Limed Terra Cotta Pots in Interior and Garden Design

These natural clay pots are made in the Ravel pottery in Aubagne, France. (Duck, N. Photography by Christian Sarramon. A Home in Provence. Flammarion)

These terra cotta pots are the creation of garden designer Madison Cox. The studio is housed in a cluster of adobe buildings in Marrakech. These pots assembled in an enclosure made of bamboo stalks may be shipped to locations all around the world. (Flores-Vianna, M.: Haute Bohemians. Vendome) Madison Cox and the Pierre Berge Yves St. Laurent Foundation are responsible for the design of the YSL Museum here in Marrakech.

Pierre Berge has another stunning home in Provence on several adjoining plots of land where a garden has been created as a series of courtyards. Pictured here is a pavilion at one end of the swimming pool. At the far end of the swimming pool is an octagonal terra cotta planter embellished with medallions similar to those on the famous pots planted with orange trees at Versailles, the vases d’Anduze.  (Jones, L., photographs by Bruno Suet: New Gardens in Provence: 30 Contemporary Creations. Stewart Tabori & Chang)

In this garden, large terra cotta biot jars support a slab of stone forming a dining table under the palms. These jars are made at the Poterie Provencale in Biot on the Cote d’Azur near Antibes. Biot jars have been used to hold olive oil. (Duck, N. Photography by Christian Sarramon.: A Home in Provence.Flammarion)

If you look closely at this photograph you can spot examples of several of the different types of traditional terra cotta pots! (Duck, N. Photography by Christian Sarramon.: A Home in Provence.Flammarion)

We can now identify this terra cotta vase d’Anduze beside a doorway in Provence with confidence! (Duck, N. Photography by Christian Sarramon.: A Home in Provence.Flammarion)

It is clear designer and antiquarian Furlow Gatewood, the owner of this driveway in Americus, Georgia, understands the impact of multiple patinated terra pots. What a grand entrance. You just know you are in for a treat. Furlow Gatewood’s home is the family carriage house and an assortment of meticulously restored 19^th century homes. If you have an opportunity to own the book about Mr. Gatewood and his homes, One Man’s Folly: The Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood (Julia Reed: Rizzoli) you will find yourself studying the pages over and over. This is one of my absolute favorites!

Terra cotta pots look as good inside as they do outside. The repeated rounded shapes of the various plants in these pots is so appealing to me.  (Giannetti, B. & S.: Patina Style. Gibbs Smith)

Creative director and brand consultant Hanna Seabrook’s Columbia, South Carolina home has been featured in Frederic Magazine (Vol. IX) and in the design book, A Sense of Place: Design Inspired by Where We Live by Caitlin Flemming and Julie Goebel. Here gently aged terra cotta pots found tucked in a corner or centered on an antique table desk and filled with carefully clipped little trees duplicate the look of an aged terra cotta pot!

It is fascinating to search online and find written instructions or videos when you want to learn how to do something. It seems you can use garden lime mixed with water to age your terra cotta pots!

Beginning with two twelve-inch pots and matching saucers and a drop cloth for painting, measure about 2/3 cup of lime into a plastic yogurt container and add water, stirring the concoction with a paint stick. When the mixture feels sludgy use a chip brush (or inexpensive disposable brush) to paint the surface. It is fascinating to see how quickly the lime paint dries and lightens to a chalky buff-white color.

My readings about the process led me to paint both the inside and outside of the pot.  These relatively inexpensive pots from my local big box store are made in Italy and are quite strong, but you want to ensure the inside and outside surface have the same treatment to enable both surfaces to expand and contract in a similar fashion.

Here is a completed pot with the inside and outside painted. The second photo shows the pots planted with small olive trees. The tree support sticks are separated from the tree trunk with a ball of natural moss tied with hemp twine. The same natural moss is used to cover the potting soil. To me, this gives potted plants used in the interior a finished look.

Those of you who are looking closely will notice the olives in this photo are different from the ones pictured in the completed pots. After six months the trees needed to go outside and we replaced them with these.

The limed terra cotta pots on the round table in our entrance hall filled with tiny olive trees make me so happy.

Arranged in a sequence of threes on either side of the table are these votives. The silver votives were purchased years ago on a sister trip to Italy. The silver candlestick comes from The Silversmith on Royal Street in New Orleans. The silver dish in the middle is a tiny salt dish from Eiband’s a vintage shop on Postoffice Street in Galveston. The candles inside come from a shop called Tina’s on the Strand in Galveston. I have written about them in previous posts; their scent evokes memories of all the homes we have lived in. The candles are resting on a plinth made of some cut stone left on the terrace after our home was built. With the iron stong box on top of them they are reminiscent of the poles put through palanquins (carriages or beds carried with poles).

We bought the iron strong box in Houston. We put a carved stone heart and all the “lucky” pennies we find inside of it as if it is a repository for our lives together. In front of the strong box is a stack of some of my husband’s photo-polymer gravure prints.

I like the idea of an entrance hall full of stories and talismans representing those who live inside.

We have a metal fountain in a small walled garden overlooking the courtyard on one side and the open land on the other. The fountain and the garden had once been entirely crisp and modern with an iron colored fountain and matching planters, table and chairs. As the fountain aged and began to look more like zinc, I wanted to soften the contrast between it and the still black planters and table and chairs. After thinking for some time, it occurred to me aged terra cotta pots might help make this transition and echo the terra cotta tiles on the roof.

The lime-aged terra cotta pots are filled with freshly planted boxwoods. It’s so nice to reach out from the table and run your hand across the leaves to release their scent! We so enjoy having meals here in the tiny walled garden…depending on the season; breakfast, lunch, or dinner! 

Perhaps there is a lime-aged pot in your future!