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Thanksgiving Tablescapes

11/18/2016

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we wanted to show you a few super easy tablescapes that we think are wonderful. Many use garden containers and others you will see you can use whatever you want. Glass jars, ceramic vases and even a stunning display using no container at all.

Let’s start with this table arrangement shown above. As you can see the center of the table is dominated with a large garden planter that is over flowing with colorful gourds. Fill in around the container with green plant materials that bring a realistic touch. The base of the garden urn is covered with more pumpkins and gourds and dried berries. This is a large and dramatic look. By using such bold bright colorful materials, you can stick with clear glass and simple place settings.

Our next idea is a simple thank-full tree. Have each guest write on a paper leaf what they are thank full for this past year. Tie each leaf on to a branch of the thankful tree. To make the tree, collect garden branches and stack them into a lovely vase. Place the vase into the center of the dining room table. This creates an inter-active beautiful centerscape that is lovely.

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This idea is really neat because no garden container is used. The center of the table is draped with silk fall leaf boughs. We love the way it drapes over the sides and lands on the ground. There are a few candles set among the leaves but that is all. It’s so simple and yet amazing that anybody can re-create this idea. Easy Peasy!

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The final tablescape uses 2 white pineapple vases that are filled with straw. With the fall leaves draped over the chandelier the table doesn’t need any more color. The white vases add an elegance that is subtle and dramatic. Using your garden containers, vases & planters make creating a table that is memorable and beautiful is much easier than you think.

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A Few Helpful Tips.

6/30/2016

Check out this potted topiary tree made out of rosemary. Placing it in the center of the gardening area gives the display lots of height and interest. Surround the top of the pot with colorful edible flowers.

Around the base of the pot are lots of herbs like basil and thyme. You could just plant the rosemary in the center but by placing it in the garden planter you get the vertical height that really shows it off.

Great idea!

Here we have potted Red Caladiums, spider plant and southern magnolia. Each decorates the pots and ties them all together. The large pot in the back is covering a downspout that is unsightly. The planter holds a large display that is beautiful and draws you eye away from the spout. The 3 smaller ones are stair stepped and tie themselves together with the larger one in the back creating a organized and beautiful display.

Our last display is a grouping of terracotta planters and saucers displayed by a entryway. Combine daffodils with citrus hues and fragrant seasonal blooms for a colorful display that just keeps on giving. This trio holds calibrachoa, fragrant sweet alyssuma and cool nemesia. All Friendly, brightly colored and wonderful soft looking flowers and plants. Perfect in the natural finish of clay pottery.

terracotta clay terra cotta garden pottery planters pots flowerpots containers landscape planters garden

By Arizona Pottery
Post Last Updated: 12/14/2016 2:33:36 PM

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Thanksgiving Decorating Tips

11/18/2015

DIY Decorating a Thanksgiving table with garden pottery

Add a colorful touch to your holiday gathering with these tips.

Wondering what to do this year for your holiday decorating. With family coming for Thanksgiving you want to add a touch of color and warmth. They key is to surround your home and create a tablescape with warm colors & terracotta tones. Add burnt orange blooms, petite pumpkins, and rustic touches with plain clay flowerpots.

The terracotta pottery has a warm tone to it that compliments the orange and rust colored flowers. Line your table with pots of mums and geraniums so that after the holiday they will still last and you can enjoy the pots for months not days.

Turn Flowerpots into a Thanksgiving tablescape

Use clay flowerpots as place-cards, to hold crayons for children to use and have them decorate a picture you can all share. This is not the time for bright spring colored planters or plant materials. Rust, orange, wine, forest green, deep reds, terracotta, browns & burnt tones.

Try to sprinkle a splash or two around the house. Place flowerpots on side tables on the entry hall. Of course, adding a few pumpkins or gourds always decorates things up. Don’t forget to put pots, pumpkins and mums at the front door so that your guests will be welcomed with a splash of color and a touch of the Thanksgiving holiday. Fill pots with candy corn and sweet treats. The point is to have fun, come up with clever ideas and enjoy the holiday.

Thanksgiving table decorations using terracotta flower pots

The Latest Indoor Gardening Trend

1/25/2015

The recent trend we are seeing right now are simple white displays that calm the mind and lift the spirits. Grouping neutral color pots like white, black, grey, & creme, in front of a window creates a "indoor flower bed" that distracts from the dull, lifeless scene of winter! When you stick to a serene, all white pallet it instantly adds unity to the floral arrangements you plant in them.

The key to creating a multi-style container display is to plant them with plants that require similar light requirements. Azaleas, campanula, amaryllis, orchid and pilea glauca all thrive in moderate to bright indirect light. Then consider the location of where you group the pots. For the most part vibrant blooms like southern facing windows.

Try to arrange each pot no more than 4 inches away from its neighbor. This makes the air circulation around each pot more humid. That's huge for holiday potted plants that often tropical in origin and require high humidity.

For the most cohesive pottery display, go with vibrant white, and fill with colorful foliage. Bright green plants, colorful blooms like amaryllis, can always balance out the display by adding color & depth. Next go for visual texture by adding containers of different height. Elevate pots with saucers if necessary. Mix different shapes like rectangles, ovals & rounds.

Holiday Decorating

12/19/2013

It's that time of year again, where everyone is shopping, eating & decorating. We are sure the inside of your home is stuffed with greens, candles and twinkle lights. All done in the holiday spirit. However, this time of year also finds your home being visited by many invited guests. So, look at this as a friendly reminder to create a warm and welcoming entry. How do you do that?

Start with the garden planters you already have. Maybe you have two identical planters standing guard beside your main entry. By now you know that you should have them filled with evergreens boughs, evergreen bushes or innate objects like bamboo or reeds. Don't leave them sitting empty. They look lonely and uninviting! Surround the top soil with pine cones, oranges, red holiday glass balls, or decorative rock. This little touch really adds a lot.

What we like about the photo above is the use of evergreen wreaths and pine cones balls. How simple is that and decorative to boot! Metal garden planters tend to be simple in design with clean line and not a lot of decoration. This look is simple and lovely at the same time. As always we ask you to draw on your imagination and create the kind of entry that you are proud of. Believe us, your guest will comment!

By Arizona Pottery
Post Last Updated: 12/19/2016 10:31:41 AM

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Great Fall Pottery Decorating

10/11/2012 3:46:15 PM

Finding ways to decorate this time of year is easy and inexpensive. Just select a clay garden pot, metal garden urn, or concrete garden planter, fill with edible plants, herbs, leaves, branches, gourds and pumpkins. It's so fun to do and we have a few cute ideas.

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Vertical displays are making a big splash on patio walls and porch decorations. We love the idea of stacking pumpkins between layers of branches & leaves. To create topiaries, sandwich bay wreaths between pumpkins stacked in a sandstone urn, and top with a small pumpkin. You can carve the pumpkins with different designs, you can then add candles or electric lights to help illuminate them.

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Take a low garden tray or plant saucer, and fill with pre-moistened soil mix and fill with succulents. Add them closely to each other so there isn't a lot of space between each plant. Fill crevices with moss which thrives in well drained soil in sun or part shade as do the succulents. Top with pumpkins for weight and interest. Water when the soil dries out and leave outside until it freezes. This looks lovely on a garden table.

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Take garden planters and fill with the ever popular Mums. Each fall all nursery and garden centers are full of them. Use deep dark bright colors in red, orange and yellow. Fill in around the containers with gourds, pumpkins and evergreen plants. At seasons end transplant them to the yard or other smaller planter pots. Enjoy for several more seasons until they outgrow their containers and then re-pot.

What Is Your Garden Style?

7/31/2012 1:22:05 PM

Create the garden that is best suited to your surroundings. Here are a few tips how.....

Gardening in containers can be as easy or as complex as you want to make it. The possibilities for combinations are only limited by the gardener's imagination. Just about any plant that grows in the ground will thrive in a pot, and it's worthwhile to note that some of the more invasive plants that you normally wouldn't introduce into your yard can be grown within the confines of a container. Let's start with looking at your environment:

Going for formal: As far as choices, a formal area tends to be symmetrical in form with orderly rows of containers regularly spaced in traditional or classical garden planters. Always neat, tidy the overall look can be very effective and impressive, it usually requires a lot of maintenance. Patterns may vary from style to style but symmentry is preferred. You don't need a huge formal home and garden area to achieve this effect. The styling is much more important.

Going for informal: In this type of setting, the plants develop their 14591

natural shapes and are arranged more irregularly or casually. You will find more curved lines and shapes that flow and are not rigid. Few straight edges or geometric forms will make up the planters with a more relaxed and comfortable feel. This type is a lot less demanding with maintenance.

Other types would be Natural, Southwestern, country or modern. Try creating an eastern garden with an Asian flair or a Grecian garden with pedestals and flowing ivy. When it comes to style options you can go cottage, English or colorful.

Here are a few things to ponder before you begin.

How do you currently use your yard?

If you have pets or kids will the design need to be safe?

What are you favorite plants?

What is your budget?

Garden Pots For Tabletops

5/11/2012 1:45:34 PM

It's time to spruce up your outdoor dining spaces with planted pottery as centerpieces. It's easy and fun to do. We offer a few suggestions here to help out and get your creative juices flowing!

The best place to start is by asking yourself a simple questions. How long will I be using this container and need for it to look good? If you want it to look it's best for a few weeks then you need to consider the type of plant materials your are going to use in the potted arrangement.

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If your masterpiece needs to be a show stopper for a single event or for just a few days then almost any plant materials will work. You may as well go for something outstanding for that one event.

When choosing plants for these decorative containers, consider the water they will need, the type of container size and style they will do best in and how much sunlight they will require. Try to put the same types of plants together so that their needs are similar and taking care of them is easier.

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Now is the fun time to select the container. Try to protect your table surface with a saucer, pot feet or a piece of cork. Use a decorative and colorful container when working with evergreens and one color plants. When you are using a colorful bouquet of flowers then you can go with a plain container or terracotta color. The plants and flowers don't need the added help of a bright container.

We like to use a piece of plastic wrap to line the interior of any container to help with water condensation. Also consider the root system on the flowers or plants your using when deciding how deep the planter needs to be. The main point to consider is how long you want it to last when making the decision on the arrangement. Then let the container take the lead when it comes to how flashy to make the arrangement.

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Lastly, cover the soil so your guests aren't looking at soil while enjoying a meal. Use faux rocks that well sell in the pot accessory section. Pot Shards, colorful glass marbles are both wonderful and inexpensive. We like to see tabletop planters decorated with flower picks, small children's toys, colorful ribbons, feathers or fruit. The main idea is to have fun and get creative.

By Arizona Pottery
Post Last Updated: 12/29/2016 8:34:46 AM

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New & Unusual Grasses For Garden Containers

4/30/2012 4:50:47 PM

You can't open any architecture or gardening magazine without seeing ornamental or native grasses featured. Only a few short years ago there were a handful of kinds to pick from. Now there are tons more and all of them work well in a garden planter. A number of reasons why they are so popular is they are low maintenance, look fantastic and they adapt to most climates. Here is a list of a few grasses that deserve wider use in America's gardens. While some are new, others have been around for quite a while and just been overlooked. Check them out!

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Autumn Moor Grass is a tidy work horse. It grows 12 to 16" tall and wide and loves full sun and light shade. Whether used singularly or in mass, this grass can be put to almost any use in the garden. You cannot ask for a tidier ornamental grass than this, and it's considered one of the finest. It features beautiful bright yellow green foliage, which sports attractive, neat flowers, emerging white in early autumn and fading to tan. This is the go-to be-all grass to pot.

Ruby Grass offers fluffy plumes. Grows 12 to 18 tall and wide and likes 14318

full sun. This clumping, blue green foliage grass has amethyst pink flowers that create fluffy, 8 to 12 inch long plumes throughout summer. Eventually, the flowers mature to the color of root beer foam. It's heat and drought tolerant, and it makes a fine annual in colder climates. Excellent drainage in the garden planter you use will help it thrive in humid summer climates.

Vetiver has unique leaf tips. This grass grows 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide so make sure you have plenty of room in the planter you use. It loves full sun to light shade. This beautiful ornamental has upright, glossy green foliage and interesting, animated leaf tips that resemble party favors. These plants gain reddish purple hues in the fall and winter. It is so good for the desert climates that it's used a lot to hide air conditioners in may yards. More gardeners find it useful in pots as a screen. It takes damp soils and is used to prevent bank erosion in canals and bayous. This baby is nice!

Outdoor Dining - work the elements!

3/16/2012 2:59:26 PM

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An outdoor dining area must look inviting from afar so that you're drawn to it as a destination". Outdoor dining can be a feast for all the senses. The taste of food, the tune of the wildlife, fragrance of flowers and warmth and charm of potted plants.

Of course as with anything, you need to find the right spot. A place that is convenient to the kitchen or tucked away in a secluded corner for peace and privacy. The key is to make the most of what you have. Start by working with what you have and then expand to adding potted plants, lighting, or a structure like gazebo. Do you need to protect your table from the elements or are you lucky enough to be able to sit out under the stars?

Are you looking to feed a crowd or just a quaint setting for 2 on occasion? There are some guidelines on how to set a table up. A 26" bistro table will seat two, a 48" table will seat 4 to 6. Tables stay put but chairs get pushed around so make sure there is plenty of space to accommodate that. A rule of thumb is width of table plus 3 feet on each side. This is enough room to get in and out of chairs comfortably. Plan carefully!

Strive for a sensory experience. Have lots of potted plants that you can move around to accommodate the table set-up. Plant them with fragrant fruit trees, and luscious smelling plants and flowers. Use palm's to block unsightly neighbors and to break up the noise of traffic. Planted pottery is portable and is very easy to move around and set up the look and feel that you want easily.

Make sure your furnishings all match and are comfortable. Try to follow a color theme by matching the potted plants with the cushions on chairs or the tablecloth you cover the dining table with. Use candles, fire-pits, hanging lanterns and music to set the stage and enjoy your hard work and labor. It's your home and you should be comfortable.