Guy Wolff and His Pottery

Clay and Ceramic Pots for Container Gardens

The man on the left is Guy Wolff. He is a potter extraordinaire. I first saw him on the Martha Stewart show.. years ago. He creates beautiful terra cotta pots. You can read more about him on the internet. His website is really interesting. It's not the usual gardening site...where they try to sell. He gives you a real lesson on terra cotta. You can tell that he has a love for history, because he reproduces many pots from long ago,and you can just see the love and joy on his face while he is creating. I don't have one of his pots, but maybe someday... For some reason, I am always drawn to these wonderful pots. I love the color, the texture, and the way they look with green plants flowing from them. They are relatively inexpensive and I plan to use them in my herb garden this year. They should work well with herbs, because they dry out quickly and herbs can go with less water. Here is some info from the web about clay pot gardening.

Of all the types of containers, ceramic and clay give you the greatest selection of colors, shapes and sizes for your container garden. If you can think it, it can be shaped from clay and glazed or painted with any color or design. On the downside, ceramic and clay are some of the heaviest materials for containers and pots made from them are breakable. But if you use small to medium sized pots, or will plant them and leave them in place, then they are an excellent choice for your containers. Terra CottaTerra cotta containers, the very common and inexpensive reddish-brown clay pots, are porous and allow the roots of plants potted in them to breathe. But they also allow water to evaporate through the sides, making it necessary to water them more often than less porous types of containers. They will also slowly dissolve or flake away over the years, especially if kept constantly damp. Terra cotta pots are relatively inexpensive, however, and available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, making them quite good for container gardening and 'potscaping' - landscaping with pots. And if terra cotta pots are arranged close together or the sides are otherwise shaded, the evaporation problem can be reduced. If you choose to use terra cotta pots, try using a variety of sizes and shapes suited to the different plants in them. For example, if you are planting an herb garden with several different herbs, select a variety of tall pots and the shorter bulb or azalea pots and pots of different diameters. Plant the taller types of herbs in the taller pots, and the shorter trailing types in shorter and wider pots. Then arrange the pots together in groups of three or more with varying heights and diameters for interest and appeal. Or you can use pots of all the same size and shape and let the different heights, colors and shapes of the herbs give appeal to your garden.You can also paint the pots for added color. You can add simple designs or go for an over-all painted effect. Or you can select pots of all the same shape and size and use pot feet or other pot decorations to dress them up. Or use all the same size and shape but plant them with such a beautiful array of plants that the pots fade into the background of the colorful display.

Balisha