After 10 years in southeast Portland, next-door to Xera Plants, I have permanently closed down my brick-and-mortar garden pottery shop in 2024.
I continue to offer garden and container design services to residential clients and restaurant/hospitality groups.
THANK YOU for a great 10-year run with the pottery shop – another rewarding adventu
Contained Exuberance, my garden pottery and decor shop, located next door to Xera Plants, in SE Portland, is closed for August holiday. I’ll be re-opening for fall sales on Friday, September 8, 2023.
Here are 10 container designs from my home garden and several residential and commercial clients. Some of these are highlighted in The NY Times garden column by longtime friend Margaret Roach on April 19, 2023
#1 GLAZED EARTHENWARE POTS in 2 sizes: 22″ x 17.75″ planted with Phormium ‘Guardsman’, Euphorbia martinii ‘Ascot Rainbow’, Heuchera ‘Georgia Peach’. 17.75″ x 15.75″ planted with Magave ‘Freckles, Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’. On the ground orange Meconopsis cambrica 
#2 CAST STONE RAIN BARREL planted with Loropetalum chinense Razzleberri
#3 GLAZED EARTHENWARE BAMBOO PLANTER planted with Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’ outside my garden pottery shop
#4 CORTEN STEEL CONTAINERS planted with Cryptomeria japonica ‘Black Dragon + Petunia Supertunia ‘Honey’ + Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’
#5 LIGHTWEIGHT POLYRESIN & GLAZED EARTHENWARE POTS at Leach Botanical Garden, Portland, OR planted with Phormium ‘Yellow Wave, Lonicera nitida ‘Lemon Beauty’, Begonia boliviensis ‘Bonfire’; middle pot planted with Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’, Fuchsia magellanica ‘Aurea’; pot in foreground planted with Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Lemon Wave’, Polystichum minimum
#6 BLACK CLAY EARTHENWARE POT in front of one of my restaurant accounts planted with Phormium tenax, Fatsia japonica ‘Spider’s Web, Abutilon, and spillers of Hedera algeriensis ‘Gloire de Marengo’, Parthenocisus henryana
#7 LARGE BROWN EARTHENWARE POT planted with a tropical-esque mix of Musa ‘Siam Ruby’, Calibrachoa Superbells ‘Creamsicle’, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Persian Chocolate’
#8 CAST STONE SEA SHELL planted with Sempervivum ‘Royal Ruby’, Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’ 
#9 GREEN GLAZED EARTHENWARE POT planted with Aeonium ‘Sunburst’ and set in a surround of brown sedges (Carex tenuiculmis ‘Cappuccino’ and Chionochloa rubra (red tussock grass) 
#10 MAPLE GLAZED BOWL planted with Sedum SunSparkler ‘Cherry Tart’ + unnamed Echeveria 
My Shop Contained Exuberance is open for Spring 2023!
FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS
10 am – 5 pm
I finished my last big planting for the 2022 season, but am still sprucing up container plantings for the holiday season at restaurants around Portland.
I’m anxiously awaiting the end of our summer dry period and the return of Pacific Northwest rains to moisten the soil for good fall planting. It’s been another challenging summer with a yo-yo of heat spikes.
It’s a great time to refresh your containers or plant anew. You’ll find fall specials and markdowns on pots at my shop CONTAINED EXUBERANCE as well as many nurseries and garden centers during fall (as we all make plans and room for new spring 2023 inventory).
Just like in-the-ground plantings, containers can ride the 4 seasons with interest.
More about that in weekly blog posts.
Meantime plan a visit and check my Facebook and Instagram feeds for weekly specials and flash sales. HAPPY FALL GARDENING.
It’s the lazy, hazy days of August. My shop, Contained Exuberance is closed for a summer holiday and refresh. I’m enjoying my home hillside garden Harborton Hill (pictured here) and maintaining all of the containers, plantings, and patios around Portland that I’ve designed and installed for friends, clients, restaurants, and hospitality groups. Water, water, water is my mantra!
My Shop will reopen Friday, Septermber 9, after Labor Day weekend and will be open Fridays & Saturdays, 10am-5pm through the end of October.
There’s still time to dress up your outdoor patios, decks, and balconies – wherever you escape to outside of the house during summer for fresh air, sunshine, or a good IPA.
During JULY all pots, fountains, birdbaths, garden statuary, etc. in stock in my Shop are 20% off the marked blue tape price.
It’s a great time to buy a fountain. The sound of moving water is refreshing during summer and birdbaths of any size offer summer opportunity for feathered friends to bathe and cool off.
If you say you have enough pots, think again. My rule of thumb is “one pot comes, one pot goes.” Designs and pot making continue to evolve and change and improve. Your tastes change. You don’t have to keep the furniture forever, you know. Trade with friends, offer used pots on Craigslist and other online outlets. Then come see me at Contained Exuberance… no charge for garden and plant chat.
My Shop, Contained Exuberance, Re-Opens for Spring 2022
We await the official start of spring on Sunday, March 20, at 8:33 a.m. in Portland and the Pacific Northwest.
Meteorologically speaking, the official first day of spring started March 1st. I proclaim the first day of spring is when I re-open my Shop! So, let it begin this Friday, March 4, 2022!
Contained Exuberance, my Shop next door to @xeraplants is open Fridays & Saturdays, 10am-5pm.
Pallets of pottery are unpacked and the Shop is filled with exciting new glazed earthenware, terra cotta, cast stone (cement), and lightweight polyresin pots in beautiful colors/patinas and textures.
Plan to visit. The best selection is in spring (particularly now with pandemic supply chain slow downs).
After our cold snap last week, Portland continues it cheerful, energetic creep into spring. Witch-hazels in my home garden, Harborton Hill, have faded after a month-long ride, but cyclamen, hellebores, winter honeysuckle, Arctostaphylos (manzanita), viburnums, and early flowering plums are in full bloom.
The Pacific Northwest offers a gentle ride into full-on SPRING.