At home with Jackie

Do you have special teacups or maybe a chipped teapot that you rarely use? JACKIE FRENCH shares a creative way to enjoy them every day

A charming way to repurpose your teapots and teacups

My husband claims he fell in love with me the first time he saw me presiding over what seemed like a never-ending pot of tea and a plate of homemade choc-chip biscuits. We could never bear to throw that teapot away, even when its spout finally broke.

I feel the same way about Grandma’s old silver teapot, which I inherited and have used possibly twice. It sits on the shelf and looks lonely. That’s a pot that was meant to be used.

The delicate china teacups and saucers in our cupboard deserve to be appreciated, too. Theoretically, I drink my tea from a china cup and saucer, choosing each cup design according to my mood. In reality, I grab the nearest mug and help myself to a dose of caffeine when I enter the kitchen.

Chances are that you also have the odd chipped teapot, or some gorgeous teacups, sadly sitting idle in the cupboard. It’s time to bring them into the sunlight, and into use as containers for a special kind of pot plant – a ‘teacup garden’.

Most indoor pot plants need regular watering, removal of dead leaves, a little feeding, and scale or aphid control as they grow and flourish. The plant in your teacup garden isn’t meant to grow much. It simply sits on your windowsill, desk or table and looks lovely, emphasising the beauty of its container.

Teacup gardens do not need regular watering – in fact, too much water will collect at the base of the container, turning

the soil sour and slightly smelly, and possibly killing the plant. But watered correctly, with the right plants, a teacup garden is a unique, trouble-free and most lovable decoration.

ll your cup

Here’s how to turn your teacup or teapot into a beautiful plant display.

Step 1 Add premium potting mix to your chosen container to about two-thirds full.

Step 2 Choose a plant you love from the enormous selection of plants that will survive with irregular, small sips of water. The most obvious choices are cacti in their many sculptural forms, but there’s no point matching a loved container with a plant you don’t feel a bond with, especially one with prickles. My favourite teacup plants include echeverias, sedums, pot belly figs or the ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata), which looks spectacular with its fattening stems and drooping foliage. Even chives or garlic chives look superb, as long as you don’t decide to harvest them.

Tillandsias also come in a multitude of forms and can survive on moisture in the air, though a gentle misting or dribble into their leaves every week will ensure they endure. If you prefer to fill the container, try hens and chickens (Sempervivum spp.), which will slowly spill over the edges as they multiply. Another option is the spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), which also works well and sends out arching stems with ‘baby’ spider plants that can be planted when it’s their turn.

Hunt for the plants that appeal to you most at the best garden centre you can find, either the kind you wander round in person, or online. Luckily, the kind of plant that will suit this project can easily be posted, as it will most likely survive at least a couple of weeks in the mail.

Step 3 Plant according to your artistic ability. I have none, so my usual technique is to place a single plant in the centre of the container, though a scattering of tiny plants can look wonderful, too.

Step 4 Mulch with a layer of ornamental pebbles – white, black or that wonderful blue-grey, or whatever else takes your decorating fancy. Mulching with pebbles is important, as you need to keep the soil slightly moist (but not wet) for as long as possible. If your teacup garden sits on the kitchen table, you will also need the pebbles to keep the soil from splashing out when you get around to watering your poor neglected plant every week or even every month or so.

Not that it will actually be neglected. Place your teacup or teapot where you will see it often, and rejoice that it is finally being used, even if not in the way originally intended.