Ever since the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in February, I've been gathering ideas for ways to display terra cotta pots out in the gravel garden.
Remember this display on the Skyway at the show?
And these from the Fling?
I also recently saw these chimney liners in artist Sondra Shira's garden on an NPA tour.
For a couple of weeks now I've been trying to recreate something along those same lines, using thrift store purchases and succulent plants in my gravel garden.
Here's my attempt.
The pots and most of the plants are new this year. The columns are terra cotta wine coolers, bought for a couple of bucks each at my local thrift store. I originally bought the dark blue plates under the pots at the thrift store with the intention of breaking them and making some kind of mosaic on the columns with the bits, but I have no confidence in my ability to create a mosaic, so I decided to use them as drip catchers instead (although those plants seldom get watered).
 |
| This plant wasn't labeled, but I'm pretty sure it's Manfreda 'Macho Mocha.' |
 |
| Agave 'Baccarat' bought at the flower show |
 |
| The spikes leave a permanent imprint. |
 |
| Dyckia 'Precious Metal' bought during a trip to WeHoP, with another $2 thrift store find. |
 |
| The color-matched pitcher came from the thrift store too. So far I haven't planted anything in it, but you never know. It has no drainage. |
 |
| I found this flowering Aloe glauca at Lowes a few days ago, when I went in to buy a new hose. Only $19.99 for a 1.5-gallon plant. |
And the piece de resistance...
 |
| Agave 'Blue Glow' bought at Flora Grubb during the Fling, and very kindly trucked home in his car by Scott Weber of Rhone Street Gardens. |
Over the next little while it'll probably get some tweaking, and it doesn't have quite the heavy industrial vibe of some of the inspiration. But it works for me, for now.
Oh, you may have noticed another recent purchase that is part of this grouping of pots, my yellow Brugmansia.
 |
| Flowering up a storm |
 |
| Unlike the still small survivor of my overwintering Oops, when I put my three Brugs in an unheated shed instead of the heated garage. |
 |
| Close-up you can see (and smell) how they got the common name of Angel's Trumpet. |
Something Old: Thrift store finds
Something New: New plants
Something Borrowed: The idea
Something Blue: Agave 'Blue Glow' (actually the Aloe glauca too)