When you visit Eye of the Day Garden Design Center in Carpinteria, you’ll see a lot of things: authentic European and American terra cotta, statuary, fountains, a gift shop full of wonderful books and more. You’ll also see succulent planters designed by Mimi Richardson, whose eye for color, texture and scale has resulted in our collection of one-of-a-kind pieces that are ready to take home.

I sat down and talked with Mimi to find out more about her creative inspiration.

Q: How did your background growing up around horticulture influence the way you think about and design with plants today?

A: I grew up living on Seaside Banana Farm with my parents and three sisters. Playing in the dirt was more than just a saying for me. My dad raised fifty varieties of organic bananas plus other subtropical plants and fruits like passion fruit, mango and papaya, plus there was always a multitude of plants around that were being studied and tested. My inspiration for design came later, when I worked at Pan’s Garden in Summerland, CA, and then Island View Nursery in Carpinteria.

Q: Regarding the containers you plant up for Eye of the Day, what makes you lean toward succulents?

A:  While I try to be just as artistic with other plant materials, it is succulents I most prefer to work with.  As to containers, succulents give immediate instant gratification and they maintain themselves from the get go and anyone can take care of them. There are forms, textures and colors to satisfy everyone and their proclivities.

Q:. Can you comment on how color, texture and size of plants figure into the way you design the containers?

A: I don’t have a design layout for containers or specific forms. Like Jackson Pollack, I let the plants speak to me and for me and go with their flow and as they populate the container. As I work, I make adjustments, sometime even tearing them out and replacing them until I’m satisfied with the feel and look. Obviously, colors and textures play into it, but not until they are in my hands.

Q: Can you comment on the containers themselves: what you like about them, which one do you prefer, and why?

A: The contemporary form excites me as much as the elegant and high-colored French Anduze. We planted up a number of old French Cavalry stone troughs awhile back and although it was a challenge and they turned out beyond my wildest imagination. Each container allows me to escape into a new adventure.

Q: In terms of customers caring for these planters once they buy them, what do you suggest?

A: We plant them in correct soil and from there they just need to be groomed for old or dead foliage and watered sparingly (and don’t forget an occasional loving chat).

Let us continue with our Anduze-love. These unique pots made in the south of France are seen lining the grand boulevards of Nice and Montpelier and the Chateau de Versailles is outfitted with forty custom crafted Anduze vases. Eye of the Day in Carpinteria, California is a more convenient location to admire the lovely French pottery in all of its available colors.

In our new shipment of Anduze pottery we have both old and new colors.  Two of our favorites are Flamme (old) and Vieil Antic (new).  After the vases have been molded and dried, copper oxide and manganese glazes are applied, resulting in the rich green, chestnut and gold streaks we know as Flamme.  The inimitable color combination symbolizes the sun,  the lush foliage and the earth.

One of the newest colors is Vieil Antic, a unique, authentic patina.  When wet, the background pink of the natural terra cotta will show through and as the pot dries, it will whiten.  The planters will literally come alive in the garden depending on the weather conditions.

We can describe ALL of the Anduze pottery colors, but seeing them  is worth a thousand words.  We hope you will be able to visit Eye of the Day and see what we’re talking about.  All the time.

Here are the colors…..

Eye of the Day has received a twenty foot container of French Anduze pottery from the South of France. There are new shapes and a great variety of colors and sizes available close to home (i.e. there is no reason to travel to Provence to outfit the garden with authentic French garden pottery).  The colors of the Provencal countryside are at our fingertips and ready to transform any garden area: the soft grey of an early winter sky, the blue of the summer evening, the gold, brown and green of the hillsides, and the pale blue of a spring morning are some of the evocative hues.
The French terracotta pottery is unique and compliments any architectural or garden style.  Visit our Santa Barbara showroom to see the range of French Anduze planters now available.