Shine On: Tropical Container in a Hamptons Garden

Posted by hpotterblog on August 14th, 2010in Container Garden, Dianne Benson, Garden Planters, Gardening Products | No Comments

From left to right: Dwarf Colocasia affinis 'Jenningsii', blue-leaved Melianthus 'Honey Flower', Alocasia 'Hilo Beauty', Hibiscus tilaceus 'Tricolor'. All exotics from Landcraft Environments, Mattituck, NY. In the ground: Xanthosoma albomarginata; dried allium - Allium oreophilum 'Agalik Giant' (from Odyssey Bulbs).

By Dianne Benson

What makes a garden shine?

As the climate is changing right before our very eyes, and stymieing our senses with its brutality and extremes, the bloom time is fleeting and lacks its good old stamina.

Here one minute and gone the next: so how to make our garden shine without the dependability of our wildest garden schemes…or even our most well-thought-out ones?

Introducing elements that are not dependent on Mother Nature seems to be the way to go.

Gazing balls are OK but perhaps too much a conceit for me.

That old deception of Garden Mirrors can be effective and one seems always so surprised and pleased to come upon it (especially when it is reflecting back your own unexpected image) ; but it is – after all – a trick, and though it is great at lighting up a dead-end situation — it doesn’t really shine.

The reflection from a pond or a pool and the sparkle of a birdbath are other ways to bring shine to the garden too; but I have just added something totally unexpected — A Shapely and Large Copper Urn.

I’ve plunked it down right in the middle of the Mysterious Tree Bed where the tulips were, the allium remain (though dried and lifeless), the lilies have come and gone, and boy — does it look great.

There’s something about the copper being the just-right metal to pick up the wonderful mélange of color created by the surrounding trees.

It reflects the greeny-whites of the Aralia elata above and the variegated Heptacodium below…the red tinges of Landcraft’s superb Hibiscus tilaceus ‘Tricolor’, as well as the surrounding glow of several Japanese maples: lion’s-headed, palmated (full moon, that is) and variegated.

Other metals that don’t rust or tarnish are either too precious (even Gold Plate would be out of the question) or are, and should be, reserved for garden tools: two of the Ten Garden Greats at DianneBBest.com are the essential stainless steel trowel and the high-gauge stainless monogrammed hand-made shovel.

Copper has such a significant presence in art and architecture because it is so compelling and variable —its beautiful red-brown sheen eventually oxidizing into a like-no-other-color turquoise/blue/green patina — makes it doubly perfect for the changing nature of the garden.

East Hampton, New York

14 August 2010

Watch a new video of this copper urn.

Swiss Chard Stars in Edible Container Gardens

Posted by hpotterblog on June 29th, 2010in Charlotte Germane, Garden Planters, Gardening Products | No Comments

By Charlotte Germane, Editor, H. Potter Knowledge blog

Whether you want to grow healthy food or you’re on a color-in-the-garden kick, the rainbow possibilities of chard will make you happy. One of the glamour vegetables for edible container gardens, Swiss chard has it all—form, color and nutrients.

You can see how handsome it looks massed in the copper Grand Urn. Confession: I got carried away and the plants are a bit too close together, inhibiting your view of the glorious, multi-colored stems of ‘Bright Lights’.

Plant chard alone for simple drama or try these zingy container combinations. Swiss chard will grow about two feet tall.

All-edible container combinations:

• Chards ‘Orange Fantasia’, ‘Yellow Lights’ or ‘Bright Yellow’ have colorful stalks and ribs. Nasturtium ‘Alaska Mix’ has orange, yellow, cream and mahogany flowers with distinctively marbled green-and-white foliage, and grows 8 inches tall.
• Chards ‘Rhubarb’ or ‘Ruby’ have red stalks and ribs, and may bolt in high heat. Nasturtium ‘Empress of India’ is an heirloom with crimson, single flowers set against emerald leaves, a naturally compact habit, and grows 12 inches tall.

*In “Cooking from the Garden”, author Rosalind Creasy and Alice Waters of Chez Panisse agreed that the nasturtiums with the best flavor were ‘Alaska Mix’ and ‘Empress of India’.

Edible and non-edible container combinations:

• Chard ‘Fordhook Giant’ has white stalks and ribs. For an elegant look, plant it with trailing white petunias.
• Chards ‘Bright Lights’ or ‘Magenta Sunset’ are show-stoppers with the petunia cousin Calibrachoa Catwalk ‘Terra Sorta’ (cherry pink petals with orange-golden undertones).

How to plant chard

Place your container in full sun and fill it with rich potting soil. Plant chard starts 12 inches apart and allow 12 inches depth for roots.

Water well with a fine spray after planting and keep the soil consistently moist.

Add two inches of compost as mulch in the container, keeping the mulch away from the base of the starts.

Through the seasons

How to harvest and fertilize chard

Cut the outer leaves off the chard and use them raw or cooked. Chard is another “cut and come again” crop that grows new leaves throughout the season. Unlike other greens the bigger leaves are not necessarily tougher.

Swiss chard likes to have lots to eat and drink. Beef up the soil with nitrogen-rich organic fertilizers such as fish or soybean meal, and renew the compost mulch every two weeks. Water as often as needed to keep the soil moist.

If you have a searingly hot summer you might move the chard container to a partly shaded spot, or use shade cloth during the heat wave days.

With mild winters you may be able to keep on harvesting chard leaves for an entire year. Snow will knock out the chard—but you can plant again in the spring.

Watch a new video of this copper urn.

Read on for a great chard recipe from Patti Bess!

The Most Beautiful Tomato Cage in the World

Posted by hpotterblog on May 28th, 2010in Charlotte Germane, Garden Planters, Gardening Products, Trellis | No Comments

By Charlotte Germane

Are you like me, with a tomato plant growing in a garden container on the deck?

Every summer morning when we eat breakfast outside we check the tomato plant’s progress.

If you’re living up-close-and-personal with a tomato plant you don’t want to look at a shaky, rusty and boring tomato cage.

H. Potter to the rescue! For an edible garden with style, you came to the right place. What a hit the Hoop Skirt Lawn Ornament and Pedestal Planter make.

You see why I call it “the most beautiful tomato cage in the world”?

Form and function too: six feet of solid-iron trellis with an all-weather, powder-coated finish. Perfect for small-space gardens where every item has to earn its keep, or use it on a large patio or deck as a unique accent. The heirloom-quality copper planter gives it that extra design oomph.

Most of us grow indeterminate tomatoes (the kind that ramble around and produce for many weeks)–and we need a tomato cage to support each plant.

Tomatoes grow best, resisting pests and diseases, when they have the extra air and light that comes with a cage or flat trellis.

How to choose which tomatoes to plant

Your local growing conditions are the most important factors in selecting tomato varieties.

The short-season classics that work well in most areas are ‘Early Girl’,  ‘Better Boy’ and the cherry tomato ‘Sweet Million’.

For the real skinny on what’s best in your garden, consult the academics and Master Gardeners in your region. Here are some links to put you in touch with your local experts:

• California: University of California Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners
• New York: Cornell University Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners
• Connecticut: University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners
• Comprehensive list of cooperative extension programs in all 50 states.

Kale: A poster child for edible gardening

Posted by on May 5th, 2010in Charlotte Germane, Garden Planters, Gardening Products | No Comments

by Charlotte Germane

I haven’t stored my favorite winter sweaters yet and I haven’t turned my back on my favorite winter vegetable–kale.

A poster child for edible gardening, kale makes a sculptural statement in a copper planter and gives you so many vitamins it’ll make your head spin.

You can’t beat kale in the cool-weather garden. Its season is winding down now, but remember kale for fall planting. Kale does just fine in winter temperatures as low as 10 to 15 F. The frost deepens its color and sweetens its flavor. What a pal in winter and snowy spring.

Colorful varieties of kale

• Plant the ‘Redbor’ variety of kale and watch it send out long, purple leaves. The color contrast with a copper garden planter is all a landscape designer could ask for. To keep going with the purple theme, tuck in some red-violet or blue-violet pansies for extra pow.
• Feeling blue? For an understated look, try ‘Dwarf Blue’ kale with blue-green, curled leaves.
• Do you have a black front door? Punch it up with a container of curly, black kale. This exciting and yummy variety goes by many names, so choose the name you like best and speak to your plant in Italian (Buon giorno, cavolo nero) or English (Hello there, black Tuscan kale).

How to plant kale

Place your container in full sun and fill it with rich potting soil. Plant kale starts or seedlings 12 to 18 inches apart.

Water well with a fine spray after planting and keep the soil consistently moist. Fall rain and winter snow should do most of that work for you.

Add two inches of compost as mulch in the container, keeping the mulch away from the base of the starts.

Kale through the seasons

How to harvest and fertilize kale

Cut the lower leaves off kale and cook them for supper. Kale will grow new leaves for you. It’s what the nursery pros call a “cut and come again” crop. Keep it happy with nitrogen-rich organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion or soybean meal.

Hot temperatures make kale leaves bitter, so don’t plan to feature it at summer barbecues. When summer arrives, harvest the last of your kale and say goodbye until sweater season rolls around again.

Watch a new video of our copper planters.

Read on to learn how to cook up all that colorful kale.

Easy to Grow Mesclun

Posted by on April 9th, 2010in Charlotte Germane, Garden Planters, Gardening Products | No Comments

By Charlotte Germane, Editor, H. Potter Knowledge blog

Wouldn’t you love to have this collection of greens waiting for you at dinner time?

Grow it in a copper planter near your front door or on your back deck–wherever it can catch admiring glances. Your own little salad garden, but instead of a picket fence surrounding it you have the luxe of a copper edge.

This is no vegetable patch to hide away in a sunny corner of the garden–the assortment of decorative greens is called mesclun.

Mesclun is French (that makes anything taste better, doesn’t it?) for a mixture of lettuces and other salad greens such as chicory and endive. Your garden center will have starts or seedlings as soon as it is safe to plant. If there is a late freeze or frost in your area put the mesclun container under the eaves until the freezing temperatures are past.

How to plant mesclun

Choose a sunny location for the container and fill it with rich potting soil. I use Masters Pride Professional Potting Soil because it has valuable organic additions such as bat guano (something I find hard to gather on my own, not being on speaking terms with any bats).

Place the seedlings five inches apart and press the soil firmly around them. Water well with a fine spray after planting and keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy.

Mesclun through the seasons

How to harvest and fertilize mesclun

Pick leaves for salad when the plants are more than 4 inches tall. Keep an inch or two of leaves on each plant so you get another crop. Snip leaves off with scissors.

Each time you harvest add fish emulsion fertilizer to stimulate more leaf growth. With that extra boost your mesclun can give you two or three crops.

Mesclun grows in the cool season. Enjoy it this spring and when the weather heats up move the planter to a spot with afternoon shade. When the temperatures are just too hot for mesclun I’ll tell you about another pretty edible to replace it.

Watch a new video of our copper planters.

Now that you have a gleaming planter with a growing crop of mesclun, read on for a special mesclun recipe.

Japanese Maple + Copper Planter = Elegance

Posted by on March 30th, 2010in Charlotte Germane, Garden Planters, Gardening Products | No Comments

By Charlotte Germane

Create an elegant focal point in your garden when you pair this dwarf Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Azuma murasaki’) with a copper planter.

‘Azuma murasaki’ changes color with the seasons, always in harmony with copper. The spring foliage is the orange seen in the photo and summer brings deep green leaves with a red tinge. When fall arrives the Japanese maple turns to red before losing its leaves for winter.

The tree develops a cascading habit as it ages, making it a distinctive accent for your garden or deck.

Momiji Nursery of Santa Rosa, California showed this particular specimen at the 2010 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show. Your local garden center can order the tree for you.

Planting Japanese Maples

The tree is suitable for USDA zones 5 to 9 (click here for your zone). Examine the root ball of the tree and cut away any roots that are encircling the plant. Use azalea mix as planting soil in the container to provide slightly acid soil with good drainage. Keep the soil in the container evenly moist.

The maple will thrive in filtered sun, not full sun.

Japanese maples through the seasons

Pruning Japanese Maples in containers

Prune every two years in early spring. Plant expert Rose Marie Nichols McGee of Oregon suggests a pruning program to keep the tree comfortable in its container. The key is to prune the branches to the size desired, and then prune the same percentage from the roots. Replace the old container soil with fresh soil, return the pruned root ball to the container, and enjoy a smaller but healthy tree.

Transplanting ‘Azuma murasaki’

‘Azuma murasaki’ can live its whole life in a container. If you transplant the tree from the container to the ground it will achieve a height of 15 to 18 feet.

Watch a new video of our copper planters.