's fun to do.

Containers bring plants up close and personal. You can choose the plant, the potting container, and the area to locate them in. This is the time to get creative and set up a stunning display or color and different plant materials. Use different types of pottery. Colorful ceramics, lightweight poly resins, durable concrete & traditional terracotta clay from Italy. Add evergreens, flowers, vegetables & succulents or Cacti. Using potted containers is an easy way to dress up a drab yard and an easy way to make them inviting and decorative.

Really want to go for the ultimate in potting experience? Place a large windowsill planter outside a kitchen window and fill it to overflowing with garden herbs. Rosemary, basil, sage, onion are all easy to grow and work really well in a contained area. Have a kitchen door that goes to the backyard? Set up a few garden pots next to the door and fill with thyme, oregano and dill. This way all you have to do when cooking is open the window or step out the door and snip what you need. Easy, healthy and fun to do.

Another really great side of potting your yard instead of planting directly into it, is the portability. If you are a renter you can take your garden with you when you move. No reason to leave them all behind when they become portable you can easily transport them to a new area. Don't let living in an apartment or condo stop you from potting plants, flowers or veggies & herbs.

Planting in pottery is a great way to express yourself in design, a easy way to transport your garden, and a easy way to stay healthy. Do it!

By Arizona Pottery
Post Last Updated: 9/18/2023 1:05:28 PM

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Cold & Warm Season Veggies to Pot

12/6/2012 9:25:55 AM

Planting & potting garden vegetables is fun and easy to do. There are season that you need to take into consideration because all things do not grow at all times. Here are a few suggestions to take into consideration so that you have the most success.

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Make sure you start with large garden planters, nice potting soil and fresh seeds or starter plants.

1. Arugula (Italian) - Tender leaves add bit to salads and other dishes. For best flavor, harvest them when they are 4" tall.

2. Curly Leafed Kale - Super ruffled Winterbor is a vigorous potted grower that stands up to cold temperatures. Leaves turn sweeter after frost.

3. Swiss Chard - The sturdy stalks of Bright Lights come in a rainbow of colors, including gold, pink, red and white; the frilly leaves are dark green. Perfect Potted.

4. Green Onion - Both the white and the green parts have a strong, zesty flavor. These look lovely filling up a planter.

5. Savoy Cabbage - Lime green forms tight heads, ideal for closely spaced potting.

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1. Bell Pepper - These wonderful orbs are grat for stuffing and salads, the fruits start out green, some mature to red, yellow, orange, and even chocolate brown. Perfect in size for a large garden planter.

2. Basil - Always popular, large glossy leaves have a spicy anise flavor, this variety is often used in pizza or other Italian dishes.

3. Beans - Pole beans are great potted. Blue Lake variety is stringless and smooth, with a stronger flavor than bush types. Grow them on a trellis placed in the pot.

4. Tomato - Who hasn't grown tomatoes in garden planters? The cherry type is juicy, sweet and just the right size. The plants resists disease.

5. Zucchini - The ronde de Nice is a French heirloom type with round, tender zucchini fruits. Harvest them when they are less that 3" in diameter.

6. Sunflower - The Yellow Disk flowers grow 4 to 5 inches across, are perfect when potted and the blooms attract bees.

Create This Garden Planter!

12/4/2012 2:26:29 PM

This metal container is contemporary and useful. It can sit outside and only looks better as it ages. We carry this same design in sandstone if you would prefer that material. Filling this pot with succulents really accents the look. This type of a display is perfect in direct sunlight because not only the planter but the plant materials can handle the direct heat. Using succulents like this makes the container basically worry-free.

Below we tell you what items were used.

1. Miniature pine tree. Crassula tetragona

2. Coppertone Sedum. Sedum nussbaumerianum.

3. Crassula. Crassula pellucida

4. Silver Spoons echeveria

5. Trailing jade Senecio jacobsenii

6. Flower dust plant kalanchoe pumila

7. Hobbit dwarf jade Crassula ovata