Frostproof Terracotta Pottery – A Worthwhile Investment

You have just designed a garden in an area where it snows and freezes, and the temperature goes from freeze to thaw, freeze to thaw for weeks and months on end.  You are putting the finishing touches to the project with garden art you chose, approved by your client and they ask you if the pots are frostproof and if they will last through the winter. Should they be removed, stored away from the elements? Or, your design incorporates many containers on the client’s patio next to their pool and overlooking the golf course in Palm Desert, California.  They want to know if the pots will crack on a hot day if splashed with cold pool or hose water.  Are you comfortable with the quality of the product you have specified?

Just as specifying high quality plant material is important for your designs, so is choosing durable pottery that will last. It’s important to provide a strong, stable container that will support the plants as well as withstand replanting for years to come.

The difficulty and expense of handling large planters in and out of the landscape is another reason to more closely consider your selection. There are other frost proof materials such as metal and stone. However, for our purposes we are discussing and defining terracotta clay pots and containers, specifically made using the quality Italian clay known as Galestro. Galestro’s most famous iteration is known as Impruneta clay because it is used by the historic artisans of the commune of Impruneta long known for their pottery. The clay is found throughout the Tuscan region and its high mineral content gives it its strength and makes it frost resistant.

For over 35,000 years man has taken clay from the earth, shaped it and baked it in fire to produce ceramics for art, function and protection. There are places where fire isn’t even used, instead the sun bakes the clay into a harder form. The quality of the clay and the temperature at which it is fired determines the longevity of the end product. Our Italian terracotta products, made with Galestro clay and fired in a kiln are considered earthenware. If you were to rate the hardness or porosity of earthenware on a scale of one to ten, our frost proof terracotta would be a four and porcelain eight. Our Gladding McBean pottery is stoneware and is also frost proof. Its resistance to freezing is even higher than Italian clay.

I like to tell clients that the Wrigley Building in Chicago, which was completed in 1921 is covered in the same clay tiles that our Gladding McBean pottery is made from today. The original Wrigley tiles have withstood freezing temperatures to minus 50 degrees for almost a hundred years. Talk about frost resistant! If you are interested in learning more about clay and pottery check out Erik Painter’s Quora thread on “What is the difference between stoneware and earthenware clay? How is each used and made?”

The most important thing for our clients, whether they are retail customers or professional designers, is that both our Italian terracotta manufacturers and Gladding McBean continue to create products that are frost proof using clay and processes that are not just frost resistant, but long lasting too. I’m often amazed by terracotta pottery from elsewhere in Italy, Asia or Mexico and how fast it deteriorates—even in Southern California climates. There are individuals who like to see the terracotta flaking or spalling because they see it as aged and patinaed. This is usually around the top edge of the pot but also can happen lower down the side of the pots where water leaches through the clay and begins to break it down.  If there is freeze when this is happening the clay will expand and then contract causing the flaking and breakdown of the pottery to accelerate. If you like this look, then purchase terracotta pots which are not frost proof.  

For clients living in areas which experience freeze and freezing temperatures for extended periods of time, it is necessary to remove containers to a covered, dry area or building or run the risk that their investment won’t last more than a year or two. Even if you remove the plant material and bag the pots, any remaining moisture in the pores of the containers will cause damage in freezing climates.  Fifteen years ago, when I was in France I noticed that the garden centers were selling pottery from China and Malaysia. There were lots of colorful choices and of course the price had the local gardeners snapping them up. A couple of years later I didn’t see as many, so I asked my French friend why not and he told me, “They don’t last more than a year or two, they fall apart.” This non-frost resistant pottery is colorful and priced well below most handmade pottery that is frost proof.  However, if you look at the cost of a quality pot that last decades, even centuries, you will not be just money ahead (or your heirs will) you will have the satisfaction of watching your containers patina and age into beautiful artifacts for your garden.

“But I don’t live in a cold climate, why do I need pottery that is frost proof”, you ask?  Well, because it is the quality that you are buying. If Italian terracotta pottery is frost proof, it is high quality and that quality in climates like Santa Barbara will last even longer but more importantly in the near term it will look and outperform any other clay products you might choose.

Frost proof terracotta will last longer in the heat of the desert?  Yes!  The quality and strength of this product will withstand the desert heat. When pots get super-heated from the sun they absorb water quickly and expand and crack. Our terracotta will not do this; just the way they stand up to frost they stand up to heat because of their high porosity.

Winterize Your Terracotta Pots

While our Italian terracotta is super strong, has a high porosity (meaning tight pores, less permeable) and doesn’t absorb moisture like inferior clay, it still must be cared for in the winter time. The following are some tips for making your investment last:

• Put pots on wooden feet away from the ground so the frozen earth cannot fuse to the pot, expand and crack it.
• Ensure that the pot drains well and will not retain moisture which may find its way into it during the frost season.
• Further guarantee that the pot is covered and sealed from allowing rain or snow into it.
• Remember the warranty is to minus 15 degrees so if you feel there will be extremes beyond this to take precautions which will further protect them from moisture.

Like anything, a good dose of common sense will go a long way so pay attention to planting all containers with plant material that have aggressive root balls i.e. giant birds of paradise, agaves etc.

The case for purchasing quality terracotta pottery is that if it is of the highest quality it should be of clay that is fired at temperatures that ensure that it is frost and heat proof and will last for many years. To prove this point, I would like to offer the following argument:  If you have ever seen many of the ruins in Rome, you might have noticed the remaining terracotta tiles that make up the massive walls. Most of these structures were built a more than a thousand years B.C. and they still exist today. Their quality and longevity prove my point. Thanks for your time.  Brent

Are you looking for something unique or special this holiday season?  The Eye of the Day Holiday Gift Guide for 2017 has you covered. These gifts come from all around the world and are sure to be statement pieces in the home or garden.

1. Terracotta Hand Painted Jar

Our hand painted Italian terracotta pottery with vibrant colors in traditional motifs is the perfect gift for the person on your list with a designer’s eye.

2.  Santa Rosa Mexican Church Candles
Our most popular Gift Shop item for a reason. These creamy candles are made with layers of paraffin and cotton wicks. Perfect for those cozy nights at home.

3.  Karin Shelton Cards
Notecards featuring paintings by Santa Barbara Artist Karin Shelton. Her artwork subject matter ranges from abstract to botanical to landscape.  These would be great for writing your post-holiday thank you cards. 

4. Mini French Anduze Pots
Handmade in France. The classic Anduze vase in miniature makes a charming addition to your home or office decor. Available in a variety of sizes and classic finishes.

5. GMB 300
Our most popular Gift Shop item for a reason. These creamy candles are made with layers of paraffin and cotton wicks. Perfect for those cozy nights at home.

Visit our Eye of the Day showroom for more gift ideas or call 805-566-6500 regarding questions and availability on our gift guide products. Cheers!

Eye of the Day at the 2017 Long Beach Landscape Expo

Eye of the Day attended the 2017 Long Beach Landscape Expo this past October. It was our second year exhibiting with TLE. Each year the Expo grows, and this year hit record numbers with over 60 seminars and 1,400 seminar attendees not counting those who just come to network.

The Landscape Expo has a wide variety of attendees ranging from construction, city planners, nurseries, water pump creators, the latest in landscaping machinery, and more. It is such an amazing community to see all the new inventions, equipment, and modifications to landscape design and construction. Here at Eye of the Day we normally only see our final product placement in a finished garden, so it was nice to see what goes into this process.

For our booth we brought a little bit of everything in our inventory to give a true sampling of what we carry at the store. We brought our Francesco del Re, antique and vintage Spanish Oil Jars, French Anduze, American concrete, French stone troughs, Italian terracotta, and of course lots of candy! It was amazing to connect with city planners, designers, and commercial designers. Recently we have been working with multiple designers for commercial designs including restaurants, hotels, villas, or businesses. Our pottery and garden decor are often the final elegant touch for both residential and commercial projects.

The booths at the Expo varied from custom fountain heads, nurseries, lawn mowers, and more fun equipment.  Our favorite booths in the expo naturally were the nurseries, especially Rancho Soledad Nurseries with their elegant and unique plants. We even bought quite a few succulents and cacti for our pots. Our second favorite to watch has to be the remote control mowers. How cool! This Expo has given us expo fever so keep your eyes out for where we will be going next. But you can always meet us at the Long Beach Landscape Expo and we hope to see you all next year!

The Fountain Conversion – Bringing Your Water Feature to Life

FONT – FONTANA – FUENTE – FONTÄN – آبنما –噴泉 – FOUNTAIN

It is said that elephants are good luck because wherever you find them you find water and food.  Water fountains have become a necessity of life in our gardens: the sound, the reflection, the energy of water in our environment. The Chinese art or practice of feng shui is to create harmonious surroundings and water is an essential element. Natural surroundings balanced between wind, water, light and energy come together to create an environment of peace and serenity.

This time of year, lying in bed on a balmy night, listening to the timpani of a running fountain is a luxury. When you wake and look out the window into the garden, what catches your eye? Is it the fresh bloom on the rose bush or the luxuriousness of a newly cut lawn or the sparkling water of your fountain? The perfect answer would be:  all three.

What is the main element to look for in your fountain?  Is it “visual”?

Think of your favorite fountain when you were a child. Suzi’s was the fountain at Griffith Park on Los Feliz Boulevard. Mine was the fountain at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills. At night, it was alive with colored lights. Built in 1931 and known as the Beverly Hills Electric Fountain.

Another element is “sound”. From the roar of a natural waterfall to the zen-esque rhythm of a Japanese bamboo deer-scare fountain, as it fills, spills and then the hollow knock as it hits its rock.  From quiet to loud, hearing water move and splash, tumble and fall onto itself creates mood, energy and a powerful balm for the soul.

The third element is “form”, possibly the most subjective when choosing your fountain.

All fountains work the same: water circulates, rises and falls from its source and back. The physical form and structure of the fountain resists, shapes and redirects the water’s flow. There are tiered fountains that many describe as a wedding cake. There are wall fountains, structures with spouts directing the water to flow into a vessel or intermediate bowls and finally spilling into a pond or container to recirculate up and down again.

A vessel is defined as a hollow or concave utensil, as a cup, bowl, pitcher, or vase, used for holding liquids. At Eye of the Day we can convert almost any pot, container, urn, or vase in our inventory into a fountain. Fountain conversions have become a signature service and our reputation for making bespoke fountains for the projects of our clients and designers has led us to shipping them throughout the United States.

A fountain conversion can be performed on most any pot, allowing for hundreds if not thousands of choices. If you want a unique fountain for your space and don’t want one that looks like the one your neighbor has, think about choosing your own shape, color, design and then have us convert it into a fountain.

Our Gladding McBean 88-33 is a simple pot; a sleek, high fired and colorful urn perfect for a fountain conversion.  We create a water-tight seal at the bottom and attach a copper riser to carry the water to the top and create a head.

The “head” is the water that bubbles above the waterline at the top of the pot and creates the reflection, motion and sound when its falls back upon itself. As the vessel fills to the brim, it will spill over the pot and fall back to the basin and be recirculated back to the top forever and ever (as long as you keep the basin full).

The basin, which we refer to most often as the “pond” can sit above grade or below. It is very popular to hide the basin below grade and then cover it with rocks or pebbles or tumbled glass, giving the appearance of an eternal spring, its source hidden and mysterious as if it emanates from the earth.

The pump is housed in this pond or basin and its electric cord either comes out underneath the basin/pond or over its side where it can be obscured with stones or other ground cover. Always remember to keep a couple of inches of the basin above grade so that when it rains, dirt and debris can’t wash into it and compromise the pump.

Your container must be prepared to hold water and have water run over all surfaces continuously for a long period of time.  There are many quality products on the market to seal and waterproof your fountain. You can use any larger container to act as your basin, it doesn’t have to be concrete or something special. I once had a client who took a heavy-duty trash can and cut it down to 12 inches and buried it in the ground.

In addition to the vessel to be made into your fountain and the basin for it to sit in, you will need a “pump house”.  This is exactly what it sounds like: a house for your pump. In addition to hiding the pump from view, the pump house has another purpose, to act as a pedestal for your fountain vessel to sit on and it must be strong and stable enough to carry the fountain’s weight.

Converting pottery to fountains is easy and everything to complete the job can be purchased from your local hardware store. The one thing you might want to spend time searching for is that perfect vessel.

Another type of fountain conversion has the water returning inside of the vessel. This eliminates the need for a basin/pond and the pump house, eliminating the cost of these two additional items and the same container will fit into an even smaller space.

There is very little splash if the water is kept at a lower level within the container.  Also, the sound will resonate at different pitches depending on how full you keep the vessel. Just think of a wine glass being tapped with a knife.

Other ideas for Fountain Conversions:

• Rectangular troughs
• Low Bowls
• Turning a wall into a fountain
• Old Stones 

   

Materials Needed:

1. Vessel of your choice
2. Basin/Pond to fit underneath and wide enough diameter to catch as much splash as possible.
3. PVC or copper tubing for riser.
4. Pump house large and sturdy enough to enclose your pump and carry the weight of your vessel filled with water.
5. Water pump strong enough to pump water to top of your pot

Let your imagination be your guide and create a unique fountain for your space from almost any water worthy vessel.  Please come see our incredible selection of pots and containers as well as old European stone troughs, millstones and other garden art here at Eye of the Day.

We will bring your vision to life!

Exaco Trading Co., a division started in 2001, specializes in the distribution of unique and high quality imported lawn and garden products, focusing mainly on high-quality European greenhouses, composters and other “green” products. Our products include the finest greenhouses from Germany and Belgium to high-quality outdoor composters, kitchen compost pails, rain barrels, sandboxes, and planters.

The RIGA is truly a greenhouse by the European definition of a greenhouse – designed to be used to grow fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers in the middle of winter. While other so called “greenhouses” using less than 8 mm twin-wall polycarbonate, are considered to be season extenders, to be used when only a slight night frost might be expected during the spring or fall season. At best they can only be used to house established plants during the winter season.

The RIGA Extra Large – 16 mm polycarbonate – is the largest commercial quality hobby-kit type greenhouse now available in the country Designed, engineered, and manufactured in Germany by Hoklartherm, a leading manufacturer of commercial and hobby greenhouses, sunrooms, pavillions, pool covers, home additions, and commercial building, with 28 years of experience.
The Royal Victorian Antique Orangerie Greenhouse is one of the premier greenhouses in the Helios line of greenhouses from Janssens of Belgium. This company has been making high-end glass greenhouses for over 30 years. Since the introduction of the Victorian model, in 1999, Janssens have become a leading supplier of this style of greenhouse in Europe. Exaco are proud to now be the USA distributor of this very fine greenhouse.

The classic Antique Orangerie Greenhouse not only provides a first-class quality greenhouse environment, it also adds significant old fashion English style and beauty to your backyard.

Exaco Trading, based in Austin, Texas, is the exclusive distributor of the Janssens line in North America and sells these fine greenhouses through the online sites of national retailers. For more information, contact Exaco Trading at 512-407-8500.

Fountain Conversion: A Michalis in the Garden 

We have been fortunate to have Rebecca Sweet write for The Yardstick in the past and knowing that she has a sustained love for Mediterranean gardens and is busy with clients seeking her expertise and experience, we are pleased that she took the time to answer some questions about her garden design featuring Eye of the Day’s Greek pot, the Michalis, as a fountain conversion.  Rebecca is the author of several esteemed books on gardening and her work has been featured in Sunset Magazine, Horticulture and a variety of other national publications.  Her design firm, Harmony in the Garden, is in Los Altos California.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself as a designer and Harmony in the Garden.

I’m a California native, and though I’ve lived in both the southern and central parts of the state, I’ve spent most of my life in the Bay Area. Over the years I’ve seen this area’s sleepy suburbs transform into the bustling, densely populated, high-energy area that it is today. The people who call this place home come from all over the country, as well as the world, and have brought with them their unique perspectives on gardening. Having had my landscape design company, Harmony in the Garden, for over 15 years now, it’s been an incredible gift to be a part of these changes and to help so many people from different walks of life create their versions of paradise.

Q: What was your client’s goal for this garden?

As passionate gardeners themselves, the clients wanted to transform this part of their garden from a water-guzzling, and unsightly half-dead lawn into something that would require much less maintenance and water. This area is situated close to their home and can be viewed from several large windows, so it needed to look good year-round.

Q: What was your initial vision for the landscape and did that change over time?

My vision and theirs complemented one another perfectly, as we are all succulent fans. So, to reduce water consumption, as well as indulge in our love of succulents, we removed the lawn, replacing it with a low-water succulent and cactus garden. To help tie this new space in with their existing, and more traditional style of garden, we also incorporated   several flowering shrubs and perennials that were colorful, yet also drought-tolerant and low-maintenance.

Because the area is fairly large, we knew we needed to break up the space into smaller, more manageable planting areas. Wide decomposed granite pathways were the solution, gently meandering through the space, helping to bring down the scale of the oversized garden.

Q: Any unique issues or challenges for this project during the design or installation?

Initially, the homeowner wanted this garden to thrive without supplemental water but quickly realized that just wasn’t going to happen. This area is in full sun so even the cactus were suffering through the blistering summer heat-waves. Luckily, we had a feeling this might happen and had previously installed a framework of irrigation under the ground ‘just in case.’ We ended up irrigating the garden, on a very reduced schedule.

Q: What would you describe as your garden design aesthetic and how do you work with your client’s own vision for the landscape?

My own aesthetic is one that appears full and lush, yet is quite drought-tolerant. My passion for plants has allowed me to create drought tolerant gardens that don’t ‘look’ drought  tolerant, and is what I’m probably best known for creating.

Since so many of my clients come from around the world, their vision for their garden (and the    plants they’re used to seeing) can be challenging to translate with California’s lack of water. Luckily, living in a mild-winter climate such as ours, we have access to an expansive selection of drought-tolerant plants from which to choose.  I love interpreting their vision into a garden overflowing with plants that will thrive here.

Q: For garden décor, why the Michalis Greek pot for the fountain conversion?

When designing this garden, we knew we wanted a focal point to bisect the center of the pathways. To keep in scale with the large garden and home, we needed a large focal point.  The Michalis Greek pot an ideal choice for a fountain conversion and blends beautifully with their historic Mediterranean home. By converting the pot into to a fountain, we added the gentle sound of trickling water, entertainment from the multitude of birds that adore taking baths there, and the illusion of ‘coolness’ from the water itself. We couldn’t have chosen a more perfect focal point for this garden.

Q: What was your favorite part of this project?

My favorite part of this project was to see the joy on my clients’ faces as they saw their garden’s breathtaking transformation. I continue to visit them and their garden every few months and seeing the succulents grow and fill in, creating an ever-changing tapestry has given my clients so much happiness through the years – all while significantly reducing their water bill!

See Rebecca’s other work on our blog:

Rebecca Sweet On Shades of Gray in the Garden
Stylish and Sustainable Garden Design