AquaPots combine elegance and self-watering freedom By Norman Winter Perhaps this weekend to head to the mountains, hike your favorite Trail or lay on a white-sand beach — but love for your mixed containers trumps everything. The solution to this recurring dilemma? AquaPots. Many gardeners are feeling a little bit like patio prisoners. After all, it is gardening that has literally brought many of through the COVID-19 era. It is our passion and our love, and it’s the perfect arrival time for some innovation when it comes to self-watering containers. If you have not heard of the AquaPot, just know it is a game changer. These containers
come in various sizes, shapes and colors, and they have science in their self-watering design partnered with artisan handcrafted construction. To say they combine beauty with heavy duty is an understatement. Incredibly though, these Proven Winners containers allow you to water and go on a long weekend or even a week’s vacation and return to stunningly alive flowers. Professional large sized containers actually give weeks in between watering. The glazed ceramic containers are handcrafted, allowing them to add a true touch of elegance wherever they are used. The ingenious self-watering concept is based on a water-holding reservoir in the lower chamber of the pot with a soil-holding shelf in the upper chamber. The water wicks up to the soil and plant’s root zone via a cylinder that connects the chambers. One last device that you will love is a tube hidden by the flowers that allows you to insert water-soluble fertilizer, followed by a water hose for the weekly filling. No longer will you splash soil all over the patio or ruin flowers with the force of fire-hydrant-like water pressure. No water or fertilizer stains on the patio or deck either! If, you think you
might add too much water, forget it, there is an escape hole. No amount of mechanical skill or reasoning is required to put together — zero, zip, nada. The Garden Guy is a horticulturist and was absent the day mechanical skills were passed out. Give me a curtain rod to hang and hyperventilation commences. Trust me I put mine together in mere seconds. Planting is exactly the same as in any other container. Just like I have always written, don’t skimp when it comes to the quality of your potting soil. It needs to be light, fluffy and the best. I was visiting via computer with Jenny Simpson who along with husband Jerry, own Creekside Nursery in Dallas, N.C. She told me they were extremely impressed and happy with how the AquaPots have performed in North Carolina gardens. She said they provided consistent water and food to the plants, which love their new homes. Jenny has reached rock star status in the Southeast with her educational videos. I would urge you to watch all of them and especially the AquaPot demonstration. You’ll find these on the Creekside Nursery, Inc. Facebook page.
AquaPots add beauty and a new-found freedom when it comes to watering the plants we love. It also gives you confidence, maybe for the first time, that you are supplying the water and fertilizer just at the right moment, which is as the plants need it. Go to Proven Winners AquaPots to see all the choices available, and to find your closest retailers and purchasing options. Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of, “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy. ©2020 Norman Winter
Top: AquaPots give front door elegance for mixed containers without fear of water stains and fertilizer residue. (Photo courtesy of Proven Winners/TNS) Left: The AquaPot at The Garden Guy’s house features Hot Coral SunPatiens, Lemon Coral Sedum and is framed by the tropical Royal Hawaiian Maui Gold elephant ear. (Photo courtesy Norman Winter/TNS) Right: Whether it is the porch, patio or deck the Aquapot provides beauty and self-watering freedom. (Photo courtesy of Proven Winners/TNS)
E18
SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS REAL ESTATE
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
