A friend of mine likes to use the term “Cook’s Treat”.  I think he picked it up from Nigella Lawson’s cooking show, and likes to call out the phrase whenever he snaps up a particularly tasty leftover trimming or yummy browned crust.  The cook’s the one doing all the work, shouldn’t they get a break now and then?

Now my interpretation of “Cook’s Treat” is more like taking a swig of wine when I pass it to my wife for the shrimp scampi pan, so my version is a little different….. but why not try using it all over the place?  I’ve been tiling in the basement this summer, so how about a “tiler’s treat”?

“Cook’s Treat” was called a few times on trips to the DIY store. Clearance sales, new pots, and irresistible plants all helped make lugging 75lb boxes of tile tolerable.

On yet another trip for mortar and grout I stopped in at a local store which specializes in liquidating odds and ends from other retailers.  Last year this store got in a load of pottery which included some chocolatey colored Italian terra cotta.  I carefully (and frugally) bought only two pots at that time.  On this visit I had my fingers crossed for an end of year sale, and almost let out an un-manly squeal when I saw 40% off.  Four more nice sized pots for just under $7 each and some $2.50 bags of potting soil came home.  The money I saved went towards an emergency nursery stop, and I picked up a dusty pink cape fuchsia (phygelius), purple aeonium, and a variegated hebe.  They were not on sale, but still a bargain compared to all the time and money spent on the stupid tile.

You see deck flowers here, I see pots from last year and about five new pots which will all either have to come indoors or find some other safe spot for the winter.

New pots are becoming a problem.  The terra cotta and glazed ceramic that I hated when younger are now irresistible and I’m always bringing home another one or two.  I wish I had access to fancier ones (and could afford them) but for now the Depot and Lowes are nice and convenient.

The cactus and succulent need a nice heavy pot to keep from tipping over, plus unlike plastic the terra cotta breathes, and even when overwatered the roots still get enough air to not mind.

Just how bad it’s become will only really show up in another few weeks when I need to find wintering spots for them all.  Even if I don’t bother and let the plants freeze and die, the clay pots can’t.  They’re porous and absorb water and when that water freezes and expands inside the clay it will likely crack the pots.

The miscanthus divisions from this spring have grown huge, and although they are planted in red plastic pots which can be left out all winter without being damaged, the plants will die when winter hits.  In pots, exposed out on a deck, plants generally lose about two hardiness zones.

Not everything is in fancy terra cotta.  This pot features a struggling pitcher plant which is the focal point of my exciting new bog garden.  Although there were a lot of complaints when certain family members discovered their ‘favorite popcorn tub’ was the only container I could find without drain holes, I think it’s working out fine.  I just wanted to add that things would be much greener if it didn’t dry out completely when I took the kids on a long weekend visit to my parents.  Apparently someone here thought the weak rain we had would be enough to keep it alive…. regardless of the explicit watering instructions I left for this one little pot!

Rather than bear the label of “too cheap to buy a real pot” I’d like to think of this as recycling, or upcycling one of the many disposable plastic things children generate.

….and there are still plenty of cyclamen in pots.  For as much as I try, new ones keep showing up!

Aren’t they the coolest little things? The cyclamen in pots always seem to sprout earlier than the ones in the ground….. and no, I didn’t spend $12 dollars on the empty pot, it’s just a second label to remind me this one comes back in under lights for the winter.

Thankfully I don’t grow any colchicums in pots.  This is a new favorite from ‘Daffodils and More’ and makes a nice start to the season.

colchicum “Disraeli”

I’ll probably have to make a full disclosure of pot purchases soon enough.  This is only the tip of the iceberg.  Things will look much worse when I start staging them all together to bring them inside 🙂