BLUE POTTERY

BLUE POTTERY

August 06, 2012

A couple of years ago, on one of our day trips to our favorite garden nursery, we noticed their finer pottery on sale.  There were pots of every color and some very unusual shapes and sizes.  We fell in love with the royal blue and decided that day to begin to incorporate a blue accent theme to our front yard.  Our first pot was purchased at their end of the season 10% off sale.  Once home, we did not get to display it that fall, because it was October and the weather could turn wintery any day.  So it had to sit, covered, until spring.  That was a long wait and  I’m not very patient.  We chose a special place the next spring, for our blue pot, beside our new front steps.  Perfect!  Our house is light blue and this looked great.  

Some weekends we drive around the new home developments in Peoria and nearby towns and see how others decorate their yards and entrances.  One evening, as we followed the curves of the road on Grand View Drive, we noticed ‘blue pots’.  Not just two or three, more like thirteen!  The homeowner had artfully placed them in unlikely places as well as flanking the garage and front entrance.  They had done this just for us, I’m sure!  It was exactly what we were trying to do with our home but we just didn’t know it yet……. the bell went off in my head.  All the way home we talked (ok, I talked) about where we could put them in our yard and what shapes and groupings would give the most impact.

I’m rather frugal when it comes to buying things and I’m always looking for a deal.  I searched the local home centers but did not find pots to compare to the ones they sell at Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton, Illinois.  I have come to accept that there are times when it does not pay to be cheap.  If I have to buy one at a time for next ten years, I will.  Of course I do have a birthday every year and I might get one for a gift.  I hope!

Until this dreadful summer, I wanted the blue pots because they were pretty.  But, I learned a lesson this year, with many days near 100 degrees. I learned why clay pottery is so much better than the plastic pottery from Home stores.

The past two weeks, all the beautiful potted flowers in my small plastic pots began to dry out daily.  I would water them immediately after I got home from work, and sometimes before I left at 6:00 a.m.  The pots just could not hold the moisture and also were too small, I suppose, to keep the roots cool in this heat. My last effort to save the flowers in pots was to place them in the shade, but it did not help. There was one exception, the blue pot.  It has a 23 inch diameter and is 27 inches deep.  The petunias, and sweet potato vine are cascading to the ground, blooming like crazy, in the sun!  In my opinion, it has to be the pottery that has saved these flowers from burning up this summer.  This has convinced me there is a reason for nice pottery and it’s not simply aesthetics. 

 

This happens to be a broken pot someone gave me in pieces.  I planted the pot on its side and the petunias spill out into the garden.  Never throw away a good broken pot!

 

If you find yourself on a Sunday drive looking at beautiful lawns, I hope you come across a home or two using pottery in inventive groupings and colors.  If you come to the blue house with the royal blue pots, come on in.  I’d love to show you our latest addition.  Currently, I have my eye on a pot shaped like the foot of the jolly blue giant – size 22 double E wide, at least!  Hm, what does one plant in a foot?