The-Artistic-Garden's Blog

A Reader Asks If She Can Successfully Use Hypertufa
To Bring New Life To Her Strawberry Jar

I received an email from Lael asking me:

I have a terracotta strawberry jar that is flaking off on the surface. I want to cover it with hypertufa. I would use about 1/2″ to 1″ layer, and leave the jar in place. Do you think that would work? I love your site and have made several spheres and a planter.

My reply:

Hi Lael:
Yes – your idea of using hypertufa to resurface your jar would work, as long as you do a really thorough job of scraping off all loose flakes and clean off any dirt, etc.

Then I would suggest to wet down the jar, apply a good coat of bonding agent to the jar; add some bonding agent into your hypertufa mixture and then apply it. Click here to learn more about hypertufa bonding agents.

But … do you want the peat moss to decompose for little pits and crevices? Or would perhaps a “pure” concrete recipe be better for this project if you want a smooth surface (since I don’t know what final look you are trying to achieve)?

All going well hypertufa or concrete ought to stick onto the terra cotta forever.

Good luck!

More About Marjin’s Use Of Hypertufa Rocks
for His Alpine Garden Installation

A couple of days ago I posted about one awe inspiring use of hypertufa for a garden wall and house and alert blog reader Nancy did some nosing around on the internet (thanks, Nancy!) and found a link to the crafter’s website www.v-d-brink.eu and there happens to be a video posted there of the actual installation.

I thought posting that video would be of interest to lots of people, so here it is. If you’ve ever wondered just how much you can get addicted to working with ‘tufa … well I guess Marjin’s backyard installation kind of answers that!!

If You’ve Wondered How Durable Hypertufa Really Is …
Take A Look At These Photos

While doing some research the other day that had nothing to do with hypertufa, I came across a search result that caught my attention, clicked on it and started to scan everything that was posted there.

The photos and comments centered around a conference that took place in Holland. About a third of the way down the long thread – Wowee! What I saw made me immediately think that I just had to share it with the rest of you. I’ll bet none of you have ever seen anything like this before – a house built from hypertufa! The most incredible thing to me is that evidently the owner built everything you see in these two photos from hypertufa.

Come on! Talk about a massive project to tackle! This gentleman was obviously dedicated to transforming his property into one incredible natural looking Alpine setting.

Here’s a snippet from the actual thread: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 – 8:45 pm / Poster: Paul Cumbleton “… the remarkable garden of Marijn van den Brink. He built this – and his house – himself over 4 years. Almost all the “stone” you see is actually hand-made hypertufa – including the large slabs over 2m tall!!”

This forum thread also has some wonderful photos of massive arrays of Dutch tulips, daffodils and other flowers, and also many photos of Alpine gardening ideas that I am sure a lot of you could adapt to use in your gardens, if for nothing else than to make an attractive rock garden in a spot in your yard that might need a little something interesting added for visual appeal.

So … if you question the durability of building something simple like a trough or making a garden stepping stone from a hypertufa recipe, perhaps these photos will prove to you that at least one person in the world believes 100% that hypertufa can stand the test of time!

As long as you’ve gotten the recipe ratios correct and you’ve properly cured the hypertufa then ‘tufa can last almost indefinitely. I must emphasize this, as a bad batch of hypertufa can start out looking like it’ll be OK, and then it can start to fall apart.

To view the entire thread, please go to: Dutch International Conference of Alpine Plants 2005

I hope you find the information on the hypertufa house and other creative ways to do rock gardening as interesting as I did. Enjoy!

This Gorgeous Dahlia Has Become
My Favorite Flower In My Garden

Just because I get so awe-struck every year when this Dahlia, cultivar ‘Contraste’, begins to bloom in my very own garden, I thought I’d share with everyone what this particular Dahlia looks like. I am always glad to see the new little buds pushing up from the ground in Spring, letting me know it made it through the winter.

I admit, I don’t dig up the tubers and divide them and then store them in the Fall like Dahlia aficionados would do. But I’ve never lost one of my Dahlia plants (I’ve got two other varieties) by leaving them in the ground. Maybe it’s because I’m in planting zone 6B and our winters aren’t as brutal as the more northern states.

Click here “planting zone maps” to find your particular zone if you don’t know it.

Purple does happen to be my favorite color, so the deep purpley-maroonish color of this flower certainly helps it inch on up to the top of my “most favorite flowers” list!

The Dahlia in this photo measures 6-inches wide! It brings a smile to my face every time I see it and I marvel at what God can create.