What a difference a glaze makes - Small Slab pots

I make an inordinate number of these small slab pots, all about 2 1/2 inches square and 5 or 5 1/2 inches tall.  Although they are great sellers, they are also the pot I can make when I'm too tired or too short on time to start a larger pot.  The larger pots often need a day or so to set up before feet can be attached, the small ones are all-at-once.

Two pots made with mixed stoneware.  The surface is untouched after forming, leaving dark and light areas, and some with elements of haze.  These are slab pots, every side is different, and I'm showing the best.

Two more, showing the haze.  These are all clear glazed, the original stoneware colors can be seen in the feet, or even better in the next picture.

 Two unglazed, with the surfaces scraped when bone dry.  Some hazing left in places, but hard edges were the goal in these.

 And two more

 And the final  I like the bands with the flowing scenic lines above.  This is the best of the 9.

More work on these to come.

Repotting Burseras

It is warmish, springlike, and with steady watering to make up for the lack of winter rain, Burseras and other succulent trees are beginning to leaf out, a perfect time to repot.  The energy is in the plants to cover from any root work, and it is early enough in the year that the roots will settle and start to grow before any top work needs to be done.

Several field collected plants have been growing in mostly pumice in gallon pots for the last several years, recovering, growing some root structure.  Two were ready to join previously potted and worked plants.

The first Bursera, growing in the last couple of years in a gallon pot, and getting the barest of top work to encourage some back budding.  It has a near spherical caudex, and some of the longer branches will be trimmed to back bud during the next few years.

Out of the pot, the mostly pumice mix can be seen.  There is a little coir and some weed roots towards wht bottom.

This pot was made for this Bursera, the light clay, iron oxide with the darker brown will offset the plant nicely, while the rough texture is more reminiscent of the rocky environment these come from.  The deep pot was made to accommodate the long tap root.

 Then the surprise.  When planted the tap root was long, nearly to the bottom of the gallon pot.  After several years in the pot, the bottom of the tap root rotted off, and all the roots came from much higher up.  The bottom of the tap root was hard, so the rot had started and finished.  Time to reconsider the potting choices.

Pot choices.  The original is on the left.  Two alternatives, one with similar pot angles, emphasizing the vertical motion, the middle wider and more likely to emphasize the sprawling low stems.  The pot on the right proved to be too narrow to comfortably hold the root ball.  The middle is just a bit bigger than needed.

My current potting mix consists of pumice and black volcanic rock.  The volcanic rock is larger than the pumice and gives added room for air to reach the roots.  The pumice has a fair amount of powder which can set up like concrete around roots and prevent air from reaching hair like roots that pull in much of the water. The mixed ingredients are put into a flat with screen in the bottom and washed together.  There are no organics in this mix.  This is similar to the mix that some Bonsai growers are now using.  There is nothing to decompose.

Top view showing the potting mix and Bursera.

The near final potting.  Top dressing will get added when I get ready to show this.  In about three weeks, leafing will be complete, and some of the long top growth will be cut back.  Some of the growth that is beginning to get too high will be wired back down.  I've resigned myself to arguing with show clerks about keeping the point of the pot in the front.

Lachenalia species

It is their time of year.

Lachenalia laterimae

These are all seed grown, and I've learned to withhold judgement on plant quality until at least the third or fourth year.  Many of these will flower in their second year, but the flowers are always weak, a bit pallid and not spaced properly.  Once the bulbs begin to offset a bit and fill a pot, the quality of the display really improves.

Lachenalia elegans

Lachenalia angelica

These are all from fall seed plantings, the seeds from a variety of sources.

Lachenalia splendida

Lachenalia splendida, well named, didn't show its promise until the fourth year.  I kept wondering why the name for such a mediocre plant, until all of a sudden it wasn't.

Recent Slab and Coil Built Pots

As it gets closer to plant show and sale time, I've been steadily working on my slap and coil pots.  These are all about 9 1/2 inches in diameter, and 4 1/2 to 5 inches tall.  They are all roundish, but decidedly not round..

This one is impressed with rope, a technique that goes back as far as there was both rope and clay.

This is stamped into very soft clay giving the windows with added texture and rhythm.

The final one from this set was finished with a textured paddle, another ancient technique.

More details and more pots on the web page.

Japanese Lachenalia Hybrids

Last year's fall bulb buying included several hybrid Lachenalias, most from Komoriya nursery.  Several other interesting bulbs made it here as well, but they won't flower for a couple of months and will be a future post. The Lachenalia's varied, with most having flowers much bigger than the pure species I normally grow, and some with flowers and stalks that were so heavy that they flopped.  It will be interesting to see what they look like in a year when they have a chance to get acclimatized to my somewhat tougher growing conditions. All of these are growing in 3 1/2 inch pots in pure pumice.  They were fertilized a bit in the fall to get them going, and then watered regularly (but infrequently) during our very dry winter.  The leaves of all are beginning to look old.  Most set seed, which I've collected, ready for an October planting.

Lachenalia 'Haru no Nigore'  with fantastic buds, but just OK open flowers.  They were green at the base as they opened, but eventually turned an ordinary yellow not nearly as bright as many of the species.

Lachenalia 'December Purple Lip' was the second to open.  As with L. 'Haru no Nigore', the buds were more interesting than the open flower.  The more it opened, the less purple the lip was.  It's well worth growing jut for the bud.

A fully open Lachenalia 'Haru no Yume', with very nice color, and flowers that are not too large.

Finally Lachenalia 'The Nocturne'  Beautiful small flowers with fantastic color.

None of these showed any sign of offsets, but there is always next year.  Great plants all, and a great addition to an otherwise dull and dry winter.

Rocks and pots and plants

Most of my pots are meant to hold show plants and many end up at succulent or bulb shows in Southern California.  Nearly all of the show plant pots are textured, with the texture and pot color chosen to enhance whatever plants end up in them.  Most plants are displayed with a carefully chosen top dressing of gravel often with a few small rocks for both visual and physical support. I want my pots to complement this display and not fight or unduly attract attention.  This leads to a never ending search for natural materials use in texturing the pots.  A few examples are below.

The texture on this pot was produced with quartzite collected in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains.

A favorite site with an amazing wealth of interesting material is area around Hector Mine. This is impressed with a lava bomb found just off the road.

A pot impressed with a Tekite found at a local rock show.

Encephalocarpus strobiliformis potted for show. It is about an inch and a half, and is native to Northern Central Mexico