Pottery
In all three categories of our stoneware (Xeric, Mesic, and Hydric), we produce a variety of shapes to accommodate different needs. Plants with shallower root systems will usually thrive in low bowls, while plants with longer taproots require a little more depth in their pots. We also produce hanging bowls and unique pots for plants with very specific requirements, such as lithops, orchids, and lucky bamboo.
Our Story
Albert Road Garden was founded in 2015 to introduce new and inventive products to the garden marketplace. Growing plants can and should be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be challenging and intimidating, especially to the novice gardener. Our goal is to make it easier for customers to make the right choices to ensure that they are growing happy, healthy plants, and to take some of the guesswork out of the selection and maintenance of those plants.
We manufacture our containers here in Austin, TX, using all local (Texas) clays to make our stoneware pots. Because of this, many of our containers harbor small impurities that show up as flecks in our fired pots, and no two pots will have exactly the same coloration. Harvesting and processing our own clays is an incredibly labor-intensive process, but we think that the uniqueness of our finished product makes it all worthwhile.
made to grow
When it comes to picking out flower pots, most people will make their selection based upon design and price. That makes sense, because there's really not a lot of readily available information about what kind of containers are best suited for different kinds of plants. However, pots actually have a huge influence on the health and development of the plants they contain, and taking a "one size fits all approach" can lead to headaches and disappointment in the long run.
We use different combinations of local clay and firing techniques to produce 3 distinct types of stoneware.
Xeric
Our "Xeric" stoneware is our most porous product. It is designed for most cacti and succulents from very low rainfall areas. Our Xeric pots allow for deep watering of their plants, since the porous clay walls will wick water away from the roots and allow the water to evaporate quickly from the outside of the vessel. We recommend watering desert plants early in the morning on dry days (if outside) to allow the pots to evaporate most of their water by nightfall.
Mesic
Our "Mesic" stoneware is our most popular product. It is designed for succulents from semiarid regions of the world. The walls of our Mesic pots still wick and evaporate a fair amount of water but at a much slower rate than our Xeric pots.
Hydric
Our "Hydric" stoneware has very little porosity, and it includes both unglazed and glazed products (which have virtually no porosity). These vessels are suited for plants that need to have consistently moist soil, including most ferns and many houseplants from tropical rainforest regions.
