Planter Designs From Teracrea in Italy

These are some of the most creative planter designs I’ve seen on the web. Teracrea is a design firm in Italy. I believe the use of plants in buildings would be far more popular with interior designers and architects here in the U.S. if we had more designers like Teracrea.

Teracrea for greenery

Teracrea was set up in 2002 based on a project of Mauro Canfori and Emanuela Destro creating products designed to introduce greenery into internal architecture and offer new solutions to traditional pots for outdoor plants.

In the light of this, a number of important designers were asked to interpret and explore the concept of " greenery as a means of organising the space around it using different and alternative materials than terracotta.

New products and projects were conceived , based on a high esthetical concept linked to pure design features and to the use of particular materials, with the purpose of proposing creative and innovative ideas.

Note that they are not displaying exotic plants that have a low chance of survival. The plants they use are proven interior foliage plants. Healthy plants in well-designed planters are a winning combination.

I'm intrigued by the Fontaine system in the top photo above. Note the word 'capillarity'. That sounds like sub-irrigation. I will ask about it. Inquiring minds want to know.

Petite/Grande Fontaine is a set of three vases, autonomously fed by a simple and tested system: from a tank on a free-standing pedestal next to the vases, water flows through plastic tubes, lining the black rubber hoses that connect the tank to the vases, down to ceramic spreaders, which moisten the earth inside the vases by capillarity.

View their full product line and I’m certain their design talent will impress you. When you're on their site, just click on the links on the right and you will have a delightful photo tour of their work. Yes, those are specimen Pachira aquatica (Money Trees) on the left above.

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News Alert! - Martha Endorses Melamine

There will be something other than cake mix in a set of these bowls er, planters from the new Martha Stewart Collection very soon. When there are plants in them, I’ll post photos here and on Flickr. Melamine is one of the best planter materials I’ve worked with.

No, you do not need a drain hole, even if your mother (or Martha) said you need one. Many of the plants in the Greenscaper Consumer Lab are thriving in melamine planters without drainage.

You don’t need to take my word for it. Just read from the Inside Plants Live archives (here and here ) and try them yourself. If you still have a question, don’t hesitate to ask. Just email me and I’ll be glad to help.

An elegant necessity to match your modern kitchen, this stunning set of six mixing bowls planters is styled in a gorgeous taupe gradation (and colors too). Not only impressive for their convenience, these bowls are also exceptionally durable. Limited lifetime warranty.

Via: A Martha fan

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Adonis Pot Award Winner

The Adonis pot above was a red dot 2000 product design award winnner. This planter posted previously was also a red dot award winner.

The Adonis outer pot is a very harmoniously and aesthetically designed piece of furniture. Its form even takes account of the wellbeing of the plants it contains. The folds ensure that sufficient air always reaches the plant pot - an important aspect if the plants are to remain healthy. The advantage of the folds is furthermore that excess water can simply be poured out. The Adonis pot is made of extremely thin-walled polypropylene. This material is unbreakable and dishwasher-proof. Adonis is long-lived, easily recyclable and can therefore claim an excellent ecological balance. Opaque and translucent pots can be stacked together and can mutate from a flower pot to a utensil.

Click to enlarge. I had no idea they were design award winners when I bought mine at The Container Store. However, I thought they looked good and the price was right. It's an example of the fact that good design doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

The Creeping Fig (Ficus Pumila) is growing in clear 16 oz deli cups (with holes poked in the bottom) inside the planters. There's no need for any wicking assistance. I just add a measured amount of water inside the Adonis pots and it moves up by capillary action.

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Is There a Good Solution?

In the garage, shed or basement of nearly every gardener, you will find stacks of plastic pots. Then there are mulch bags, pesticide and fertilizer bottles, flat trays from six-packs of annuals. We think of our gardening as greening the world, but it generates an awful lot of plastic garbage.

Beth Botts, who writes a blog for the Chicago Tribune also wrote a thought provoking article about the problem with used plant plastics. It elicited comments from McConkey Company and Ball Horticultural, which she posted on her blog. Obviously, this problem is easier to define than to solve.

It’s a timely subject in light of recent posts about recycled plastic bottle planters. I’ve been making more of them because they make neat sub-irrigation planters. The recycling part of it is a noble idea, but isn’t likely to make a dent in our plastics disposal problem.

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Dumb as a Houseplant

This is a cartoon houseplant available from illustrator Brad Fitzpatrick. Note that he drew it in a terracotta pot a cliché of the houseplant world. How appropriate.

Many outdoor gardeners think these are better for indoor plants because they ‘breathe’. That’s just urban legend stuff triggered by the tricky nature of drench and drain watering. Their objective typically is to avoid over watering and prevent fungus gnat infestations.

Terracotta pots and overly fast draining soil mixes just treat the symptoms instead of the cause which is the top watering method. All they do is create more of a need to be a plant nanny, poking and pouring ever more frequently.

There’s a phrase “dumb as a houseplant” that I see frequently on the web. I wonder what the plants are saying.

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Pottery Blog

Using sub-irrigation without the need for a drain hole opens up all kinds of possibilities for planters. One source are the local potters in your area. You can use bowls and other shapes, not just pottery thrown in the form of a planter. The photo is from a pottery blog in the Framingham, MA area.

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Storm Planter

Here’s a more contemporary look compared to yesterday’s planter. The Storm planter is from Copenhagen. It’s a 2007 red dot design award winner for product design. No drain hole, no problem. Just sub-irrigate.

The flowerpot Storm has been designed with a large curved rim to prevent water from spilling when watering flowers. It consists of two connectable elements, which also can be used separately, either as a jardinière or as a cylindrical flower vase. The flowerpot is made of high-gloss aluminium, creating a suspenseful contrast to the round soft form of the vessel. Available in red or black, it can set interesting accents in different living room environments.

Via: Core77 Design Blog

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Art Pottery Planters

This Dwarf Hawaiian Schefflera would look cool in this planter. If you have the budget for them, there are some beautiful planters displayed on the ArtPotteryBlog and Just Art Pottery websites. These are most impressive sites. You could spend a lot of time (and money) here.

Just to get you started these are bowls and jardinières from a site search.

And no, they most likely do not have drain holes. Fuggedaboutit!

Use sub-irrigation (soil or expanded clay pebbles ) and you do not need a drain hole no matter what the houseplant gardener dogma is. It is a big fat myth!

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French Pottery! Oo-la-la!

Take a look at some beautiful planters from France. They're not here yet in the U.S. but perhaps they will be soon.

If you prefer something other than the terracotta cliché, they've got some jazzy colors to display. Just click on the "Our Products" link on their website.

Via: Kevin Neal at Open Register blog
Product Source: Poterie d’Albi

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