DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
MATERIAL
Six materials, and what each one survives.
Garden materials are chosen for what they do outdoors, then for how they look. A material chosen for its appearance alone is a material chosen for a photograph taken in a studio.
Illustrative material record
- Fired terracotta
- Planters · breathes and dries out, but splits if it holds water through a frost
- Pale terracotta
- The same body with a lighter surface · shows lime bloom, which is harmless
- Cast stone
- Troughs and heavy planters · dense, so it must be sealed or it holds water
- Dark cast stone
- The same, warmer in sun · heat can stress a planted root zone
- Powder-coated steel
- Crates and frames · the coating is the material, and a chip is the failure
- Zinc
- Watering and outdoor fittings · weathers to a stable surface rather than rusting
Illustrative examples for a fictional range. Material selection depends on the climate, the position and the planting, and is confirmed against a specification rather than a web page.
Why "frost-proof" is not a material property.
Because it depends on the shape as much as the body. A wall that can dry out survives a frost that splits the same clay in a shape that holds water.
What a coating has to do.
Not look right, but stay intact. On steel the coating is the only thing between the weather and the material, so a chip is a failure point rather than a blemish.