Wednesday, April 18, 2012

How early should you celebrate your birthday?

Recently I came home to a large box on the front porch, Fed Ex had visited while I was gone. I hadn’t ordered anything, and usually Andrew lets me know if he has. I scanned the address label, saw his name and assumed it must be a late birthday gift for him from family. Then I noticed the return address…
Potted? Los Angeles? But that can only mean one thing!!! As much as I wanted to tear open the box I calmly called him and asked “are you expecting a shipment from a place called Potted, in L.A.?”…silence, followed quickly by a few choice swear words. Being the sweet husband he is he made notes when looking at the photos from my San Francisco trip about the Circle Pot from Potted which I finally got to see “in real life” at Flora Grubb. At work the next day he ordered one for my birthday and had it shipped to his office where he could squirrel it away until July.
Or so he thought, they shipped it to his billing address instead. So that’s how I ended up with this piece of fabulous orange pottery 3 months before my birthday. Silly people at Potted! Get your shipping address straight!
I am so excited  to own this piece of pottery perfection!!!!!!......

37 comments:

  1. What an excellent surprise! I remember you writing about this container. What a great pop of color! What a great husband!!

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    1. It is so so colorful...and yes, he's a keeper.

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  2. That is really wonderful! its never too early to celebrate! I refer to July as my birthday month - is it not the very best to have a summer birthday!?!

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    1. I'm going to start doing that! Q: "When's your birthday" A: "July" Q: "July what?" A: "well the month of course!"....

      When I was a kid I hated it, no celebration at school, but as an adult, and a gardener, yes it really is the best!

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  3. Look at it as a present for your 3/4 birthday :-).

    Is that your container, all planted, in the last photo?

    I think I want one too now!

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    1. I'll let him know that this was "only" my 3/4 birthday!

      No, it's just hanging in the basement for now with the succulent popped in there for effect. Once the Rhody bed transformation has occurred I will plant it up and hang it there...it is going to be glorious!

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  4. I love that he didn't make you wait until your birthday to give it to you! It looks fabulous against your dark walls. So what lucky plant will go in it?

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    1. Oh that would have been torture! I think it will be a mix of succulents, of course...

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  5. That's a good man you've got. So pretty!

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    1. When it happened I felt so bad for him, I mean he really scored big with that idea and then to have the screw it up for him...not cool!

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  6. I think he needs to re-wrap it and put it away until your birthday! It is very nice.

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  7. So funny (even if a little unfortunate for him)!

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    1. Best laid plans...(or something like that)

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  8. Loree, love this and your spousal unit is a gem ! Gainey pots were important fare at independent garden centers in Socal in the 70's, but they were sadly displaced by el-cheapo mexican clay pots, and changing design styles. What goes around comes around.

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    1. This is wonderful to know (about Gainey pots). Andrew has worked with a local vendor (http://mudsharkstudios.org) enough to know what's involved with producing a container like this and hearing his critique only made me love it more, imperfections and all.

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  9. Cool that you got one of those neat pots but it makes me furious when places ship to your billing address instead of shipping address. It happens so often.

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    1. I guess we've been lucky then as I don't remember this happening before.

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  10. Now that's very early! And since this present came early he has to get you another one much nearer the time ;)

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    1. Last night I told him I'd posted about this and that a couple folks had mentioned him getting me another gift on my birthday. His response was something like "oh they have no idea how hard that is"...he seems to think I am hard to buy for, crazy!

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  11. sandy lawrenceApril 19, 2012

    Well, ladies (and guys, too), let me tell you, the birthday month is a very good idea, but when you get to be as old a gardener as I am, you go from birthday month to the whole danged year. I celebrate my birthday every morning that I wake up and am able to dig in the soil, no matter what day or month it is! Saw a cute sign: "Old gardeners never die; they just throw in the trowel." I'll never be ready to throw in the trowel. Too many plants yet to try out, even in the challenging drought of Texas.

    That vibrant orange circle birthday pot is fabulous. I especially like it against the lovely dark shade of brown of your house, almost the color of chocolate.
    The hubby 'done good'!

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    1. "birthday year"...so you never stop celebrating? I like that.

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  12. So cool that the garden tarts have revived these classic ceramics. What's Andrew really going to get you for your birthday? Address snafu, whatever, this counts as just the warm-up, right?

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    1. The traditional birthday gift has always been a Cistus gift certificate, I wouldn't complain if tradition was revived.

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  13. That husband of yours is going to get a "reputation"!

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  14. Cool! And he knows what that means to you...he is Mr. Danger.

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    1. I the sense he hasn't fully embraced that moniker...

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  15. Gasp! I love these! I have been going back to the Potted site to check these very hanging planters out since Xmas. I want the red one and the white one. I keep putting them in the "cart" then clicking away without purchasing. I didn't know they had them at FG. I think if I saw them in person, I'd just HAVE to get one. Happy early birthday! Very cool gift!

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    1. Just between you and me the ones at FG were more expensive. Buy direct...

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  16. Very nice -- perfect for you and your garden. So, does it have drainage holes in the bottom? I didn't see any in the picture. Couldn't help but wonder.

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    1. It does not. Usually this would mean simply breaking out my trusty pottery drill bit and making a drainage hole (or multiples). I'm a little leery of doing that to this pot though, the shape doesn't make it easy and I would die if I broke it. That means either hanging it somewhere that will minimize rain from getting in there, or not really planting in the container but instead just arranging plants in it. I think I might employ a combination of both.

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  17. It's lovely indeed. But I wonder why it's not made with that one essential feature for a planter?

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    1. I was on their website yesterday and saw that if you request it at checkout they will drill the hole for you. So...really they've got it covered.

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  18. So it seems, and good to know! I've seen them for sale here in Austin at Big Red Sun. I wonder if they'd drill on request also. It's probably at your own risk... Anyway, I look forward to seeing yours all potted up.

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