Mexican Flower Pots Are The Perfect Way To Add Bright Colors To Your Greenery

Thinking your outdoor space could use some brightly colored planters to make all your garden and patio greenery really pop? Mexican pottery, or Talavera, can be the perfect type of all-weather container to hold a variety of plants, and the vibrant colors are incredibly eye-catching. The first plant that comes to mind when you think Talavera pottery may be a cactus, since Mexico is known for having a huge variety of cacti growing naturally. Succulents also look beautiful trailing over the edges of Talavera pots, and these brilliant containers are right at home among agave and yucca plants in arid landscapes.

It's no wonder that these types of plants look great in Talavera since these pots are produced in several different regions of Mexico. The name comes from the Spanish artisans who relocated from Talavera de la Reina in Spain to work in Puebla in the 1500s. As they decorated churches and other buildings in the colonial town with blue and white majolica tiles (yes, the same type of Talavera tile you've been wanting to incorporate into your home) and other decorative objects, they taught locals their craft. As time passed, more colors were added to the Talavera palette and the designs became more distinctive and intricate. Today, homeowners and gardeners enjoy using this type of Mexican pottery among the greenery on their patios and lawns, and these pots are great for more than cacti and succulents.

Truthfully, almost any type of green plant looks gorgeous sprouting from colorful Talavera pottery. For instance, ferns can look right at home in a vibrant pot, and many, like foxtail ferns, are quite easy to grow in shade to partial shade. Smaller palms such as ponytail palms also look amazing in Talavera and they do well outdoors in warm climates. You can even plant a small tree like a dwarf lemon tree in a Mexican pot for a pretty contrast in color. 

You might also find yourself adding flowering plants to Talavera pots. Geraniums look lovely in these containers even when you have to deadhead them and they aren't blooming. Growing chili peppers in Talavera pots is also an option since the plants look good in them even when they're not producing peppers. Basically, in any area where you need a burst of color in a garden bed or on a porch, your favorite green plants will be right at home in a Talavera pot. A variety of plants growing in Talavera pots can be clustered together in container gardens, or they can be used for a colorful accent around your yard. They also come in a huge variety of sizes so they can hold the smallest of plants to the largest with no problem. Some have fun shapes like birds or rabbits while others are designed to hang on walls.

Talavera pottery certified by the Mexican government is costly to make since each piece is hand-formed using a potter's wheel, tin-glazed, double fired, and decorated by hand. Most of these items are made for use inside homes so this type of pottery probably isn't the kind of thing you'd use out on your patio to grow a cactus plant; a large ginger jar made by one of a handful of workshops in Puebla would sell from around $350 to almost $900 depending on the size. However, most of the vivid Mexican pots you can buy to hold the plants around your yard and porch are machine-made so they're not nearly as costly.

Even though the price of pottery has gone up drastically in general, Mexican pottery pieces generically called Talavera will cost you far less than certified Talavera (which has the name of the artist, workshop, and government hologram certification on the bottom). The machine-made versions are widely available in garden centers and import shops for $40 to around $180 depending on the size of the planter you select. So you can buy brightly colored containers in the Talavera tradition to hold all your garden greenery for a reasonable price.