Wordless Wednesday: Discovering Kirby Park

A recent sunset at Kirby Park, which runs along the Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, CA. So simple, so gorgeous, so peaceful...

Discovering The Pot Stop at Little Baja

For as long as I can remember there has been a big pottery yard in Moss Landing (on coastal Highway 1, about halfway between Santa Cruz and Monterey). It used to be called "Little Baja" and specialized in (you guessed it!) inexpensive pottery from Mexico. Current owners Bob and Polly have renamed it The Pot Stop, and created something quite remarkable; you will not find this particular mix of product anywhere else in the world.

That's not just hyperbole. Bob and Polly buy most of their pottery personally, rather than through a broker, and have many exclusive relationships that ensure you will ALWAYS find something unique here (and y'all know how much I like THAT!) I mean, just look. Water bearers, Buddhas, classical columns, a big stone shell and the promise of an endless aisle of more? Let me show you around...

Um, so really cool or just a little bit creepy? I think it's bothering me that they are missing their brains. What would you plant in this pot? Pittosporum Golfball would add a nice cranium (they are about two feet tall). Perhaps a bowler hat with a green apple on top...

Have you noticed how this narrow-necked urn shape isn't as common at many large pottery distributors? It's because you can't nest them, darling. If you are trying to fit as many pots as you can into a container, these things take up a lot of room. I supposed you could fill them with something else (I'll let you use your imagination here!) but suspect that most ship empty. I love these for fountains.

OK, these are new...and very interesting! Nice and architectural, love the two heights. Maybe on a Craftsman-style porch with a couple of matching Hinoki Cypress or something...

Oooh...love everything about this; click to see the detail on those center pots with the shell pattern...so pretty.

Look at those copper glazed pots. They are big. Just look at them. Near a pool? Are you with me? Planted with some choice Palm...

Those are my favorite brown bonsai-style pots in the back (the little feet make it SO much easier to install drip irrigation) and they come in some really interesting shapes. The urn in the foreground would look good all by itself in a meadow or shrubbery...

Killer water feature potential here...those ridges might do interesting things with the water as it flows down. But can we talk about the stink-eye imp from hell? It reminds me of something that Amanda Thompsen would have gladly used for gnome bowling, back in the day...

I know! I know!

So, a warning, as we reach the heart of the Pot Stop, things can start getting funky. Loved the red fountain on the green pedestal!

The Three Amigo Musketeer Mariachis?

"You can never have too many deities in the garden." I overhead this once at a nursery. You have to imagine it said in an impeccable, clipped Indian accent to get the full effect...

Even the local fauna are color coordinated (lucky shot, this was a loong zoom!)

I repeat, you can never have too many deities in the garden...

The fine folks at the Pot Stop can help you turn any of their pots into a fountain. These can be tricky, so let them help you with all the bits you need for a clean, low-maintenance installation.

The best advice I ever got about working effectively with exceptional pottery is to not be limited by what I can carry to the car by myself.
Go big or go home! They deliver!

One last find; loved this beautiful modern interpretation of classic terra cotta. Lemon tree in that tall one, right?

This was fun! Thanks for joining me. Which are your favorites?

A Day In The Life - The Growers

The same day I visited Pottery Planet, I also paid calls to two different plant growers, Pacific Plug & Liner and Soquel Nursery Growers. The central coast of California, with its mild climate and agricultural focus, is home to many kinds of growers, from small specialty to annual color to huge commercial wholesale.

My first visit was to PP&L, a starter-plant grower in Watsonville that provides small plants in large quantities to wholesale growers (Like Soquel) who grow them on until they are ready to sell to retail nurseries and landscape professionals. PP&L also tests and develops plants provided to them by breeders all over the world.

The gorgeous Gaillardia above is one of PP&L's summer perennial trials; if bee votes count, this beauty is a sure thing!
~click any picture to enlarge~

Boy, not a plant in sight! This is where it begins for many of PP&L's plants, the cold closet where seed stock is kept at a preserving temperature until ready for propagation. I felt a bit guilty, thinking of all those unscientifically stored seed packets in my garage!

Check out the seeding machine! Large trays with compartments not much bigger than sugar cubes are run through this machine, where the seeds are planted at the proper depth, covered and watered, just like that. I was impressed. The planted trays are then taken to the indoor growing field.

And, I do mean field. You are looking at thousands and thousands of perennials, grasses, even small shrubs and groundcovers, on a vast sea of waist-high tables in a carefully controlled greenhouse.

The next field over is the propagation room; the plants you see aren't the end result, they are the beginning...mother plants from which thousands of cuttings are taken and rooted in a similar fashion to the seed trays, but with slightly larger cells.

These mother plants are never sold; they are harvested until that can't take it any more, and then composted. Here we see a field of Dianthus.

These are starts of Cordyline 'Festival Grass' from FitzGerald Nurseries in Kilkenny Ireland, who provide very small sprouts to PP&L to be started like this. These will probably grow for another few months before being sold to growers, who might tend them for another six months (small wholesale size) to a year (full retail size) before selling.

Ah, that's more like it! Some of the many plants they are developing; a couple of beautiful Carex in the middle (also from FitzGerald) a beautiful variegated Euphorbia, pink Agastache, and some bright Coprosma.

Here's what all the cuttings and seedlings look like when they are ready to come outside, still in their propagating trays. Amazing to see familiar plants in their infancy! I believe the foreground trays are the ornamental cabbages that are a common winter annual in California.

This is a batch of a new variety of Pennisetum Rubrum almost ready to ship out for planting in 1g containers; these will likely be going in to gardens next spring. It was fascinating for me to see the 'early childhood development' of some of my favorite (or next favorite!) plants! Now on to one of my favorite wholesale nurseries.

A half hour north of Watsonville you'll find Soquel Nursery Growers. I've been shopping at Soquel for years. They are a small wholesale only (sorry!) nursery specializing in unusual perennials, grasses, groundcovers, shrubs and vines, mostly in 1-and 5-gallon size.

As you can see, they are a terrific place to go for color, also a good choice for a client visit. They nearly always have an electric cart for me to use, and a tour of inspection is always a pleasure!

I was shopping for the containers I had purchased earlier at Pottery Planet, which were destined for a partially shady deck. So to the shade house I went, for a look at their choicest plants. Here we have two varieties of red Loropetalum chinense, Lamium 'Purple Dragon' and blue-flowered Brunnera.

Southern sword fern, (Nephrolepis) Coral Bells (Heuchera) and Sweet Flag (Acorus 'Ogon') remind me of how gorgeous these three are planted together!

I'm a visual designer, and prefer to choose plants on the spot rather than plan everything out and just execute a shopping list. I played with groupings on the flatbed of the electric cart until I had what I needed. Then, I went home.

Thanks for joining me on this 'Day in the Life' it's always more fun when someone comes along!

A Day In The Life - Pottery Planet

When one of my projects requires pottery, there's no doubt as to where I go: Pottery Planet in Santa Cruz. The beautiful drive to the coast is always a treat, especially when I take Old San Jose Road, my favorite back way over the Santa Cruz mountains. Having it all to myself on a sunny summer day is pure nature+driving therapy.

Located on bustling Soquel Avenue, Pottery Planet is a delightful oasis. They import hand-made pottery directly from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Greece and Italy. I have never failed to find exactly what I need there (and it is often something completely different than what I THOUGHT I needed!)

The secret to their success, I believe, is in the diversity of their product. Other pottery suppliers buy their inventory through brokers by the container load. Pottery Planet founders Polly Joseph and Bob Goode chose instead to travel directly to the source, visiting smaller kilns in more remote locations, sometimes purchasing all of their production.

I hadn't visited for a couple of months, and when I walked in last week, I stopped in my tracks. The indoor showroom was gorgeous! Same layout as always, but something was different. Things were lighter, brighter, and the displays were impeccable.

The outdoor yard looked just as great. What was going on? It turns out that Polly and Bob had sold their Santa Cruz store to one of their importers, who are Swedish. They are obviously doing a good job breathing new life into the place, without losing any of its charm.

Northern California designers, take note: one of Pottery Planet's specialities is helping their customers turn pots into fountains. Almost any glazed pot can be made into a water feature; they supply pumps, hoses, fittings and several sizes and shapes of underground basins, and will help with design and assembly.

Pottery shopping for a project can be tricky. For one thing, I can only shop for one client at a time. I arrive with an idea of size and quantity, and maybe some preference for color and shape. I do at least two laps of the place, paying attention to what catches my eye. Only then do ideas and options start coming into focus.

Round or square? Tall or short? Classic or modern? Bright or neutral? Shiny or rustic? Ornate or minimal? The choices are endless!

So here's what I came up with last week. My initial thought had been square and brown, because of the bright color of the Craftsman style house. Then this fellow caught my eye: I'd never seen this quilted diamond pattern before, and the rich pewter color is unexpectedly perfect. Client was thrilled. AND it was on sale!

Thanks for joining me on my pottery jaunt! Next up, my day continues with visits to the growing grounds of a large commercial producer of plugs and liners (starter plants sold to wholesale growers) and one of my favorite wholesale nurseries.