Is it a wall? Is it a planter? Is it a garden? Are you old enough that kneeling in the garden is too much work? Are you so young that you want your privacy, but want it green? Are you frustrated because you want a garden but you don’t have the space? Look at these fantastic planters, made to be stacked into a living wall.  They are unlike any other living wall system being offered today, and they actually have room for years of sustainable growing.  They are called Ortovaso – made by our fantastic terracotta manufacturer, Terrecotte San Rocco.  Container gardening is accessible for almost any gardener and here’s why: Containers can be used when space is limited.  They are suitable for almost any vegetable, herb or annual flower even if they demand large amounts of root-space.  They can be placed to take advantage of sunny spots that aren’t suitable for raised beds or in-ground gardens.  They need little or no weeding.  They are portable, potable and pot-able and they will last forever.

Eye of the Day’s first pop-up location at the Stanford Shopping Center will take place June 14th through July 14^th and  one of our most important events on our Calendar of Events is a presentation on Saturday, July 13th by Star Apple Edible and Fine Gardening of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Stefani Bittner and Leslie Bennett, co-founders of Star Apple will discuss how to grow organic fruits and vegetables, as well as make your garden a place of year-round beauty that is appealing, enjoyable, and most of all, functional.

Star Apple creates aesthetically designed, organic, edible gardens by providing landscape design, installation, and full-service maintenance and harvesting services – essentially whatever it takes to get you growing food.

They work to grow good, clean, organic food for their clients by building and protecting soil on site, planting and pruning for greater yields, and working with the natural ecosystems of the property to produce a dynamic, productive and beautiful garden.  We hope that our Ortovaso might be included in their future designs.

Visit us at the Stanford Shopping Center and see what we are doing in containers: Italian terra cotta Ortovaso and more traditional Italian terra cotta, Greek terracotta, French planters and more.  At the same time listen to Bay Area professionals talk about their passion and check out their new book, The Beautiful Edible Garden.

Topiaries are somewhat unusual in the United States:  they seem more formal and maybe even stuffy.  Americans like instant gratification and so may be less interested in garden projects that might take years to complete, which is certainly an issue when training and pruning a plant into submission.  The French love topiaries, “pruning” means “gardening” to them.  They love gardens that show the involvement of the gardener and the only way a plant is going to take on the shape of a perfect pyramid is if there is a gardener giving it a lot of attention.  A well maintained topiary serves as a visual focal point  and is a way to introduce form, structure art and even humor into a garden.  Formally trimmed boxwood hedges are probably the most familiar type of topiary.  Their simple, smooth lines provide a neutral backdrop for colors and textures in the garden itself.

Eye of the Day now has in stock a number of topiaries in various shapes and sizes.  We have planted some in large Italian terra cotta pots and, of course, we have large French Anduze vases and time-honored wooden Versailles planters that would be perfect homes for these whimsical trees.  As they are already tortured into shape, you have only to keep them trimmed to be the star of your neighborhood.

If you live in the Santa Barbara area or if you are planning a visit, Lotusland is home to a fantastic topiary garden.  It features twenty-six circus animals including a camel, gorilla, giraffe and seals as well as chess pieces and geometric shapes.  Check out

I was a lucky kid – my dad was a newsman with a press pass to Disneyland.  Throughout my childhood and until our daughter, Daisy was in high school, I could count on a yearly visit.  I’m now 59 and I still picture the bright gardens and the fanciful topiaries greeting every visitor to Disneyland.  The topiaries were introduced to Disneyland in 1962 when Walt Disney decided to re-create his cartoon characters throughout the park in the form of landscape shrubbery.  This led to imaginative displays throughout all the Disney resorts and parks.

Literally, topiary is the practice of training plants by clipping the foliage into defined geometric or often animal shapes.  It is a form of living sculpture.  Traditional topiary care relies on a steady hand, like that of Edward Scissorhands, who obviously had a natural gift for topiary art.

Enter the parking lot at Eye of the Day.  Look to your right and you will see some of our fantastic evergreen topiaries perfectly paired with Italian terra cotta pots.  Let your eyes travel to the left toward our Annex and you will see more dreamlike shapes amid the American concrete planters and pots.  Have you visited Paris or Versailles?  You could have France at home by planting a topiary in a French Anduze pot or a wooden Versailles planter.  Your fountain is screaming for topiary sentinels as company.   All of us at Eye of the Day are excited to introduce our beautiful, new topiaries to inspire our customers to add to or begin their own topiary traditions.  Be Edward Scissorhands.  Or Walt Disney.

Yasas! (Hello!)

Eye of the Day’s only “hand thrown” pottery is our Greek terra cotta, still being produced on a wheel without electricity,  powered only by hand and foot, using the same clay body and production methods used in Greece for millennia.  Eye of the Day recently received a forty foot container of Greek pottery in many sizes and shapes and its popularity has it FLYING out the door.

This beautiful buff colored traditional Greek pottery is very different in from the deep orange/red of Italian terra cotta pots.  Many designers prefer this terracotta in their projects to compliment various styles within a garden or inside a home or business.  Our whitewashed Greek terra cotta pots were recently shipped to the new Tommy Bahama store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

At Eye of the Day we often enhance and faux-finish the Greek pottery to suggest an antique look (of course, if you prefer authentic antique or old Greek oil jars, we have those, too).  One of our favorite designers, landscape architect Puck Erickson of Arcadia Studio in Santa Barbara is responsible for one of our most popular faux finishes the “dirty it up” look.  Several years ago she was getting ready to purchase Greek pots for a large garden design in Scottsdale, Arizona and said to us “I love the look, but it’s too new looking.  Can’t you dirty it up?”  So we did.  On Saturday, May 11 we will conduct a free demonstration showing you how to age and beautify your Greek terra cotta.  This opportunity is limited to the first twenty five people to email us and register for the demonstration.  Be like Puck and make it happen, get the look you want.

Efxaristo (Thank you), from all of us at Eye of the Day.

Milan is the home to the annual Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which is also known as Milan Design Week. What once used to be a fairground full of furniture design has become a city filled with design events.

Salone was founded in 1961 thanks to the insight of a small group of furniture makers.  It was conceived to promoting Italian furniture exports and soon became the most keenly awaited event in the world of furniture and design.

I Salone is open to trade visitors only.  The event showcases products manufactured by more than 2,500 of the most creative firms operating on the international market, and attract over 290,000 trade visitors from more than 160 countries around the world.

Brent is there taking photos, getting ideas and working with our friends from Terrecotte San Rocco and designer Angelo Grassi to keep Eye of the Day at the cutting edge.

Design Week Fuori Salone via Savona, 37 – Milano

Brent has been invited to participate in the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile  or “Milan Design Week” in Milan from April 9 to April 14 with our partners Terrecotte San Rocco and Angelo Grassi .  This annual event is the global benchmark for the world of home furnishings.

The Salone made its first appearance in 1961, designed to promote Italian furniture and accessories, and it has continued to do so ensuring that the quality of Italian merchandise is known around the world.

In 1965 the leading furnishing companies were brought together in a single commercial exhibition space for the very first time. It was also the year in which exhibitors began to devote serious thought to their booths, which has always made the Salone stand out against other trade fairs.  Since then, Milan Design Week has become an important destination for buyers from around the world and the entire city of Milan participates.

This is the second time Brent has taken part in this event and will be assisting in the Terrecotte San Rocco booth, answering questions and forming new relationships.  At the Salone in 2011, Brent was introduced to the buyers at ABC Carpet and Home from New York, and we are now working with them to carry merchandise from Rocco USA.

Angelo Grassi is the designer of the Ortovaso, an eco-sustainable vertical wall (vase) that can be indoors or out for many types of plants.

Watch for photos, tweets and Facebook postings from Brent.  Wish we could all be in Milan with him!