There are some spray paints which will bond to plastic. So that could be an option. Also, my method if disguising pots is to put some kind of trailing sedum in them to grow down and disguise everything. Sedum sarmentosum grows over a foot long (~30 cm) and has a really shallow root system. I've not noticed any of my plants having issues with sedums in their pots.

Spray paint is no option for me, as I have asthma. The trailing sedum is not a bad idea, though. The only downside might be, I guess they will take some time to get enough length for trailing. However, I love to dot Sweet Alyssum here and there, to bind the pots together a bit... I guess, I could go crazy with the Alyssum this year and put at least one in each pot, and then go looking for trailing sedums.
The only problem with Alyssum, is that they wont always trail for me... Sometimes they mount more. Perhaps it has to do with the amount of water they get in whatever pots they are in. Perhaps it has to do with spacing... I÷m not sure. I have no idea what cultivar they are, as they just came to my balcony in a pack of white annuals. Then I÷ve let them reseed, wherever they wanted to show up, and just weeded out the surplus. Unfortunately a couple of pigeons decided to help me do the weeding, and were very thorough... they would just pull them out of the soil... and leave them there, not even use them for their nest! Two years ago, I had ONE left, that died in the great drought of 2011, when I went of to travel around England for three weeks at a spur of the moment, just as an heatwave was setting in. Luckily I just found some seeds the other day, that I had saved earlier on. I don÷t know how old they are, But they are OLD, perhaps from 2005, so let÷s hope they are still good.

Mine went from cuttings to taking over a whole pot and trailing down a foot in one season. I don't think ti will really take that long :)

LOL @ the great drought of 2011. I have something similar-- I refer to the "great kitty munch of 2012", the most recent time one of my cats helped me with my African violets by knocking them all off a window sill and then eating most of them.

I thing they just didn÷t like the cactus soil I had them in... They responded much better, to some cheap potting soil from the supermarket. In the cactus soil, they would grow a new leaf here and there, and not very long ones... with the cheap soil, they would grow new leaves everywhere, long ones, and produce loads of flowers.
Animals are just fabulous gardeners. I have a friend, who÷s mother÷s dog will dig up everything she has just planted, when it÷s visiting. - she calls the dog, "Gardener" - I call her Princess, because she will get very offended if anyone farts, while she is around... or move on the leather couch, so it produces a farting sound. -The previous dog she called "Superintendent", because he would bark at people who walked on the lawn.

Sometimes it is all in the soil! I had the soil of death my first summer here. Terrible. It killed everything in it in a matter of days. I changed it and everything thrived.

Belfry loves to chew everything I have then vomit it up. I feel bad for him because I won;t let him outside on the balcony without being supervised. Meanwhile, Puddles does great and gets to go out by himself. They do love to help though.

I wish I could have a dog, but it would be left on it÷s own too much, as I often work long hours.
I just had another idea for decoration. I thought perhaps I could "weave" a boarder with wire around the top - like old tinker-work... It would be a bit of an undertaking, but on a couple of buckets it might be OK. It÷s really around the rim, that they look the worst.

Hi vtgar! Nice to "see" you again.

With a hot glue gun, any number of items can be used to decorate the buckets. You could glue on ribbon or twine in interesting patterns; cut out pics from magazines - or seed catalogs - and glue them on. I once used some collected seashells to decorate a small 2-gallon bucket; turned out very nice and the glue held well for the two years I had the pot (a friend "liberated" it from me after that). Do they still make contact paper? That should be good as well - and a wood-grain design ought to be very pretty. If you found decals that interested you, those would work too.

I used to have a few big plastic buckets that I grew tomatoes in; did paint one of them and it looked good and lasted, but that was too labor-intensive, and expensive, for me. I roughed up the plastic a bit and painted it red, using an outdoor paint.

Just let your creative juices flow - I'm sure you'll come up with tons of ideas!

PV

I like the shells idea. Then again, I've made mosaics out of shells for years-- tables, fireplaces, etc.

Hey PV! How is that beautiful hosta of yours doing? -and all those clematis?

-How do you get the shells on, and keep them on without breaking? -When I was a kid, we had many more kinds of shells on the beaches than we do now, including some white ones, that had a thick shell. -Now we I mostly see some blue&black ones, that are very thin and frail... quite pretty on the inside though, with mother-of-pearl (if you find a relatively "fresh" one). However, they are very thin and frail... I think if I used those, they would brake, as soon as I even thought of handling the pot.

Hot glue works. I know for my projects I used silicone or caulk, but that wasn't anything that was heavily weathered.

I think the kind of shells I can find on the beaches here are too brittle, really... and if they break, they could become very sharp. But perhaps I can incorporate some small flat stones or sea glass if I go with my wire/ tinkering idea.
I÷m already working with metal wire to make small "baskets" for some "Chinese" porcelain cups I want to hang on the wall by my kitchen window, and use as planters. It÷s not that difficult, but it takes time, lol. I would probably need to figure out an easier way to do it on the buckets, so it÷s less time consuming - even if it÷s just a small collar around the brim of the bucket. Perhaps I could do one or two, and then see how they turn out. I÷m not expecting to get them all decorated this season anyway, but a few would be nice... then perhaps I can do the rest of them next winter.

I once saw someone use twigs. They stacked them around the bucket and then used ribbon or twine to tie them in place. I think it would be challenging to find that many twigs of the right length. But the look was very pretty. You can also buy bags of moss. I've seen that glued to the sides of clay pots. Possibly it could be glued to a plastic bucket?

Here's a few ideas for you
http://voices.yahoo.com/ways-decorate-plastic-flowerpots-6354226.html

Hmm, you are probably right about it being hard to find enough twigs the right size... But I just came to think that there is a plant that grows in abundance around here (I forgot the name of it), that becomes kind of woody, and very straight. I could probably use that one instead... even though, it is too late to harvest them now... they are much prettier in the autumn and early winter Almost mahogany coloured. I÷ve used them before as mulch, and they worked excellent for that purpose. A couple of walks in November, ought to get me enough to do a pot or two!
Thanks for all the input guys!

vgtar --- you remember all that stuff? The hosta has been divided and given away, as have most of the clematis. I've only kept The President. Have been paring down the garden in preparation for retirement and moving. Then I get to start all over again - in the ground. It's gonna be strange.

As for the shells, none of them were very fragile. I'll look to see if I still have a picture of the pot and post it. I like the twig idea!

PV

Oh, I'm like an old dog, PV. I remember EVERYTHING, except things I did last week, and what I was told five minutes ago. People are always amazed at what I remember from my childhood (right down to the lining on the inside of my baby carriage). Yet, I forget to pay the bills, even if I stick them on the door, and always forget to bring a bag to the supermarket. -Pin-codes you say? -HAH! -I'm keeping the bank afloat, by ordering new cards all the time!
So you are moving to a house? I hope you'll have a terrace for pots, so you wont get totally culture shocked.
I'm on a waiting list for an allotment. which would mean having both an in-ground garden for veggies, as well as a balcony for a few showy bushes and vines.

you can get a thick natural sisal rope like 1.5cm and wind it around the top of the bucket a few times - butt it firmly against the rim and secure ends with smth similar like black sisal, sisal withstands the water well and will age nicely. you can secure it with rubber cement - you can peel it off later too. rubber cement is usually sold in US in art/craft shops. you could draw a simple zigzag design around the rim with permanent marker - do you have those? but any oil paint will adhere well enough, i think. although the boat paints are the best for water-exposure. you could also get a roll of plastic electric tape, it comes in black/blue etc and adhere it in stripes around the top/bottom. it'll hold up for at least 1 season, depending on how much sun/water exposure you get.
here in US we can get 'copper' or 'silver' decorative plastic tape - you could use that too. it will probably tarnish though.
oh, i once painted my green plastic watering can with gold acrylic nail polish - it stayed on for years! it looked pretty cool too. like living room watering can:). just clean the surface first with alcohol or nail polish remover (try on one spot - it might take the sheen off plastic) and then you can paint any traditional folk designs on sides/rim/etc. red nail polish will look good on white, but now they make all colors, like blue or green too.

I wrestle with this too, ugly pots. What about coating the pot with glue, then covering with sand? I've thought about this many times but never have done it.

I glued shells to a few pots once and it was hideous! The gaps between them ruined everything, admittedly I did a terrible job. If it was covered with sand first though...

Someone has had a similar idea, and more gumption to get 'er done.

The 2nd pot down here has been decorated with glued colored sand in a pretty pattern.

similar idea with fake grassy/mossy stuff, and sticks.

actually it's not fake stuff, it's a lichen , they sell it as deer moss. and paint it bright green or other colors. but you can get natural too. it gets very brittle when dry and will crumble off. i root stuff in it.

Those are great ideas! I've got an old sisal carpet, that is close to retirement, perhaps I could reuse some of the sisal in that. Copper tape... I could make that work as well, I think! -I don't mind tarnished copper... looks great! -A similar idea would be to use metal leaf/ schlagmetal.
Sand is not a bad idea either... if the clue will keep sticking! Boat paint is actually not a bad idea... it might also function as a lasting glue... I'll check how much I have.

Perhaps something that incorporates all of those!?! Like a nature scene?

I'm really like where this thread is going... AWESOME!

you could pick up some simple geometric ideas from south-west native american pottery. just do a search for 'south west native pottery'. vintage is great. here's a sample
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/native-american/pottery

had another idea about sisal - if yours is not too stiff, you could cut rough pieces with raw edges, fray them a bit more may be or not and wrap them around pots - like the top half or 2/3s and bind with marine rope. or use burlap may be, they should have it cheap for bush wrapping for winter. rubber cement will hold sisal/burlap in place. with double row of rope and marine splice knot or just squre knot. several of them done like that will make a nice grouping.

It was actually something in those lines I was thinking.... perhaps small squares, where I pull some strings out to make them "frilly".. then glue them on close together, so the pot becomes almost furry. But that will have to wait until I have a new carpet... so perhaps it will be a winter-job ;o)

What about wrapping a bit of rope around the top on some of the pots to add a natural element and then using some white flowers to repeat the white of the pots. Think of the white as a color choice rather than being stuck with unattractive containers .

I LIKE the one with the sticks!!!

Wrap in burlap and tie with cord.
Or put them at on the back row and place more attractive pots in front.
Or take squares of colored tissue paper and wet with a white glue water mixture and slap it on in geometric patterns