Sooner or later, every gardener ends up with a few broken or cracked pottery, ceramic or clay pots. What’s a gardener to do? They’re often way too nice to throw away.
My friend, Melissa Lawrence, shows us how to create beauty out of tragedy. And, if you’ve never broken a container, we’ll show you how to do it in today’s video.
Plants
A short list of plants from which to choose includes: sedums and sempervivums (any kind works well), dianthus (look for miniature and clumping varieties), geraniums (several come in miniature varieties), thyme, and nearly any of the “stepable” ground covers available at numerous local nurseries and garden centers.
Here’s what we chose:
- Sedum Lime Zinger
- Sedum makinai ‘Ogon’
- Sedum Blaze of Fulda (aka Stonecrop)
- Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Goldcrest’ (aka Goldcrest Cypress)
- Lewisia
- Sutera cordata (Blue Bacopa)
- Sagina subulata
Select plants that require the same watering, fertilizing and light exposure conditions. Since these charming cracked-pot plantings are multilayered, they’ll need daily watering and monitoring until the plants are established. Even after established, during summer and fall months, they’ll probably need to be watered once a day.
Most plants can happily remain in the containers for several years. Once they start outgrowing the container, they can be installed out into garden beds.
If you’d like to create a new cracked pot vignette each year, select annual plants. Melissa and I may try growing veggies in a cracked pot container. You may want to explore that too. Lettuces, peas and radishes would look great in a cracked pot.
Supplies
The small critters and decorations to add whimsy can be found at a wide variety of locations throughout West Sound. Many local nurseries are carrying accoutrements now to be used in miniature gardening.
Lots of kids’ toys would work well. Craft stores, big box stores, even grocery stores and thrift stores are a good place to scout out items to include in these charming creations. The wide range of choices is amazing. Themes for cracked pot gardens are unlimited.
If you’re concerned about your own creativity and imagination, never fear, some of the local stores even provide kits with everything needed except the plants, soil and pots.
The only other items needed besides the containers and plants are: safety glasses, a hammer and potting soil. Get a group of friends together and create away. Let your imaginations run wild!
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