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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

A Pot Story and A Question


For many years I've admired this not for sale pot at Dragonfly Farms Nursery. For some reason, I never photographed it so I stole this image from their website. Anyway, in all my looking, I never found another like it. Heidi said that the company went out of business.
Water Bowl with glass balls

Recently on a visit to Bainbridge Gardens during their "Sizzling Hot Summer Sale" (40%, 50%,70% off select items) something caught my eye in a sale area.  Could it be?  There it was, 40% off but that cream color isn't my favorite.  Asking if there were any other colors, the nice lady at Bainbridge Gardens said no and that they couldn't get more. This was it.  Should I buy it or leave it?  What would you do?


Maybe a color treatment of some sort?  Perhaps the copper paint verdigris treatment for the cream part with a copper or black spray painted rim? It could either be gorgeous or horrible.  If it worked out, it would approximate the colors of Heidi's pot.  Nah, I left it behind.

But then, I thought about it for a couple of days and called to see if it was still there.  Wouldn't want to waste an hour drive each way to find that it had been sold.  It was bigger than I remembered and took two of us to move and load it into the plant mobile. 

Now the question is where will I put it?  

The color is growing on me as it would show up well in a shady spot.  Would you try to change the color or leave it as is?




41 comments:

  1. Love it and the light color works well in your garden. I was already to say "paint it" until I saw it in the context of your garden. I use mostly off-white pots in my front shade garden and good looking ones are not easy to find.

    Give it a while and see how it works.

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    1. "already" oh my, I know better than that! Why don't we see these things before we hit publish?

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    2. You're right, I'll wait and see how it works.

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  2. If your garden to-do list is empty by some miracle, then give the color change a try. If you're a normal person though and have other things to do in the garden, plant this up and enjoy it as-is! If you end up hating it you can always change the color next year.

    I have doubts about pot colors sometimes, but neutral colors almost always work.

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    1. You're right, too many other projects to do in the next week or so before I go back to the jobs! Maybe next year.

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  3. It's a lovely pot! At least you have the same one albeit different colour, which is nice and lights up its spot.

    Perhaps leave as it is as too risky to change its colour?

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  4. I think that if you put that in shady spot, by next year a mossy patina may have enhanced its shiny newness. All those lovely ridges are perfect for catching some spores and retaining moisture. I actually think it's beautiful as it is, but I can see it looking very elegant in an "aged" state as well. Nice purchase, Peter!

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    1. Thanks Anna. I love your thoughts about mossy possibilities.

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  5. What Anna said. Good for you for going back and getting it! I think it will work well in the shade, and will get a nice patina.

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  6. The pot is beautiful. I too am drawn to blue hues, but this one is very pretty and unique.
    Find a plant that will enhance and complement the pot. That'll will be better then painting it.

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    1. I like your idea about looking for a complimentary plant.

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  7. Gorgeous.

    Paint tens to chipe and peel over time. Original fired finishes tend to age well.

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    1. chip -- I may need that 'e' somewhere else.

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    2. You're right about paint chipping and peeling.

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  8. Jean summed up my response perfectly. All I would add is that maybe Heidi always wished her pot was a creamy color and a trade is in order?

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    1. Hmm. She didn't seem to psyched about a beige pot when we chatted but a great idea!

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  9. I hate to admit in public that I'm a fan of beige, but it's true! Love it as is.

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  10. I love this color and would leave it as is. It's a great pot, and I would have snapped it up too.

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  11. A lovely pot. No, don' t paint it, it is gorgeous as it is.

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    1. I'm glad you like it too and will follow your advice.

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  12. My thought when I saw your first photo of the Bainbridge pot was "what's wrong with the pot as it is?" I like it.

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    1. Glad you like it and I'm too lazy to change the color so it works.

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  13. Must go against the grain here...but then that's my least favorite color combination. I never would have thought of painting containers until I visited JJ's garden. She uses color liberally and changes many of her pots from year to year with spectacular results. Chips? Who cares? You'll have paint left over to disappear them in a flash. Any guy who can create glass art can handle pot painting with ease.

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    1. There's a technique I use on concrete sometimes. Haven't done if for years but the stuff used to be available at craft stores. Part one: paint the pot with a paint containing metal particles. Part two: spray the dried surface with a patina that causes the metal particles to oxidize into a very nice verdigris blue/green shade that is gorgeous. I'd do that to the body and matte spray paint the rim black. If it didn't work, paint remover would do the trick.

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  14. I love the blue, but the cream looks good in your garden. It plays off the bamboo culms and the old leaves (which I like, though I may be a bit odd in that).

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  15. It's a cool find Peter and no matter what you decide to do it will be grand!

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  16. How wonderful that you found the exact same pot, but in a different color. I like both colors, but as you say the cream color looks great in your garden. Nice find!

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  17. Ask Heidi if she'd like to trade the pots.

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    1. As a bonus, offer to do some weeding for her...

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    2. Good plan but Heidi's pretty fond of her blue pot.

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  18. I really like the brown colors. Great find!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.