May 23, 2013

Guy Wolff Pots & An Old Geranium

I love old terracotta pots, and the more rugged and aged they are, the better. I try to pick up old ones when I see them. I was at a yard sale a few years ago and picked up a Guy Wolff terracotta pot, and recognized it from seeing them in catalogues and maybe at the old Smith & Hawken.

So when I was at Trade Secrets last week, I was delighted to have the chance to meet Guy and see the whole range of his pots.

Guy or one of his apprentices throw each pot by hand at his studio in rural Connecticut. And each pot is slightly different because of that, and they are all signed and dated.

This past weekend, Reggie and I got to talking about flowers, paintings, portraits, and of course, much, much more. I was talking about the portraits at my office and how we had a few Rembrandt Peale portraits of some of our early presidents. He reminded me of the Rembrandt Peale painting of Rubens Peale, one of his 16 siblings (each named after an artist), and a pot of geraniums. imageOf course, Reggie is familiar with this painting, having written about three years ago. Here.

Guy Wolff makes a pot called the Peale Pot, named after the pot in the painting. The Peale pot has some roping around the top edge and nicely tapered sides. Of course most appropriate thing for this pot is a geranium. And that’s what I got. But not just some road-side nursery geranium, but a cutting that is a descendant of a plant that was originally propagated by the master himself. Thomas Jefferson. {Genuflects}

According to Reggie, the Wolffs received a cutting from a plant that Peale had given Jefferson, and that Monticello’s staff managed to keep alive for two centuries. The Wolffs gave Reggie a cutting, and now Reggie and Boy have given me a cutting. Boy carefully wrapped the cutting in wet paper towels, put it in a zip-lock bag with a wee bit of water, tied it with some twine, and I hand-carried it the 300+ miles back down to Baltimore. It’s now resting in an old milk bottle, waiting to begin rooting. Once some roots have been established, I will repot it in the Peale pot which was a gift from Reggie and Boy, and hold my breath that it starts growing. It’s times like this, and especially days like this, that I miss my father, who was a great gardener. He could make anything grow, and I remember him having grow lights in the cellar, prepping for spring and planting season. Today is the anniversary of my father’s death, and you can read about what an interesting person he was here.

13 comments:

  1. Your dad's spirit lives on through your love of gardening. I too have been on the look out at yard sales for terracotta pots found some and just yesterday I divided and re potted my geranium. I do hope it re blooms. Good luck on the Jefferson Geranium but wait a 200 year old geranium it must be huge or cuttings have been made through the years propagating a "new" plant but the same dna as the original?? I just read something the other day about starting a geranium from seed vs a cutting and how pollination factors into changing things ... my first pottery er ceramics instructor threw coffee mugs on a production scale mastering a cylinder shape is the gateway on a wheel. lol

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  2. What a delightful way to remember your father. I hope it's blooming marvellous!

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  3. You delight, entertain and educate on a daily basis and your blog is one of my first early morning reads -- love the surprise of learning something new. Had the pleasure this week of finding a small geranium plant sprouting in the middle of my carrot row in my small NYC garden plot. Such lovely and hearty plants, and what a thrill for you to have received such an historic cutting.

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  4. I have a few of his pots as well (although with my black thumb the things I plant tend to need to be replaced yearly...) - one beside me here at the office actually with an ivy topiary. Lovely story to have that geranium clipping; Your father would be so proud!

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  5. What a wonderful lesson this morning and what a thoughtful gift from Reggie and Boy. You never disappoint. I look forward to seeing the Geranium in full bloom as I'm confident it will do well.

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  6. Love the post. I've had great luck with a Schultz product called TakeRoot. It's a rooting hormone that jump starts the rooting process. You just stir the end of your cutting in the powder and plant in moist potting soil. You won't have to wait for the roots to develop in water. Lucky you, with a heritage geranium AND the pot to plant it in!

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  7. what a delightful post! and to think that plant has survived. How lucky is that for you.
    xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  8. Meg, Your father was truly a Renaissance man.
    I know you have many happy memories and now I understand your knowledge and interest in so many fields. I've always adored the Peale painting and I am ordering a Peale pot from Wolff pottery. I'd never noticed that he was holding a pair of glasses until I read Reggie's blog about the painting!! So much for observing detail.

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  9. What a great idea! I love it.very interesting to read thank you

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  10. I know what that kind of anniversary feels like - and I'm glad you have things that remind you of your dad, so that when you do them you feel closer to him. For me, it's smoking pipes. I actually have a small collection of tobacco pipes and a pipe rack of my own. I don't smoke every day or even often, but when I do, I sit out on my patio and have a pipe with my dad. I think he would have thought I was a weirdo, but he always did, and he was right, so that's okay. 8-)

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  11. Dear Meg, It was a great pleasure to be able to give you the cutting and also a Guy Wolff Peale Pot in which to plant it. From our house to yours, as they say. You will find the geranium is very hardy, and grows like Topsy, benefitting from regular (and severe) cutting back as it matures. That means there will be many opportunities to pass on clippngs to others, as we have done over the years with pleasure. It is part of the joy (and honor) of having the plant, a (supposed) descendant of the Peale geranium, in one's life. Enjoy it! Reggie

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  12. I'm soooo jealous I missed Trade Secrets! Did you run into Martha Stewart? I wanted to ride up with my friend Helen who attended. Helen's friends had a booth: Hoffman and Woodward. They also participated in the Ladew show. That's what Jonathan told me when I ran into him at Rosselli this week.

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  13. ooops I kept babbling and forgot to say I love Guy Wolff's pots. Even weeds look good in a GW pot :)

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