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Flower Pots

The mutiny on the Bounty, in which sailors overthrew the dictatorial Captain Bligh, is known to movie buffs through the 1935 classic starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton - and four other versions. Before I went to the show at Smith College, I didn't know that the reason the HMS Bounty sailed for Tahiti and the South Pacific was to collect breadfruit trees and ship them to the West Indies - to start plantations producing cheap food to feed slaves.

Shipping the thousand trees was not easy. The ship had to have skylights installed in the central cabin, and scuttles (windows) for proper air circulation - three on each side. The journal of William Bligh explained that a false floor had been made to contain the pots for the trees so they would not move about in high seas. The sub-floor was lined in lead so that the precious fresh water for the plants could be recycled. The breadfruit plants were transported in clay pots, which by then were commonly used to transport the booty of plant collectors.

We may think we're crazy about plants and excited about getting the newest varieties, but this is not a new phenomenon. During the reign of King George III (1738-1820) over 7,000 species of plants were imported from the New World - again, presumably, mostly in clay pots.

But the world changed in 1961. That year, plastic pots were introduced to the nursery trade. In the decades prior, trees and shrubs were dug for you and wrapped in burlap. And most people started their own vegetables and flowers at home from seed, as there were no plastic six packs. Gardening started in March or April indoors - and generally at home.

According to Elmer Brown, a nurseryman in Thetford Center, Vermont who has been in the trade for over 50 years, garden centers back in the 1950's made do with what they had. Nurseries raised tomatoes and annual flowers in wooden trays. If you wanted six tomato plants, someone would take a sharp knife and cut them out of a wooden tray and wrap them in newspaper for you, he said.

When he was young, Mr. Brown worked for Henry Fields, a nursery in Ohio that sold plants through their catalog. They dug perennials like peonies after they went dormant in the fall, washed off all the soil from the roots and stored them until spring. As orders came in, they shipped the bare-root plants - just wrapped in newspapers and mailed in cardboard boxes.

Lewis Hill, a retired nurseryman in Greensboro, Vermont, told me recently that most plants he raised in the forties and fifties were dug at a customer's request, and only in the spring. He used to buy old metal sap buckets for five cents each in the late forties to use for trees and shrubs. Later someone developed pots made out of tar paper, but, he said, "They smelled terrible, and were hard to get rid of." Once the plastic pot arrived, they sold plants all summer long.

The latest development in pots, and an excellent one, is the self-watering pot. I recently visited Gardener's Supply in Burlington, VT (1-800- 427-3363 or www.gardeners,com) and saw that they have an excellent selection. The pots work on the premise that most plants do best if the soil stays lightly moist, and that wicking water up from the bottom is better than adding water from the top. Watering tends to wash away soil nutrients, but wicking water up does not. Some plants, notably herbs, like to be allowed to go very dry, but they are the exception.

I've tried self-watering pots, and like them. I prefer those that have side holes that allow you to add water directly to the reservoir, or to check the water level with a finger. Those that fill from the top come with flotation indicators or dipsticks that seem a bit difficult to fathom at times.

The pot exhibit at Smith College is long gone, but I'm told they have a spectacular bulb show from March 4-18, and I've already marked my calendar. The greenhouses can provide a nice respite from winter weather. For more information go to www.smith.edu/garden or call 413- 585-2740. Meanwhile, I've got plenty of plants in pots to fuss with inside until spring arrives.

Henry Homeyer is the the Vermont/New Hampshire associate editor of People, Places and Plants magazine. His website is www.gardening-guy.com. He may be contacted at gardening.guy@valley.net, or P. O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, N.H. 03746.