Review: British Flowerpots

I can never resist a beautiful garden pot. I use them a lot for seasonal displays and, when your soil is challenging like my sandy stuff, growing in containers is an obvious way to plant into better conditions. So, I was delighted to put some of the products from British Flowerpots to the test.

(I was given pots to try out but am not paid for this post.)

The company was launched earlier this year – the result of a partnership between family firms Naylor Industries, which has been making ceramic goods in Yorkshire since 1890, some under the Yorkshire Flowerpots name, and Smith & Jennings, a pottery from South Wales. British Flowerpots is now the UK’s largest producer of British-made garden pottery.

The samples I was sent covered their full range – both glazed and unglazed and in different sizes. All are guaranteed to be frost-proof – if we ever get frost again!

The first I planted up was a strawberry pot but not with strawberries as I’ve never found this style of pot terribly successful with them. Instead, I’ve gone for sempervivum, or house leeks, which should like the drier conditions. They will also hang down nicely from the planting pockets once they’ve established. I’ve used some new plants and some that were rescued from an old and now broken pot.

I was also sent a couple of terracotta shallow pans, substantial pots that will take a lot of bulbs and are ideally suited to dainty treasures. They have been sold under the Yorkshire Flowerpots branding but are moving to the Cawthorne Pottery Company label.

One of my pans has been planted with a three types of Iris reticulata in shades of blue and purple, and the other with a mix of muscari. The latter are already starting to shoot.

As a change from the usual spring bulbs, I’ve put some perennials in a ‘Pie Crust Planter’. Hopefully, Heuchera ‘World Caffé Americano’, Imperata cylindrica ‘Red Baron’ and Helleborus ‘Harvington Double Apricots’ will give a long display. I couldn’t resist adding a few ‘Cream Beauty’ crocus as well. Inspiration came from Harriet Rycroft’s book on container planting, Pots, reviewed here.

The glazed pots are part of the ‘Flared Planter’ and ‘Kitchen Planter’ ranges, the first is designed so that the wide ‘lip’ makes them easy to pick up and move, while the ‘Kitchen Planter’ has a large, rolled rim. There’s a range of colours – some made to match Farrow and Ball colours!

I’ve used the sage green pots for a mix of purple tulips and narcissi, while one of the cream pots has a yellow mix and the other has bulbs, including hyacinths, tulips and crocus, in orange and apricot.

Planting a bulb ‘lasagne’ is a good way of getting maximum colour out of a pot. Just choose bulbs that will follow on from each other and plant the later flowering on the bottom layer, working up until you get to the first to flower, usually crocus. Winter pansies are the finishing touch.

So, what about the British Flowerpots products? They are certainly substantial – heavy to lift even before planting – with a good thickness of terracotta. They all have decent sized drainage holes and the shapes make them easy to plant – no awkward narrowing at the neck. The range of styles and addition of coloured glazes mean there is something that would suit most garden styles. I just hope my planting does them proud.

You can buy find out more, and buy some products, at British Flowerpots.

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