New York landscape firm Harrison Green is the name behind some of the city’s most interesting public and private gardens—on rooftops and terraces, and tiny, hidden backyards. Longstanding members of the Gardenista Architect/Designer directory, the team, run by husband-and-wife duo Damien and Jacqueline Harrison, is full service: they specialize in not only designing, but planting and maintaining their work year-round (The Row and Mark Jacobs are clients).
The Harrisons now stand ready to furnish and accessorize outdoor spaces: Galerie Green, their new online-only emporium, presents hard-to-find antique and vintage garden elements, from 1920s carved wooden mushrooms to carefully refinished French sunburst chairs and stone tables. Their offerings, they say, are about “craftsmanship, proportion, and patina” and the case for “longevity and authenticity over the new and disposable.” Caveat: this is a weighty collection in every sense of the word and prices are steep. Join us for a look at the initial offerings presented in Harrison Green’s own Brooklyn studio garden.
I’ve been on the hunt for artful vases all summer—and I think I may have just found the perfect ones. When I spotted the work of artist Danya Ahmed, of Gray Gardens Plant Studio, I was immediately captivated and needed to learn more. Originally from the US, Danya relocated to her ancestral homeland of Lebanon, where she now handcrafts stunning sculptural vases, planters, and bowls that embrace raw and brutalist elements.
Above: You can choose between horizontal, vertical, or natural texture, as well as one of seven colors (pictured is Brick). All Vases hold water for fresh flowers; $190.
While you might think these pieces are ceramic, they are, in fact, made from glass fiber reinforced concrete. This material allows for the added height and width, plus the weight of the material helps anchor taller and more unwieldy arrangements (think: branches).
Above: Danya’s background is in fine arts, with a BA in drawing and sculpture and an MFA in fibers and textiles. “While I wasn’t trained specifically in pottery, I guess you can say I had a strong training in motor-muscle creation, crafting things by hand.” These Bucket Planters start at $98.
Danya approaches concrete much like one would with clay, forming and sculpting it by hand. “Combining the strength of the material, with the sensitivity of the hand, each piece is imbued with its own energy. The vases are a great example of this strength and sensitivity. They have the hand-formed, tactile marks of the maker and their softness is balanced by their weighted down, brute strength,” she says.
Above: Terra Planters are available in a host of sizes; from $398.
When Danya finally started Gray Gardens, she focused on potted plants. “I was making the planters and also planting in them, the pot and the plant were one entity. Creating the planters, playing with the material, texture, shape, proportion and color, as they all combined in relation to the plant was quite exciting for me. It was fun to create for, and respond to, a living thing—something already in existence and natural. Essentially combining my two favorite things, nature and plants, with hand-crafted sculpture; playing with the form of the tree in relation to the planter and vice versa.”
Above: Danya working on a custom oversized piece.
The color palette used in all the work is ten years in the making. After much experimenting and trying out new colors and putting them in context with plants, she still continues to explore. “I introduce new colors seasonally,” she says. “And these stay in production for shorter periods of time, as something fun to play with.”
Above: Danya’s planters can be used indoors or outdoors and each comes with drainage holes. Photograph by Tanya Traboulsi.
We know summer’s almost over, but we’re clinging to it for dear life in its final weeks. One way to extend the easy-breezy, school’s-out vibes? With a front door that calls to mind cool ocean waves and sandy feet. We spotted it over on Remodelista and couldn’t resist tracking down the elements that make it […]
While Guy describes his work as “historical fiction” loosely inspired by the pottery from the past, with no two pots identical, Ben says he wanted to make simple, classic forms, and strives for almost machine-like consistency in his handmade pots; his signature clay hues are a minimalist gray and pure white.
Above: Ben Wolff’s grey clay pots on display.
Through an open door at the back of the original 18th-century building, customers will glimpse the studio, where the Wolffs’ pots are thrown and fired. While Ben maintains his own studio in nearby Goshen, he comes to the Bantam shop and studio most days to throw pots there. “Otherwise, we’d never see each other,” he jokes. (The senior Wolff’s home sits just up the hill from the studio, so his commute is minimal.)
Above: Father and son, Ben Wolff (left) and Guy Wolff (right), stand outside their shop.
If you want to buy a pot thrown by Guy Wolff, you’ll have to purchase one in the shop on your visit, but as younger generations are wont to do, Ben has expanded his horizons, selling wholesale to over thirty shops, including Milton Market in Litchfield, CT, up the road and John Derian in New York City, and he also offers ready-to-ship pots directly to consumers (a pastime that bewilders his father). Ben and his wife, who is also a potter, have also experimented with casting in concrete, and customers will find whimsical concrete garden ornaments and minimalist votives for sale. Tucked on a shelf behind the register, you’ll even find small clay bowls thrown by one of Guy Wolff’s grandchildren, a third-generation potter in the making.
Wolff Pottery, 1249 Bantam Rd Bantam, CT is open 12:00-5:00 Tuesday to Sunday.
I garden in pots on my front porch, and by the time summer arrives, I just want my containers to look good…and I don’t want to spend a lot of time on them. So I always create at least one lushly planted pot filled with low-care plants, since that’s all you need to keep a small space looking gorgeous for the season.
Photography by Julie Chai for Gardenista.
Above: I like to garden in larger pots–at least 14 inches or more in diameter–and I usually use a container I already own. I replant my containers as the seasons change.
Above: When I’m shopping at the nursery, I like to know my container’s size. But I’m not about to lug heavy pottery with me, so I came up with an easy way to measure: take a large piece of scrap paper (newspaper or a paper bag work well), place it over the pot, and cut out a circle that’s about the same size as the container’s opening.
Then, I take my paper disc with me to the nursery so I can arrange plants on it while I shop. This helps me estimate how many plants will actually fit in my pot without overcrowding, and also gives me a chance to play around with the plant arrangement.
Above: For summer, a simple color combination of cool blue, white, and silver balances the heat. This month’s container is a mix of four hardy summer workhorses:
‘Blue Bird’ Nemesia. It’s is an upright plant that grows to a height of 12 inches and blooms until frost.
‘Gulliver White’ Bacopa has pure white flowers on trailing stems–perfect for the front of a container.
Lamb’s ears have large, fuzzy gray-green leaves. It’s technically a ground cover–so it will eventually spread and you’ll need to reduce the clump or replant in another pot. It also forms lavender flower spikes (bees love them, but you can cut them down if you don’t like the way they look).
‘Glacier Blue’ Euphorbia. It can reach 18 inches tall, and has thin, silvery leaves edged in white along with blooms in late winter or spring.
Above: I generally aim for five or fewer types of plants in a pot because I like to let each plant stand out. When creating combos, it’s important to mix growers that have the same water and light needs so that everything will thrive–this grouping likes full to part sun, and regular water.
Above: I always use a container with a drainage hole, and before planting I gently loosen any matted roots. It’s best to fill your pots with fresh potting soil because it drains well and is packed with the nutrients your plants need.
Above: Water thoroughly after planting, and then again whenever the top inch or so of soil feels dry.
Above: You can also feed your plants with a liquid organic fertilizer (just follow the instructions on whatever product you buy) to keep everything happy from now into fall.
N.B.: This post is an update; it was first published June 2013.
Gardening should be as easy as playing in dirt. But if you’re a beginner, you may be intimidated by the seemingly limitless options out there: what to grow, which tools to buy, how to build a raised bed, and so on. And if sustainability is a priority (and it should be for everyone), there’s the added element of making sure what you choose is earth-friendly. Vego Garden, a leading manufacturer of stylish, eco-conscious, and durable modular garden beds, takes the guesswork out of container gardening.
Vego Garden carries everything you need to start a vegetable garden—from actual seedlings (like tomatoes, melons, and more) to garden tools and soil. In the five years since the company launched, Vego Garden has become the leading choice for stylish and long-lasting garden beds. And now, they’ve come up with a new product line designed for indoor gardeners as well.
Here are eight reasons to go with Vego Garden for your growing needs. And read to the bottom for a special Gardenista reader discount.
1. No outdoor space? No problem.
Above: Vego Garden started as a maker of sustainable raised garden beds, but now it’s entered the indoor container gardening market—to great success. The company’s line of Self-Watering Planters received a 2024 iF Design Award as well as a Red Dot Award for its innovative design. The collection includes an herb planter box with trellis, a mini planter box with trellis, as well as a rolling tomato pot with trellis.
2. They’re great for beginner gardeners.
Above: Vego Garden’s planters are all self-watering. Fill it once with water to provide moisture for up to several weeks. A handy water gauge shows the water level—so you’re never at risk of under- or over-watering, both common beginner mistakes.
We are longtime admirers of English writer, cook, and gardener Sarah Raven, so we were super-excited to learn that her newest book, A Year Full of Pots, is now in bookstores. In this how-to guide on all things container gardening (the third installment her series that includes A Year Full of Flowers and A Year Full of Veg), she gives detailed instructions for planning and planting in pots for each month of the year, along with color groupings, tips for what to plant where and when, and detailed plant lists with stunning photos of her own pot-filled garden at Perch Hill.
Above: An overhead view of the Oast Garden, teeming with potted plants, at Perch Hill in spring.
Raven makes it easy for neophytes and experts alike to create a beautiful container garden, no matter the size. Here are six tips from her book on how to capture ebullience and beauty in a pot.
Above: Raven planning her garden with pencil and paper.
Pot planning goes old school. While there are plenty of fancy online garden planners, there is a wonderful satisfaction that comes with pencil and paper. Raven recommends sketching out the bones of your garden, the spaces, hardscapes and major plants and then overlaying tracing paper (or even baking parchment) and then cutting circles to represent your pots and arranging them where you think you’d like the pots and plants to go. Pro tip: She recommends cutting out photos of the plants you’re considering to make sure you can visualize the best you can what the garden will look like in real life.
2. Plan for a Bride, Bridesmaid, and Gate-crasher.
Above: This pot features tulips ‘Muriel’ as the Bride, ‘Nightrider’ as the Bridesmaid, and ‘Orange Favorite’ as the all-important color-contrasting Gatecrasher. Photo by Jonathan Buckley.
Raven breaks down one of the more complicated challenges in deciding what plants go into the pot in regards to choosing a color combination. Think about the colors as the Bride, Bridesmaid and Gatechrasher, she says. The Bride is the center of attention, the one that gets all the focus. The Bridesmaid plays a supporting role in the pot, as one would play in real life—same color as the bride but not as showy. Finally the Gatecrasher adds a bit of drama with contrast. Pro tip: Get some paint chips and play around with them to see what color combinations work together.
above: An example of some of the Boiled Sweet color palette.
For those who need a bit more guidance, Raven even provides specific color palettes to try: Dark & Rich, Boiled Sweet Brilliant, Warm and Soft, and Soft and Cool. Included are extensive photos for each palette for easy reference.
3. And don’t forget the Thriller, Filler, Spiller, and Pillar.
Above: Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’ with Salvia ‘Amistad’ and Panicum elegans ‘Frosted Explosion’ syn. Agrostis ‘Fibre Optics’ syn. Panicum capillare ‘Sparkling Fountain’ in a metal container. Erigeron karvinskianus grows in the terracotta pot.
When Susan Nock, a garden designer based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, launched her business Thistle eight years ago, she didn’t set out to specialize in container gardens. “I just started doing them for fun. It’s like creating a little vignette, and I love them nestled in a garden or in front of a house.” Over the years, custom container gardens became a signature service alongside her regular garden design work. “I plant containers for all four seasons, and I love to have a fall container for Thanksgiving,” says Nock, who tells us there’s still plenty of time to design planters for the tail end of fall.
Here are her tips for late-autumn container gardening:
Photography by Susan Nock.
Plant a variety of leaf shapes.
Above: Nock likes to include a mix of textures and leaf shapes, including loose and wavy grasses and carexes, and trailing plants like ajuga and ivy.
“The number one thing to think about with container composition is making sure you have lots of different leaf sizes, shapes, and textures,” says Nock. “You want to clearly see the different plants against each other, like cabbage next to grass.”
Pick frost-tolerant plants.
Above: Ornamental kale and cabbages are frost-tolerant.
For fall planters, Nock relies on ornamental kale and cabbages, mums, and pansies, all of which will endure some frost. She likes to use tall grasses in her fall containers, too, noting, “Even when they are dormant they will look beautiful.” Nock also recommends weaving in evergreen elements now, with an eye toward reusing them in your winter containers. “You can put in a boxwood now and use it for the next season,” she says. Ditto on cypresses and English ivy, which she uses as a trailing element in containers, where the famously invasive plant can be kept in check.
Elevate those mums and cabbage.
Above: Nock proves that ornamental kales and cabbages can look super-sophisticated in a variety of compositions, including a bouquet-like design (left) and a nearly monochromatic pot that features solely shades of green (right).
While Nock is pulling from a very conventional fall plant palette, she uses these plants in unexpected ways. “Mums and cabbages can easily look a little old-fashioned,” she cautions. The key to making them look modern, she says, is massing. “We’re not used to seeing them massed in great big groupings.” Another tactic is to work in a tight color palette for a monochromatic effect. With cabbages, she says to look for ones with “fun shapes and textures.” And she says, “If you tuck mums in with other plants, as just one element in the container, they work better. They don’t look as stiff next to flowing grasses or spilling ivy.”
Shop the perennials sale.
Above: Perennials like heucheras and grasses have a place in planters.
Most nurseries have their perennials discounted right now, which Nock says you might take advantage of. In addition to perennial grasses, Nock looks for heuchera (“I love them all!” she enthuses) and carex, which she uses as a flowing, softening element in her designs. When you take apart your fall planters, you can plant these in the ground (even if it’s a little crunchy) and use them in the garden, or keep them in the containers for another arrangement.
Upcycle your pumkins.
Above: Reuse your Halloween gourds by tucking them into a container arrangement.
If you’ve got pumpkins and gourds left over from Halloween, re-home them to your planters (and if you don’t, these are likely to be on sale now). Nock especially likes to seek out interesting varieties and shapes and tuck them into the container among the plants. “They become just another texture in the design,” she says. Steal her trick to get them to sit where you want (and avoid rotting): Prop them up on an empty plastic pot from the nursery, which you can conceal with foliage or preserved moss.
Get creative when the pickings are slim.
Nurseries are often picked over come November, so “if you are not finding all the plants you want, tuck in Spanish moss or sheet moss for a fun texture,” says Nock, noting that independent nurseries and farm stands are more likely to have plants this time of year. Consider pinecones, lotus pods, and even some dried hydrangeas to fill in any holes.
Don’t forget to water!
Above: Nock will continue to water her planters until average daytime temperatures are reliably in the 30s.
“It’s really important to water in the fall,” advises Nock. “Yes, you have the irrigation shut off, but it is essential to keep pots watered going into the cold season. The more hydrated plants are, the more they can endure cold and frost.” Nock doesn’t stop watering until the daytime temperatures are consistently in the 30s, which is also when she brings her terracotta pots indoors.
