I dream of shade gardens. Drafty, soggy, wet, mushy shade gardens. After living in the driest nook of Southern California for my whole life I constantly find myself trying to ‘get away’ peeking into books labeled, “Gardens of the Pacific Northwest’, or ‘How to make the most of your shade garden’ and even ‘Cascadia: Gardening know-how for the wet shade garden’.
All of which has absolutely NOTHING to do with my garden….aka rocky desert patch.
Don’t get me wrong, I love living in SoCal, I just find myself….. a little bored. The garden is always greener on the other side of the fence, right?
But just because I live on the center of the sun doesn’t mean I can’t fake a Lil sogginess. Here is what I have a gardening eye on right now… Mossy terracotta pots.
There is something so earthy, so romantic and cozy about terracotta. By far my favorite material for pots. I adore how they age. Can’t go wrong with a limed mossy patina. Read on to see how I created my own aged mossy terracotta pots…
Supplies: Terracotta pots, dried moss, white paint, paper towel, brush & homemade flour paste.
Homemade flour paste recipe: 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup water & 1 cup flour. Stir till you have a gooey but not runny mixture.
Start by dry rubbing the white paint onto the pot with a paper towel. This gives you the base ‘aged’ or ‘limed’ look.
Then mix up your glue, tear up little bits of the dried moss and mix till it mushes up into a wet lumpy ball.
With your hands smear on the moss mixture. You could do a little or a lot. A side note: Where ever you apply the flour mixture it will dry white, not clear like normal mod podge or glue.
I went with a lot, but you could also just do a little along the bottom or top edges. I’m thinking about doing another coat to complete cover up the terracotta, but for now, I like the results. While they are not exactly ‘natural-looking, I still like the effect.
So Pacific Northwest this might not be, I still got me some aged mossy pots. And of course, they have succulents in em… if only ferns could survive outside air conditioning down here in Hades-light 😉