Starting with our incredible range & styles of pots:
As Mitch explained, Mojay Pots are our newest supplier and they have whole bunch of trendy new pots. Take their Garden Lite pots for example. It’s a range of ultra-lightweight pots that are so easy peasy. They have a clay base so they are very durable. They are good in places like corners, but also anywhere that you want to create a bit of a statement that’s not too overpowering.
They come in three different sizes which makes them work really well together as a cluster of all three. You can just grab the three different heights and create a really nice combo in a corner somewhere. You can plant directly into them or use a brick inside to place a plant that’s already in a less attractive pot, like a plastic one.
In the Garden Lite range, you can see some beautiful egg shaped pots with a lovely rippled pattern on them that is very coastal, very beachy, very modern. They also have some great square pots with a gorgeous matte black finish or a white matte finish. They also come in a grey stone finish as well, again, all very light-weight, not heavy, so easier to move.
Another range they have is their Sea Lite range that’s also very lightweight but has a really nice textured pattern. They’re really good in your traditional homes or anywhere that you really just want a bit of colour to break things up a little bit. They come in different colours like white driftwood, dark grey and sea foam and are named after famous Sydney beaches.
The Sea Foam is a glazed terracotta pot that’s had an acid wash. What happens is that as the paint in the glaze is setting the acid eats at the paint. They are then jack hammered on a machine and then hand polished, which gives them a really unique finish – so unique that no two pots are alike, each one is different. They’re called Sea Foam because how they are treated makes them look like the way the ocean looks after a wave has broken and the foam spreads apart in patches.
The Sea Foam look comes in some really fabulous colours like Copper and a gorgeous Blue and a dark Grey. They have a bit of an “out there” look that people would traditionally use outside but many people like to use them indoors too as feature pots.
We also have more traditional glazed pots that come from Vietnam. They are really quite timeless these treasures and they will fit any home, front, back or wherever you want them to go. They come in lovely moss green colours with two tones mixed together. You can choose them in a variety of shapes and sizes including bowls and they come with lovely rolled rims.
The traditional white colour is really nice and you can do a lot with it. Of course, if your preference is for something a lot darker, they also come in black.
Speaking of colours, if you like really bright colours, we have the Tang collection, also from Vietnam. These are ceramic and come in all sorts of beautiful, bright colours that will really pop if you put them in a corner that’s maybe a bit dull. They come in bright reds and blues and yellows. They also come in oriental prints like black and cream or black and a deep crimson red.
The next thing Mitch showed us was the Urban range which is all made from poly stone. These are some of the biggest pots we have in our range. You can get them up to 1.2 metres in size and these are really the kind of centrepiece type of pot. You can put say an olive tree in them and then have something cascading out the side of it. Despite their size, they are ultra-lightweight which makes moving them around easier than you might think. The finish is what some people would call a resin but there’s polymer stone mixed in with it. They are really good quality too and just very nice.
Mitch also showed us some of their low style water bowls which have a beautiful matte finish. These are part of the Urban range and are very universal. You can put pebbles and say a couple of cacti and succulents in them. What you do with them is limited only by your imagination.
Geo Lite
It was great to see the new Geo Lite collection that we are now stocking. As the name suggests these are all based on geometrical shapes. So these include the traditional squat egg shape but with a twist that gives it a kind of Congo type shape. Then you have a lined egg shape which gives a modern twist to a traditional shape and there’s also a patterned finish available too which is very contemporary. These pots have some really unique finishes like an antique whitewash which is not a bright and intense as the Garden Lite finish.
Mitch then showed us one of his favourite collections, which are the handcrafted dragon planters from Thailand. Each one is hand-chiselled into the clay to create these amazing dragon patterns. No two are alike, they are all different. Really, truly beautiful they are.
Next up, Mitch showed us his stoneware collection, which are the kind of pots that will fit into your contemporary garden or your cottage garden. Basically you can mix up the different stylings depending on which kind of plants you put with them. He really likes the bowls with cottage plants in them and I agree they do look great. They have an old style look with a stone base but they’re still nice and lightweight and the finish is absolutely beautiful.
We are also stocking a range of his troughs. Now these are great if you’ve got a really small balcony or a home with a kind of narrow hallway but you really want to create some height with some nice plants then these are perfect. They come in several different sizes and heights from 1 metre down to 50 cm so you’re sure to find the perfect size for you. Or you might like to choose a crucible from the Urban collection. They have a white finish with a built-in base so you don’t have to plant directly into them. They are perfect at your front door or in the hallway to create a bit of height.
Of course to finish off, we had to show off the terracotta collection because they are still so popular and are a great look. We do have a lot of terracotta pots and some have some very subtle differences in them. For example, some have a little bit of limestone mixed into them that give a little bit of a white surface finish but underneath is that really nice, aged bright orange colour that terracotta is known and loved for.
You can also get a more whitewashed terracotta finish in a range of really traditional shapes and styles like egg shapes and double-rimmed pots. These are all great for your fruity citrus plants and your herbs and anything that you don’t want to get too wet, because these are all porous.
We also stock Mitch’s range of antique terracotta pots from Vietnam, which are made with 3 different clays from the region. The different clays are all moulded together so you get very unique and different colourings and no two are alike. There are about 26 different shapes in this range including a lovely squat cone which is really great for like herbs and veggies. The antique terracotta is really great when you don’t want that traditional bright orange terracotta look but you still want to make a statement in your home.
Mitch also talked about and showed us some of the most popular styles of pots, like the simple egg shape which is very traditional or the cylinder. They come in cement colours and black. They are very popular when you want to break away from the traditional cluster of small, medium and large pots of the same shape.
Today it’s more popular to say mix one big egg-shaped pot with say one medium cylinder. The good thing is that the same colours move across the different sizes and shapes so you can get a variety of pots but all in black or white or grey or whatever. You can also get lovely little squat, egg-shaped glazed pots in moss green and lighter colours or the traditional blue which has probably been around for as long as I have.
Now that’s a huge range of pots of all different sizes and styles that we stock now and there are so many different looks and finishes and it’s all quite amazing the variety available now. But when it comes to working and decorating with pots, people often ask me which should I choose first – the pot or the plant?
Well it’s bit like the chicken and the egg – which comes first. Usually, I will start by asking them to choose a pot and tell me where they are going to put it. Then I can help them work out what size pot would work in the place they are thinking of. So say it’s by the pool or something. Well once I’ve got a pot and a size and a location, I can recommend a plant for them.
But of course, you can do it the other way and decide what plant you want and then find a pot that suits it and the place you’re going to put it.
Now the whole decision process is influenced heavily by another factor. So you might start by telling me well I’ve got a spot for a pot in a corner of the courtyard or the balcony or wherever, and the first thing I will ask is a question about the conditions of that spot. Is it sunny? Is it windy? Is it shady? Is it morning sun or afternoon shade
But that’s not all, I will also ask you, why are you wanting to put something there? Do you want something big and bushy to block off the neighbours? Or do you want something colourful that makes a statement? Or do you have a beautiful modern building and you want something that leaps out at you and makes a modern statement.
So once you’ve put this all together; the spot, the conditions and the reason or purpose for putting a potted plant somewhere, I’ll say “OK go choose a pot you like!”.
Now it is a matter of choosing the right size pot. If I was planting say a 2 metre standard Ficus, I would be looking for a pot that’s say 40 cm around.
Now if you’re buying quite a number of pots you don’t want to end up like one of my customers from a few years ago who bought lots and lots of different pots and different plants and when I ended up delivering them to his place, it was all a mess when you put them all together. What he should have asked me for was some advice in advance and I would have suggested he get one or two really big pots as feature pots and then just a few small pots to surround them. It would have looked so much better.
Now just because you might decide to get a big feature pot doesn’t mean you need to put a big plant in it, because you might feel a little overwhelmed or enclosed by that big plant and it can be hard to get a bit plant that’s exciting. But what you might do with a big pot, is put 3 or even 4 different plants in it, with say some pebbles and something that overhangs the front like a silver dichondra or something and that can look really exciting. Remember too that one big pot takes a lot less watering than a whole bunch of little pots.
Generally I recommend to people don’t end up with lots and lots of pots. Just put the minimum number of pots on your balcony. But go big and put some different plants in them. So for example put one big featured plant in your big pot then you can put some ground cover type plants below it, that will cascade over the sides of the big pot. If your big pot is in the shade you could put a beautiful fern or palm with some baby tears underneath. If your big pot is somewhere sunny, you could put some silver dichondra or succulent ground covers underneath.
Now the next issue with potting plants is the potting mix you use. And I’ve seen potting mix that’s about $3 a bag and I can tell you that having made up potting mix myself I know the profit margin and I can tell you these cheap potting mixes can have sawdust or industrial waste or even black coal in them.
My recommendation for a potting mix that’s not too expensive is Nature’s Soil. Now the people who make this, also make it for the commercial market, so I can tell you that he has to keep commercial growers happy first so he has to do a top quality mix. We use thousands of kilos of this stuff a week ourselves to do our growing so I can thoroughly recommend it. Cheap potting mix is false economy. Things just won’t grow in it. But a good potting mix and some soil wetter and you’re all set.
The one I recommend has really big particles in it and the reason that’s important is that most people think that the No. 1 thing a plants roots is looking for is water. Not true. The main thing a plant’s roots want is oxygen and so when you have a nice, open, porous soil with big particles and space between them, then the roots can find oxygen. This also means the water flows through the soil and doesn’t sit in it. If the potting mix is nice and lose then the water flows through it and out the bottom leaving some moisture behind in the soil. So the roots get what they want which is oxygen and water.
Now with watering you don’t want your pot plants to get to the point where they need some water and they try to draw some water and they can’t get it. This will slow the growth of the plant.
The sure signs that your plant needs water is it will start to drop a few leaves and the other leaves will start to shrivel and wilt. The key to helping your pot plant get enough water is to ensure it’s in a big enough pot. Really small pots empty out of water very quickly. Now a good potting mix also holds water well, so that’s important too. With a good potting mix and a nice big pot, your plant can draw up as much water as it needs.
Now if you do come home after a hot day and your plant is starting to wilt and the soil is dry you will be tempted to give it a good soak. But don’t, because dry soil won’t take up moisture. It’s best to give it a quick little squirt just to help it recover, then go and have a drink yourself and some dinner, then come back and give it a good soak. It will take up and hold that water better.
If you are going away for a while and you’re worried your pot plants won’t survive because the weather will be hot, then give them a good soaking before you go. Move them into the shade out of the hot sun and away from direct sunlight. Then add some water to a saucer or plate under the pot plant and let it soak up some of that water when you’re away.
Another tip on watering is to water them BEFORE an expected heatwave and during the hottest weather, you might need to water twice a day, once in the morning, once at night.
Now a lot of people believe you have to re-pot your plants every year or two. That’s not really true. You might need to top up the potting mix a bit because it can compact or decompose. But the big thing that really happens with pot plants is that all plants to some extent need calcium. Now the potting mix when you planted the plant originally probably had a good level of calcium but all the watering has washed the calcium away. The answer is a good dose of dolomite lime every 6 months or so and that will put back the calcium. Now while fertilisers like Osmocote are really good, they don’t have calcium in them. So when you have foliage heavy plants like your English Box and your standard Ficus you need to give them a good cupped handful of dolomite lime every 6 months then wait a couple of weeks and do your Osmocote. This combined with proper watering and your potted plants should thrive.
So there you have it. A whole range of pots to choose from and some tips on how to make sure the plants you put in the pots look fabulous and thrive.
Remember you can come into the nursery any time and ask me or my staff for advice on anything to do with pot plants. We’ll be happy to help.
And with literally the biggest range of plants on display in Melbourne with some of the best pots, you’re bound to find exactly what you are looking for.
