Recycled Plant Containers

I've gone on a few garden tours and some of the prettiest gardens are those where the gardener has used broken pottery or unusual items for planters. One gardener had actually used an old cowboy boot to hold a beautiful display of Impatiens (one of my favorite annuals).

I love to see damaged crockery made use of again in a garden. How sweet to see an old teapot, spout chipped, but made useful as a container for petunias or lobelia. Years ago I bought an old wooden shoe at a yard sale and planted impatiens in it for quite a few years before it rotted away.

When I brought home a new tree about 10 years ago, it came in a heavy duty black pot that seemed such a shame to throw away so I filled it with soil and continue to use it till this day as a planter in the yard.

A couple of years ago I was at my local Walmart store in Florida and discovered a large stack of black, plastic containers in the nursery with a "free" sign on them. Apparently they were used to deliver fresh flowers to the store and normally put in the trash but a smart employee had thought it wiser to give them to customers instead.

Many of the winter residents in my park rent their trailers so they either have to purchase flower containers or do without...it doesn't make much sense to purchase when you don't know if you'll be renting the same trailer from year to year. I took all of the free containers from Walmart and distributed them to renters who had only to punch a drainage hole in the bottom and, voila, excellent planters!

I've bought some very nice pottery containers at yard sales...some people are only happy with flawless gardens. Personally, I think the chipped and faded pots give your garden character. I have one large ceramic pot in my back garden that has such large holes in it that its really held together by the chrysanthemum plant it surrounds. By the way, replant those Mother's Day chrysanthemums because most will reflower for many years to come.

I also save the heavier plastic pots that come with my annuals. They're stackable so don't take up much room and are perfect to use for giving away some of your perennials when you split them.

My own garden is eclectic...a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It's fun, and economic, to split a healthy perennial and transplant it somewhere else in your garden...or share it with a neighbor.

I went in search of a spectacular hosta for one spot in my back garden and found prices too high to justify so I'll wait till Spring and hit the yard sale trail. Enterprising gardeners often split their perennials then and put unneeded pieces in their yard sales. In fact, I have a large, beautiful hosta in my front garden that just may need to be split next year.

Recycling can save you money and make your gardens unique. All you need is imagination.