Planting my hypertufa containers

Earlier I wrote about the adventures of making hypertufa containers and promised to continue the story when I planted them. Well, it's time. Once the pots are fully cured, you're advised to soak them in water to help leach out any excess alkalinity and "free lime" in the Portland cement (one of the ingredients of the hypertufa mixture). So, I soaked.

My extremely shallow rectangle container was the first to be planted. Originally I'd intended to do a crevice-style planting in this container, one where most of the soil would be held between relatively tall, thin rocks, rather than in the container itself. However, the dark hypertufa balls we made from left-over material, and a few pots of Jovibarba allionii I'd picked up from Little Prince, had me thinking about going in a different direction.

Like this...

A common name for Jovibarba is "rollers", because their small offsets come loose and roll to their new location, where they take root. I thought the combination of the bright green rollers and the dark hypertufa balls was a fun one. I'd also had collected a few light-grey, round river rocks, but didn't end up using them.

Here's what I ended up with. The hypertufa balls and the Jovibarba mounded up on shallow soil

It makes me happy.

For the next container I had a very small Asplenium ceterach, a Myriopteris wootonii, and an abused (but loved) Cassiope lycopodioides.

Rocks figured into the plan, although once again the roundish river rocks were not used.

The thin rocks went in diagonally, with the Asplenium ceterach in the corner.

This hard to find fern came to me from a man named Fred, he gave me a pair. After two years one them is actually looking healthy in the ground (photo below). The second (the one that just went into the container) was not. I hope it will like life in the hypertufa better.

Myriopteris wootonii went in the middle. Myriopteris wootonii "is one of several, super cute, dwarf dryland desert ferns from the western US...in this case, from Colorado south to Texas and west to California. The tiny, grey evergreen leaves of beaded lip fern form a tight colony 4" tall x 2' wide...with age. Myriopteris wootonii is a superb, highly-coveted rock garden fern, as long as the soil is well drained, and the site gets a few hours of sun. In brutally hot summer climates, more shade than sun is recommended." (source)

And at the far end a few tiny tendrils of Cassiope lycopodioides, which wasn't happy where it was (in a large mixed container planting) so I thought maybe it would be happy here. We shall see.

I decided to hold off planting the third hypertufa pot until spring, so for now it makes a nice base to this planted pot.

Where will these containers live? Along the sidewalk, in the front garden. Currently the Jovibarba planter is under a metal cage. The squirrels are on frantic overdrive tucking away anything and everything that might feed them over the winter. In the process they're wreaking havoc on the garden. I didn't want my carefully planted flat of orbs to be tossed hither and yon. Thus it's protected for now.

Oh look, it's Wednesday and Addam, those two just had to get in their annual moment of fame, since they were ignored in my Halloween post... 

Truth be told they're gone now (it's November after all), but since I took this photo before the witching hour there they were. The fern filled hypertufa container is tucked behind the trio of agaves and Addam's front leg. Better to stay out of the way of both the squirrels, and any hungry rabbits that pass by. It's a wild wild world out there.

The Bit at the End

It's an annual tradition that Martha shares images of her staff wrapping the green hedges and ornamental planters around her farm in burlap for the winter, but this is the first year I remember seeing bonsai wrapped. Honestly I wonder how much it really protects the roots and containers, but if Martha wants it, of course Martha gets it. See that post here, the last photo includes what appear to be hypertufa planters. I wonder if Marth made them herself?

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