PENROCK SEEDS AND PLANTS NEWSLETTER MAY AND JUNE 2009.

THE ART OF ORNAMENTAL CONTAINER PLANTING.
By Charles Craib, photographs by Connall Oosterbroek.


This set of three vessels, planted up with Haworthia limifolias amongst ochre coloured and sienna brown rocks and shale chips, is an exploration in textures and form.


Flat exposed sheets of ochre and pinkish rock with their different heights, make for a wonderful medium on which to display ornamental container plantings.


This diminutive container with its Euphorbia species has a broad rim with concave bumps. The textures and colours in the vessel resemble the rock surface on which it has been photographed.


The rough texture of this hand thrown container forms a frame for the Haworthia limifolia planted in it. The Naples yellow and sombre brown rocks around the Haworthia add depth and context to the planting.

The bases of these Cyphostemma juttae trunks have been planted with their root areas partially exposed. The rounded dolerite rocks around them accentuate the brown green trunks with their peeling bark.

SUMMARY
Ornamental container planting is a form of art making use of mostly hand made containers thrown by craftsman potters. These are planted up with shrubs, succulents and bulbs of the kind that grow with much of their surface areas exposed above the ground. The colours and textures of the containers, the plants in them and the rocks used functionally and creatively, all combine for striking and artistic effect. Some of the art created in ornamental container planting is discussed here, as well as an exhibition featuring these vessels which takes place in Johannesburg during May and June. The range of plant material for ornamental container planting, available as seeds or plants from Penrock Seeds and Plants, is also featured towards the end of the newsletter.

NEWSLETTER

THE SPECIAL CONTAINERS MADE BY CRAFTSMAN POTTER, CHRIS PATTON.
Chris Patton is a ceramic designer and produces a range of specially crafted organic vessels. He also regularly undertakes small runs of production pottery, and has in recent times concentrated on producing hand thrown wash basins decorated with his own glazes and colours. He works from his studio in Muldersdrift north of Johannesburg.

Chris has for some time been making vessels for me which I use extensively in ornamental container planting. We discuss the concepts that lie behind making a specific range of containers and Chris makes sketches during the course of our conversations. These are used to guide the process from the time the pots are thrown until they are ready for the kiln.

Chris uses many of the colours, surfaces and textures found in nature. Earthy ochres and shades of brown and greys predominate amongst the colours of the pots he makes. Textures too are natural, often resembling the roughness of exposed rock surfaces.

LIVING ART.
Ornamental container planting is sometimes referred to as living art. The plants used mature over time and settle down to growth in confined spaces, just as they would do when growing amongst rocks in nature. The chosen subjects need to be carefully selected for a particular planting. The textures and colours of plants with thickened trunks are ideal and in this respect I use several Commiphora and Cyphostemma species. Some containers, particularly the smaller ones with lines or patterns on their surfaces, are best matched by plants with equally intricate characteristics. In such cases Haworthia species work well, particularly Haworthia limifolia and Haworthia nigra.

Chris recently made a batch of containers inspired by the seeds of Combretum and Pterodiscus species. These seeds are characterised by wings which form geometric lines and shapes. The taller vessels call for plants that ascend from a cluster of rocks. Commiphora species are ideal for use in these vessels, particularly Commiphora marlothii and Commiphora verminea (formerly known as Commiphora merkeri). C. marlothii, with its beautiful tall greenish trunks and peeling light brown bark accentuates the height in the tallest vessels. C. verminea produces an intricate array of greenish grey spiky lateral branches as the plants mature. The effect of the interlaced branches compares and contrasts strongly with the interest created by the seed-like pots in which they are planted.

TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS USED IN ORNAMENTAL CONTAINER PLANTING.
The materials I use on the surface of most plantings consist of rough stones in a variety of sizes, lichen blotched rocks, coarse gravels and thin strips or broader fragments of shale. These are sourced from road construction sites, unused rock material from borrow pits or quarries and also new suburban developments on stony hillsides. A good range of rock material has also become available commercially in Johannesburg including some magnificent sheets of rock, ideal natural surfaces for arranging displays of containers.

Many of the vessels made by Chris Patton have interesting surfaces. Pots with broad rims, at slanting angles from the planting area, resemble cavities on sheets of exposed rock. Others, with concave or convex bumps, cleverly imitate surfaces so often encountered on dolomite. Those with a rough finish often resemble dolomite surfaces, particularly those so often seen on rounded boulders, of this rock type.

Strips of dark shale are well suited for continuing the lines that Chris makes so skilfully on the broad rims of his pots. The pot, the lines on it, which radiate from the rim, and the strips of dark shale around plants such as Haworthias make for very pleasing natural effects.

The shapes of the pots and those of the plants displayed in them can be used to mirror one another. A suitable candidate for these sorts of plantings is Monsonia vanderietiae (formerly Sarcocaulon vanderietiae). These plants often have oval or oblong masses of tightly compact branches which show off similar shaped vessels to good effect

The planting surface in many of the pots is restricted. It is only about 10 x 10 cms in the case of Chris Patton’s smallest pots and 20 x 20 cms in the case of the larger ones. These restrictions imply that plantings have to be carefully planned. There are several techniques which can be used for achieving the best effects. The use of light coloured and darker stones on the surface of the pot, in conjunction with placing them at different heights and angles, creates a sense of depth. The exposed upper roots of xerophytic shrubs such as Commiphoras can be concealed within rocky recesses. This creates a god deal of variety and depth in a confined space.

Shadows cast on the surfaces of pots, particularly those with broad rims, create their own effects, changing with the movement of the sun. Tall rocks and the shadows that fall from them create further interest and depth on the surface of the container.

CHOOSING AND PREPARING PLANTS FOR CREATING LIVING ART.
Succulents and xerophytic shrubs do well in ornamental containers exposed to strong direct sunlight for the greater part of the day. As a general rule shade loving plants are unsuited to this form of art. They require too much watering and also produce lanky stems and foliage which does not usually complement the earthy colours and textures of the hand thrown vessels.

There are a number of suitable candidates amongst Southern African succulents and succulent shrubs for ornamental container planting. Deciduous Cyphostemma species with cylindrical or rounded stems can be used to good effect. Haworthia and Gasteria species create a cryptic pattern when displayed amongst strips of shale or small dark stones. Euphorbias with their unusual shapes and stems thrive in the hottest of sunny positions. Adenias are also good subjects on account of their bottle shaped greenish trunks. Some of the succulent pelargoniums can be used to good effect and another member of the Geraniaceae, Monsonia vanderietiae, is particularly effective.

All the plants which are selected are best grown from seed or purchased from nurseries where they have been grown hard in conditions of strong sunlight and not over-watered. Raising stock from seed is an excellent option as the young plants can be hardened off as soon as they are ready and the best specimens can be chosen for specific kinds of planting.


This vessel serves to stretch the imagination of the planter to its limits. Planting space is limited and at different angles and the vessel, as a whole, seems to simulate waves or ripples in water. The Cyphostemma trunks and the range of dark coloured rocks around are a striking foil for the vessel.



Commiphora verminea (formerly Commiphora merkeri) planted in a hand thrown container resembling the shape of a Combretum seed. The tall vessel, and the Commiphora trunks with their upward orientation, create a sense of both height and depth.


This unusual trio of Cyphostemma juttae emerge from the rock-like container in which they are growing like this species in its natural state. The tapering conical trunks have their own special appeal in their leafless winter state.


A view of the ornamental container plantings on display at Random Harvest Nursery from 1 May to 30 June 2009. The attractive sheets of rock on which the plants are displayed were sourced at the World of Rock north of Johannesburg.


This unusual hand thrown terracotta container, with its wavy rim at different elevations, is an ideal colour and shape for accentuating the characteristics of the plant it contains. This Sesamnothamnus lugardiae in its leafless dormant state. The colours and roughness of the rocks replicate in their own unusual way the coarse furrowed texture of the pot.

DISPLAY AT RANDOM HARVEST NURSERY IN JOHANNESBURG.
I have arranged a display of ornamental container plantings at Random Harvest Indigenous Nursery, north of Johannesburg, from 1 May – 30 June 2009. This display features a good range of Chris Patton’s containers which I have planted up with sun loving succulents and shrubs. The vessels are displayed mostly on sheets of richly coloured rock. Each exhibit is labelled with the name of the plant and a brief description of the aesthetic effects I strived to create. For readers of the newsletter who live in Johannesburg or happen to be visiting, it may be worth paying the nursery a visit.

The contact details for the display follow below as well as information about sources of plant material for ornamental container planting. The World of Rock in Johannesburg is a useful source of a wide range of large rocks, smaller stones and gravels with unusual colours. These details are also included.

COMMISSIONED PLANTINGS.
I undertake a range of commissioned plantings similar to those featured in the photographs which accompany this newsletter. Commissions are carried out at my premises in Johannesburg from where they should be collected on completion. People who may be interested in commissioned planting should contact me via email please at writeprint@acenet.co.za.

THE DISPLAY OF SPECIALLY PLANTED VESSELS.
Those interested in viewing the display should request the details from Random Harvest Nursery. Their telephone number is 082 553-0598 or 079 872-8975 and the email address linda@rhn.co.za. This display is also featured in the Random Harvest May newsflash and this can be forwarded electronically to people who may be interested.

SOURCES OF SEEDS AND PLANTS.
Penrock Seeds offers a good range of seeds from plants that are well suited to ornamental container planting. The seed catalogue lists seeds of many species discussed in the newsletter. Please contact Leigh Nieuwoudt at seeds@penroc.co.za for local orders and exports.
Penrock Plants supplies many rare, interesting and unusual plants suitable for ornamental container planting as well as more general pot culture. Please contact Johann and Leigh Nieuwoudt at plants@penroc.co.za.

ROCKS FOR USE IN ORNAMENTAL CONTAINER PLANTING.
The World of Rock, situated north of Johannesburg, is an excellent source of spectacular and unusual rocks not usually available elsewhere. The sheets of exposed rock, which so enhance the display discussed in the newsletter, were purchased there. The office telephone number is 011 704-4382 and the proprietors may also be reached on their cell phones, Gideon at 082 892-9113 and Anna at 083 233-0050.


In this planting the ostrich egg-shaped container and the rounded trunks of the two Cyphostemmas create a striking and almost symmetrical unity.


Charles Craib photographed near his display of ornamental container plantings at Random Harvest Nursery on 1 May 2009.