apotspot pots, in my garden

While I was off touring gardens as part of the 2019 Garden Bloggers Fling in Colorado, I got a message from Claire Bandfield of apotspot. She had set aside a few of her hand-cast stone pots if I wanted them (of course!), it turns out she's moving and taking advantage of the opportunity to lighten her load a bit. I beat feet on up to her place in Camas, WA just as soon as I returned. Those two petite pots were part of my haul...

If you read Tuesday's blog post (here) you know the handmade pots we saw during the Fling really made an impression on me, as did the many (many!) sempervivum we saw.

So of course I filled these two pots with a mix of sempervivum.

And a little moss, just because...

I've also resolved to buy at least two 4" pots every time I grocery shop for the rest of the summer (yes, our local Fred Meyer "everything store" chain carries Little Prince of Oregon plants, so there are always nice sempervivum to chose from), this week I got three, since I have some catching up to do. Big patches of houseleeks are in my future!

Since the back garden is full of glazed and colorful containers, as well as lots of metal, the front garden seemed like the best place for these, with their rough stone finish. I think they look right at home cozied up to the vintage pebble and cement pot I inherited from a neighbor.

Oh and speaking of, check out this moth cleverly disguised against the side of the large pot.

Closer...

And from the side. I won't lie, those strange protuberances at the bottom kinda made me feel like Dracula was watching me the entire time I snapped these photos.

Moving to the back patio, I guess was wrong to say all the patio containers are colorful or metal. I do have a collection of concrete and resin pots full of sarracenia and Dionaea muscipula.

These two are new additions from Claire, she made them by putting two glass shades (from light fixtures) together and casting in that shape.

Right after picking up the pots I stopped at Portland Nursery to grab a couple Alternanthera  'Purple Prince' and spotted the small nepenthes. Seemed like a match made in heaven...

Of course I realized after planting them that there maybe some substance in the make-up of the pots that disagrees with these sensitive plants. I guess we'll see...

The smaller of the two containers will stand upright but feels a little iffy, so I placed it on its side.

Although hard to see in this image it's tilted up just enough to keep some moisture in the planting hole. I am curious to see if the pitchers reorient themselves with gravity.

There's another new apotspot container here, on the far right side.

It's very special because Claire named it the Lila pot, yes like our sweet departed dog, Lila.

If I remember right this is the prototype, the first pot made from the mold. I love that it's got a mottled finish, just like Lila's grey/white/black coloring.

I chose to plant this dark Oxalis triangularis in my Lila pot because this plant reminds me of our little girl. I never really appreciated it until I saw it planted all over Austin last May, during the 2018 GB Fling. We said goodbye to Lila right before leaving for Austin so the two are forever intertwined in my memories. My friend Ann recently gave me this plant and by putting it in a pot hopefully I'll be able to over-winter it. We shall see...

One more photo of the whole gang...

And one more pot to share! Although this one is really more of a vase shape.

I haven't tested it to see if it's water-tight, but I suspect it is.

Currently I'm picturing a nice bit of moss, maybe with a couple of tiny saxifrage tucked in the top. I'll have fun deciding exactly what's right for this one, especially since the others came together so quickly...

Weather Diary, June 26: Hi 77, Low 56/ Precip .10"

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