When you hear the phrase container gardens, what images come to mind?
When Daniel Owens of Enviromagic in Richmond was asked if he would like to create a container garden for the 2009 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, held in March at the San Mateo County Event Center, the first thing that came to mind was shipping containers.
(Get it? A container garden.) Shipping containers! He said they're made of mostly sustainable materials, will last a very long time, and can be stacked eight high. At $1200 to $1500 each (plus delivery and site preparation), a container could make a good garden retreat. Or with a skylight and some ventilation, I'm dreaming of a writing studio, away from all the distractions of e-mail and books unread and chores.
Or, in Owens's vision, it is at the crossroads of permanence and impermanence, a mobile garden with bonsai trees, a studio, and a garden shed. The whole kit and kaboodle can be packed up and moved at a moment's notice.
Another perspective came from Sean Stout and James Pettigrew of Organic Mechanics in San Francisco. When I saw their names on the seminar schedule, I knew their presentation would be informative, entertaining, and innovative. Their company specializes in sustainable artistic habitats, and they especially like to find and use recycled materials.
If you're a loyal Sunset magazine reader, you know about putting a thriller, a spiller, and a filler in each container. The new hot trend, they said, is one type of plant per container.
What's a container? To Stout and Pettigrew, it's anything that has or can be made to have some cavity to fill with soil and plants. If it's bottomless, they stuff chicken wire into the bottom, then a piece of filter fabric to hold the soil in. Sometimes it comes with natural drainage holes, like shells, or is porous enough, like old baby shoes or a straw hat, to be used as is. Or you can choose bog plants that don't need good drainage.
The Mechanics delight in saving things from the landfill and using them creatively.
They drilled holes in an old metal toolchest, then planted it with orange leucadendron, blue-flowered lithodora, and a chartreuse-leaved plant. The container makes it ideal for a mancave.
Anything big and rusty has possibilities, they said. They've built a water feature using MUNI brake parts. Stout planted tiny trailing plants in an old brass chandelier with six candleholders. A rusty old pipe with a hole in one side could be laid horizontally, filling the ends with moss or chicken wire. Or, Pettigrew said, maybe it s more interesting to use it upright, with a plant sticking out the side and trailing down.
Even Stout and Pettigrew advised restraint, however. They suggested using only one or two of these nontraditional planters in a small garden, or else creating a found objects section of the garden.
If the pots and plants are not attention-getting enough on their own, the Mechanics had some suggestions for creative top dressing. Use old corks, pennies, buttons, bottle caps, or colorful tumbled glass as mulch.
© 2009 Tanya Kucak