Use and Care Manual

USE CARE MANUAL FOR DURX – LITECRETE
IMPORTANCE OF PROPER CARE FOR YOUR PLANTERS AND
GARDEN STATUES
Creating your outdoor environment is an ongoing process. A beautiful landscape can add
not only value to your home, and offer the perfect space for entertaining family and friends,
it can also create a spiritual place to rejuvenate, relax and reflect among nature.
Planters are simple way to brighten up any area of your home. Whether a front entryway,
your patio, or along a pathway, these large planters can add pops of colour and lots of
contrast to an otherwise dull area. Whether you have modern outdoor planters or simple
containers placed around your yard and patio area, proper care and maintenance will create
an area that all of your guests will swoon over.
Gardens have always had a certain mystical and magical character. They mesmerize us
with arrays of dazzling colors and aromatic smells and flavors, transforming themselves into
wonderful sanctuaries ideal for meditation, relaxation and spending quality time with friends
or in the company of a good book. Garden statues can be a part of this complex visual
stimulation, adding a touch of sophistication or playfulness to the great outdoors.
To maintain the beauty of your garden statues for as long as possible, it’s important to give
them proper care. Painted statues should be kept in enclosed areas, protected from the
elements. You can also keep them in exposed areas if you coat them with liquid car wax.
CLEANING TIPS
Ceramics
Using some dish soap and a hard-bristle plastic scrub brush, give the planter a thorough
cleaning, inside and out. Rinse to remove all soap residue. Now, using my favorite cleaner,
vinegar, wipe the entire pot with full-strength regular or apple-cider vinegar until all the
white mineral deposits have dissolved. Fill a water bottle spray with half water and half
white vinegar solution, spray and leave for a few minutes before rubbing off.
On ceramic planters, try removing very heavy limescale deposits by rubbing gently with an
old toothbrush (or for very hard and encrusted limescale, try using a pumice stone gently).
Clay
Terracotta has many advantages for the gardener and flower grower. One of the greatest
is the fact that clay is completely natural, porous, and has thermal properties that make it
an asset to plants. Those who use terracotta know that the porous nature of clay means
you cannot easily overwater plants, the roots can breathe, and the clay itself has excellent
heat retention and repellent properties. All of this adds up to better plant care.
These traditional, beautiful earthenware pots are heavy and subject to breaking, however,
some care must be taken in their handling and use. The porous nature of the pots also
makes them more difficult to clean between seasons especially if you’re unaware of how to
properly go about it.
Cleaning terracotta is all about keeping fungus and algae from growing. The pores that
naturally occur in the clay can harbor these and pass them on to the plants when you
replant. Cleaning is not a difficult job, however. It just requires that you know what to do
and why you’re doing it.