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?

Taking My Own Small Garden Advice!

Last June I wrote a post for the Garden Designer's Roundtable about small-space garden design; little did I know that I'd be testing my own advice when I downsized to a 6x10 apartment balcony six months later.

My rough concept drawing was done mainly to determine how many plants I could bring with me, and didn't focus much on where I might sit. I figured the space would be enjoyed mostly from inside; I didn't see how it could be private enough outside. Space for plants was the priority, and a small chair was drawn in as a placeholder.

But then I remembered my own advice about not skimping on comfortable seating in a small garden, especially since it really only has to be big enough for two. I spotted a loveseat on another balcony, and once I realized how nice the winter sun was going to be, and how quiet the complex is during the day, I knew I had to carve a cozy, private spot for myself into my balcony design. That's how my favorite outdoor loveseat was added to the mix...

And it is perfect. Placing it in the corner facing inward was the master touch. It blocks the view onto the balcony from nearby paths, catches the slanting winter sun all afternoon, and surrounded by plants I can curl up in complete privacy. I can be out there with my sweetheart or a cat and not feel on display. Since the balcony is completely sheltered, a cozy wool throw and a jute rug warm the space up further and can be left out year-round (although I'll opt for a lighter throw in summer...)

And look how my wooden crates (which hold frequently used tools and supplies) can be tucked underneath; sheltered and dry and easy to access, and freeing up lots of room in my storage closet.

In my Roundtable post I talked about imagining the space in three dimensions, mentally carving out the paths you need to use it effectively. On my balcony the curved swathe between the sliding door and my storage closet needs to be kept clear, but everything else is fair game (and remember, not just at ground level). I used tall specimens in the corner pots, and elevated other plants on upturned pots, small tables, even my coffee-tuffet.

Long streamers of ivy, which had been growing for years in some of the larger pots, are being trained all over the railing and will add their own lacy green layer of privacy as they fill in. A strand of white lights around the railing can be lit on festive occasions.

Traffic area nice and clear, and the rest of the available space is layering up nicely. I'm not a fan of hanging plants (keeping the ones on the ground happy is challenging enough) but wind chimes, bird houses and feeders, lanterns etc. can add a lot of interest, especially if you have sturdy overhead beams to work with.

I didn't discuss using storage space efficiently in my GDRT post (probably because at the time I had a two-car garage) but that was a huge consideration for this space, as I have many tools and supplies and one very small closet in which to store them. My two wooden crates under the loveseat helped a lot, and using one of my old garage shelves gave this small space structure. Another shelf mounted inside the door holds mason jars full of frequently used things, and silverware trays organize all the other odd bits from my garage and junk drawers. There's room for everything, with space left over. Nice...

It was so comforting to be able to create a new garden space using some old friends, some of which I have had for years. And it was also gratifying to put my own design principles to the test and find them solid.

Happy New Year!

EnSeven Heaven: My New Garden Takes Shape

It is done. Two weeks, one jeans size, and countless loads of STUFF sent in all directions, and my move from a 3-bedroom house (with several thousand square feet of gardens) to a 2-bedroom apartment (with sixty square foot balcony) is complete. This would not have been possible without the help of my family and friends, to whom I am unbelievably grateful. And I will go on record here and now to say that I will NEVER have that much CRAP again! Dissembling the garage about did me in...

As I wrote before, creating my new balcony garden was high on my list of priorities. It was a huge relief when the Maple and Fatsia pots made it up the stairs (I simply couldn't look) and were settled in their respective corners with no casualties. I ended up using about a dozen good-sized plants and another dozen small ones (succulents mostly) and they have filled the space quite nicely. Their previous home (a north-facing courtyard) got no sun in winter, so their airy new south-facing digs are suiting them VERY well.

I particularly love these beautiful dwarf Nandinas, which along with a foxtail asparagus fern on a stand surround the bubbling water pot. Additional sun has brightened their colors considerably; even on overcast days they glow.

One piece of advice I give to small-space gardeners is to lift things up and make use of their "middle ground." Using taller plants, and raising shorter ones (like this lush Dianella which sits on an up-ended pot) gives you natural nooks in which to tuck smaller plants, as well as more privacy. An old tile-top table built by my father for my grandparents years ago has become my new potting bench/Buddha shelter. The jute carpet remains one of my favorite parts of the garden; absolutely everything here I already had; the old becomes new again.

The decision to use just one seating piece (my old garden loveseat) and to angle it toward the house turned out to be a really good one. I can curl up like a cat in the sun, surrounded by plants, in complete privacy. From my perch it's fun to listen to my neighbor's comments ("Wow, look at that, and she only JUST moved in!")

Fun details like the birdhouse (hanging from a sturdy beam) and a string of lights add warmth and charm. I was delighted to find that the ivy in the Fatsia and Maple pots had grown many streamers, some several feet long, which I've started twining along the top of the railing. It's like they have been preparing all along to be here. It already feels like home.

Thanks for all the good wishes as I've been making this transition; I look forward to sharing my new little space from time to time. Oh, and "EnSeven" comes from my apartment number (N7).

Happy Holidays everyone!

Moving On...

Or, as Katherine S. White would say, "Onward and Upward!"

photo credit: Kelsey Cross

My house has been sold, close of escrow is December 15, and I have found a new place to dwell. As of the first of the month I will be living in an apartment for the first time since college, trading my lush gardens for a 6x10 balcony. Needless to say, this is a bit of an adjustment.

The good news is I have a wonderful collection of potted plants that are well-suited for this spot; I can indeed bring part of my garden with me. You have no idea how comforting that is.

Here is my promising garden-to-be...south facing with a nice Liquidambar tree between me and the next building. It is completely sheltered by the Spanish tile roof; in winter it is flooded with light, in summer it will be cool and shady.

My bubbling blue water pot, which has been running almost continuously for the last eight years, is coming along, and the potted Nandina will come right along with it.

Ivy from small pots behind the Buddha encircle the tree stump he sits on. This will relocate beautifully.

The Fatsia I bought the day I launched my design business is an anchor plant, and I have interesting plans for my carved Mexican posts from Santa Fe. (Hint, they don't have to be vertical, do they?)

I have the perfect spot for this red maple, and the mature Asplenium below it. My one plant-one pot philosophy of container gardening will make it fun to arrange and re-arrange.

My biggest challenge for this garden? No water out there...I have been utterly spoiled by an automatic drip system and will have to retrain myself. Where possible I will move things up a pot size so they have good resources; the sheltered location will also help. And it's not like it's a lot to take care of, is it?

So stay tuned...the garden will probably go in first, (priorities!) so it won't be long now...

Garden Designers Roundtable: Expanding Small Spaces

This month the Bloggers of the Garden Designers Roundtable have some big ideas about working with small spaces!

In California the trend has been toward larger houses on smaller lots, and there are many condominium communities with charming but small outdoor living areas that serve multiple needs year-round. Being able to squeeze a lot out of small spaces is an important skill for designers, and can often be more challenging than designing something larger.

I think one of the most important aspects of working with small spaces is thinking about them three dimensionally. My 12' x 13' courtyard was created when the previous owner added two matching wings to the house. It has two sliding doors that enter at different heights, and two small windows.

Imagine this space as a solid cube and consider the area that would be carved out for a person to move comfortably through it. Whatever is left is potential garden, and much of it will NOT be at ground level! A well-thought out design will add the ceiling and soften the walls and add dimension and functionality to every layer in between. Here a work/storage bench, comfy seating, festive outdoor lighting, and bubbling water feature combine under a sturdy arbor with several dozen pots in all sizes, making this a cozy, sheltered spot year-round.

A small space design solution doesn't have to be lavish to be effective. In this courtyard we didn't have the luxury of digging up new beds, and needed to direct the flow diagonally from the gate to the front door. The simple loveseat is placed in the most private, sheltered spot and flanked by pots of perennials. A vine reaching for the arbor and a rustic wall planter bring the design up from ground level.

Same house, from the gate. The planted bed would actually have been sufficient to protect the entrance without hiding it from visitors, but the addition of the two red pots and the antique bell raise the whole arrangement to a new level, giving it style that transcends the modest setting and utilitarian hardscape materials.

This brick courtyard uses these same principles to add privacy without shutting the world away. An open lattice-work fence on top of the existing brick wall, planted with exuberant Cecil Brunner roses frames the semi-circular planting bed. In this garden a limited color palette keyed to the hardscape gives an elegant, restful feel that's enhanced by the sound of the small fountain.

This narrow garden designed by John Black maximizes plantable space by floating the stone steps, then ups the design ante with elegant black pebbles as mulch; it's both garden and path, and as the bamboo and other plants grow the edges will be blurred even more. The horizontal boards that cover the existing fence and the slight meander of the steps also help make the garden feel wider.

Small spaces already feel more intimate, and can be made more so with personal touches like a favorite sculpture (or, um, two!) and choice specimen trees that might be lost in a larger setting.

And of course, one should never be afraid to resort to all-out trickery if necessary. Wondering what's through that gated opening in the bamboo grove? Nothing but a mirrored aluminum closet door, built into the fence!

Combining two of our previous Roundtable topics, Containers make great Focal Points in small gardens! Planting a tree in a pot is one way to make sure it doesn't get too big, and adds just that much more color and style!

Speaking of containers, one of my clients had these enormous terra cotta pots that didn't work in her new contemporary landscape. But arranged in her sunny side yard they make a stylish AND functional edibles garden in a very small space.

Even a 6' x 6' bed tucked in a corner becomes a lovely (and lively) spot with the addition of a bubbling birdbath fountain and a faux creekbed surrounded by small shade garden gems like ferns, hellebores and variegated liriope.

This central atrium was full of plants, none very tall. I introduced a delicate Japanese Maple and a graceful Azara microphylla for height, and added the Asian-style mobile between them. A colorful pot will anchor the corner, but already you can see how much more of the space is being activated.

When working with small spaces one tendency is to use tiny furniture to avoid taking up too much room. But when you think about it, these areas are often used by only one or two people at a time. Some comfortable seating invites you right into the center of things, which is much more functional than leaving your active living space empty while you perch on a plastic chair!

Go ahead, tuck a loveseat or club chair in your designs and watch it become a favorite relaxing spot. Working small gives a designer's abilities the close-up test, and there isn't much room for error. But when the pieces all come together, virtually any corner can be a charming garden that has everything it needs to thrive.

Thanks for joining me today, but don't stop here! The other Knights and Ladies of the Roundtable are also writing on this topic, and who knows WHAT they've come up with. Let's find out, shall we?

Carolyn Gail Choi : Sweet Home and Garden Chicago : Chicago IL
Jenny Petersen: J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX
Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK
Shirley Bovshow : Eden Makers : Los Angeles, CA
Susan Morrison : Blue Planet Garden Blog : East Bay, CA
Susan Schlenger : Landscape Design Advice : Hampton, NJ
Tara Dillard : TaraDillard.com : Atlanta, GA

Garden Designers Roundtable: The Garden Contained

Welcome to Container Day at the Garden Designers Roundtable. What a huge topic! I could approach this in so many ways, like taking you to my favorite pottery resource, Pottery Planet; but I've done that already.

I could show you lots of pretty pictures of containers I've designed professionally, and tell you things like how long it took to find just the right bonsai-clay bowls for this terrace.

Or how I prefer container plantings to have one main plant (like this Chamaecyparis) with soft underplantings that change periodically. But I think instead I'd rather show you how I use containers myself.

I have a close, personal, long-term relationship with container planting. When I was about 8, a little boy at school gave me a white petunia in a small pot. I don't remember his name, but I can still see that little plant and feel the unexpected delight that this perfect, living thing was mine to hold. During my teen years my obsession turned to houseplants; I had dozens of them, displayed in a stunning array of macramé plant hangers.

My outdoor gardening began during my stay-at-home mom years; I started with annuals and planted them everywhere. I did this corner just before my daughter was born. She turns 20 today.

Planting something in a container gives a gardener more responsibility for and ownership of a plant. Like capturing a bright butterfly or a tadpole and putting it in a jar, a plant in a pot is like a pet or an infant; it relies upon you for everything. So who are my current infants, and how do I use containers now? Read on.

I use containers for growing plants that need different conditions than my garden beds can easily provide, like the acid soil that blueberries prefer (they won't find that next to a new foundation, but a red glazed pot filled with azalea mix does the job).

My tomatoes get deep, rich soil and dedicated irrigation in the raised kitchen garden beds. Even when the vines spill over the top of their cages, the fruit is held safely off the ground. A small garden contained in this way is neat, easy to clean, and protected (somewhat) from pests.

Raised beds give herbs the warm soil and good drainage they require to come back year after year, like this combination of marjoram and sage. The bed also provides an architectural element to my overall landscape, as it loops around to provide an informal divider between the patio and the kitchen garden.

I use containers to nurture new plants in a more controlled environment, like this cutting of Corylus 'Rote Zeller' given to me by garden writer Alice Joyce, from her garden. Eventually it will be large, but for now it's having a 'nursery year' in the courtyard (next to gnarly Uncle Harry!)

Or this fragile-looking Fuchsia magellanica I got from Annie's Annuals; it will also become a sturdy shrub in time, but for now, I'm keeping a close eye on it.

Containers allow me to keep plants with me that otherwise might be lost when a beloved garden is left behind. I bought this Fatsia japonica the day I officially started my new career as a garden designer 9 years ago. It has weathered some storms, but planted in this large turquoise pot with regular water it is as graceful as can be.

Plants that might get out of hand planted in the garden grow with more restraint when contained. I have an 8 year old deciduous trumpet vine (Campsis radicans 'Mme Galen') that really minds its manners in a pot. In the ground? It might have eaten the house by now.

Some plants will live for years in a pot, and I treat them like bonsai, shaping them over time. I love a plant that has grown old in captivity; natural, yet refined. I think training plants is one of the most skilled things gardeners do.

Speaking of taking things with you, containers aren't just for plants you know; this bubbling blue water pot is another long-time friend that I've had running practically 24x7 for at least 8 years. The soft splashing sound is as much a part of the experience of my garden as anything else, and the nice little microclimate it creates is much appreciated by the locals, like this Nandina 'Firepower.'

When my neighbor-the-gardener became ill and had to leave her house and her garden, she gave me her stacks of small clay pots. What a treasure. Having these and lots of generous plants means that I will never be without a way to give from my garden. Which makes me realize that one of the best ways I use containers is to give plants to other people.

But mainly I use containers so I can put plants wherever I want! I tend to be a 'one plant, one pot, arrange the pots' type of gal. I also like stand-alone gems that coordinate nicely with their pots, like this succulent in a graceful little two-toned number.

Succulents are particularly wonderful in pots because of their low water needs; they aren't confined to areas where the drip irrigation can reach them, and can be arranged freely, like offerings on an altar. And yes, if you have this many nice containers and an irresponsible streak when it comes to regular watering, an automatic drip system is a wonderful thing. Everyone gets watered every 3 days for 8 minutes. If they want a little more, they let me know.

Thanks to containers, we can have plants wherever we are, tucked into any modest or fancy piece we like and changed or rearranged at will. (Don't you love the mini chiminea? I use it to burn sprigs of dried sage; it works great!) Needless to say a balcony gardener would be lost without containers of all kinds. The biggest mistake I see is too many small containers. It's nice to have a few big pots in the mix, don't limit your design to what you can lift by yourself!

So I ask you, what is more satisfying than taking a handful of succulent cuttings and making them into a work of art? I think, in the end, that is what I appreciate most about containers. Like a frame around a painting they allow us to combine craftsmanship and plantsmanship into something that is more than the sum of its parts.

Thanks for visiting, and don't stop here, for I have only scratched the surface of this topic! Please visit the other knights and ladies of the Roundtable who are writing about containers today:

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Jenny Petersen: J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX

Jocelyn Chilvers : The Art Garden : Denver, CO

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In the Garden : Los Altos, CA

Rochelle Greayer : Studio “G” : Boston, MA

Lesley Hegarty & Robert Webber : Hegarty Webber Partnership : Bristol, UK

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Shirley Bovshow : Eden Makers : Los Angeles, CA