i have posted before about coating glazed urns inside with roofing tar-to make waterproof.i think you can use the same method for terracotta.you can read about my method at www.cottonarboretum.blogspot.com OR see below: Making glazed pots into FOUNTAINS, and cleaning them Posted by arbo_retum z5 ,WinchstrMA (My Page) on Mon, May 1, 06 at 14:38 SEALING/WATERPROOFING THE POT: We have converted three large chinese red glazed and blue glazed earthenware pots- to fountains. we have plugged up their bottom drainage holes by putting black duct tape underneath the hole, and then from the inside of the pot, filling the hole with 'Bondo'. after the Bondo has dried, we apply a thin opaque coat of roofing tar to the entire inside of the pot, up to the glaze. once that has dried thoroughly, the pot is ready to put in place,fill with water , and insert a pump, which we put on bricks.over the pump's water 'nozzle', we then put a piece of tight-fitting black pvc pipe , cut long enough to make a nice fountain but not too high or low. (this height issue and the water fountain 'look' that you want are what takes all the tweaking.)you may also want to play with various pump sizes. ELECTRICITY: even though electricians don't recommend this, we then plug in the pump to an electrical outlet using outdoor green electrical wire- like you use for outdoor xmas tree light.we don't bother to bury the wire(unless it crosses a path); we put mulch/shredded leaves over it to hide it as needed, and we do not take it up for the winter. the one drawback to this system, where we plug up the hole, is that you can see the electrical wire that hangs outside the pot, but that can sometimes be camouflaged. we use sealed pots for fountains but also for growing waterplants (cannas, elephant ears, water iris, waterlilies). we bring in our pots onto a screened porch but in z.5 they can be turned over and left outside if they are raised up off the ground. CLEANING: the ugly white milky lime deposits we eventually get on the outsides of the pots-i clean in the fall or spring.we tried Lime-Away but it didn't work well. Instead i devised this system: I use XXXX grade-the finest- steel wool dipped in BOILING vinegar(i plug in an electrical fondue pot next to the pots i'm cleaning to keep the vinegar boiling!!)I go over the outside glaze once-gently but firmly, keeping my st.wool very wet w/ the boiling vinegar. then i let the pot dry. if it still has lime, i go over it again and let it dry. then i coat the pot with a thin coat or 2- of butchers wax, buffed with towelling. the pots are placed on columns/pedestals in the gardens. i personally feel every garden needs some form of water. what a difference it makes.our gardens are on a busy main street so we have fountains and waterfalls spread throughout the garden. the sound is soothing and inviting and helps mask the street noise. i hope some of you find this info useful! best, mindy

"I JUST WISH I KNEW THIS 20 YEARS AGO !!!" I do, too, Freddie... I do, too! I could have done so much more, and come so much farther in growing... but, better late than never, as they say! The gardening industry doesn't offer much in the way of variety, mainly because that would defeat their purpose... a larger profit line. The more consumers buy, the larger that profit. And so, it doesn't do them any good to supply us with mediums or information that allow us to get longer life from our containerized plants and growing endeavors. But, we have generous teachers, like Al, who work tirelessly to explain the basic science of plants and growing, and offer us alternative mediums that we can easily build, ourselves. The addition of a better medium to unglazed clay containers makes for as close to perfect as one can get when working with the confined space of containers... and as we know, growing in the ground is quite different, as we are in control of moisture and nutrition and other factors when growing in pots. I think the bottom line is finding a medium that allows for the highest functionality of a plants' roots... after that, the container can be whatever you prefer as the gardener.

I've made several tabletop fountains for various events. One was a teapot fountain. I started with a big basket and a plastic basket liner to hold the water. Yes, you need to drill a hole in the bottom of the teapot. Then, run tubing from the pump through the hole in the teapot. You have to wire the teapot to a stake or something and wire the stake tightly to the basket so it doesn't tip over. I put a piece of oasis in the basket liner and put a saucer and teacup on top of the oasis lined up so the water would pour from the teapot spout to the teacup. As the teacup filled, it overflowed into the saucer and then into the basket liner below. I hid the pump behind the oasis and twined artificial greenery around the stake, the edge of the basket and all the mechanics. I added fresh flowers to it as well. It was really pretty. Oh, I used cold coffee as the water that was pumped...it is more colorful than tea. Another one I made was for a friend's wedding. Her husband was a fisherman in Alaska. I also did it in a basket. I cut some bare twigs and spray painted them white and then sprinkled them with glitter. I put some white Christmas decoration leaves around the top edge of the basket, then spray painted the basket, the white leaves and basket edge with artificial snow. I attached battery-operated white lights to it, hiding the wiring in the white leaves, then also sprayed more artificial snow to help hide the light wires completely. I attached the twigs to represent the tree line along the back edge of the basket. I had some big frosted glass chunks that I put in the basket liner. When I added the water, they looked like icebergs. I put 2 tiny ceramic polar bears on one of the icebergs. Water was pumped like a waterfall over the icebergs. I put some dry ice in the back, so it had a foggy mist over it. Their wedding colors were siver and blue, so I added a big silver and blue bow to the handle of the basket with long "tails" hanging across the snow scene. I've had a lot of fun with indoor fountains, and they're really easy to do once you've figured out the simple mechanics of it all. Just be sure you have a basin deep enough to cover the pump with water or you can burn the fountain out. I wish I had photos to share!

For all of the reasons you mention, not temps. A little spag on top is good. It "teases out" roots. I run my oncid types a bit dryer and use either straight up bark mix or S/H (semi-Hydro) and let that run dry. Spag on top of both mixes. I wouldn't mix spag w/bark especially if you live in FL. You are just running the risk of root rot and uneven drying. You've got plenty of ambient humidity. (the reason why some mix it up) Dancing lady is a cool classic flower! Enjoy it! Clara