Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: garden, soda-fired, stamped

Working in the basement trying to prep, price & pack three kilns worth of pottery for my next two shows!!! A lot to do… plus I might be miSTAKEn… but these still need to be prepped for this weekend! High STAKEs to get them done in time… HA!… any guesses?… new for Art In The “Garden”… hint, hint…

Categories: flowers, garden

Crazy cool flowers growing in my garden right now… thanks to my Peoria friends Rosene & Gerry! I planted these several years ago from little spin-offs of their mother plant. It took awhile, but these Bear’s Breeches are looking really cool now! Even better… I have three more little spin-offs that I’m nursing through now. Hoping they take hold soon… and look as cool as these next year?!

Categories: flowers, garden, soda-fired, stamped, vases

Sometimes a single flower can be enough.
Big impact from a homegrown dahlia in a handmade ikebana vase.

Categories: flowers, garden

So excited to FINALLY have these growing my garden! I’ve always loved Black-Eyed Susan flowers. So simple. So classic. But I’ve NEVER been able to get them to grow in my garden. I’ve tried many times… but failed. People say they grow like weeds… except for me! People have sent me plants and told me they’re “impossible” to kill… and yet I did. But I decided to give it a go & try again, this time with some homegrown plants from my Peoria friends and their Spring Plant Sale. Now I don’t want to jinx myself… but they’re still alive & finally blooming!!! We might have broken the curse!!!

Categories: flowers, garden

The purple hyacinth bean vine is finally starting to bloom on my back porch… as it slowly climbs up my “curtain” of rusty metal gears, cow bells & chains! Very excited, because once it starts it keeps blooming well into Fall. And then we get treated with some dark aubergine-purple seed pods to harvest so the vine can start again next year!

Categories: flowers, garden

Coming soon… the big opening “debut” of the first dahlia flower in my garden! Can’t wait to see what’s inside this beauty.

Categories: flowers, garden

I’ve got a fun vine growing up my “curtain of gears” hanging on my back porch. Coming soon… purple hyacinth vine flowers!!! Can’t wait to see them start blooming… and the dark purple seed pods that will follow!

Categories: flowers, garden, nature

The latest blooming “addition” in my garden… loving the color, the polka dots & the graceful curls!

Categories: garden, mugs

Mugs for the non-coffee drinker?… try making it a small succulent planter! Drill a hole in the bottom for drainage, or just add a layer of pebbles before planting. The cutest!!!

Categories: flowers, garden

Such a pleasant surprise to see that my Wild Columbine is blooming again. I don’t think that I knew that these could even re-bloom… but apparently they do?! Just giving me one more chance to collect some seeds to spread around & save some for next year too.

I was told that these were quite “invasive” and they would spread like crazy… and they haven’t… even though I REALLY want them to!!! So I’m going to try both spreading seeds this Fall… and then sowing some more next Spring too with fingers crossed that one or the other grow all over the place!!!