I'm just not into the "garden junk" look but I used to have a cute planter that was a hollow tree stump!

Hee hee. I'm not into the "garden junk" look either, but some people seem to have a good eye for things that look really nice in the right spot. For me, I'm sure it would just look like a big mess if I tried things like old bikes, barbecues, etc. However, maybe someone will have some better ideas than I've ever had. Creativity isn't my forte.

BTW I've had a person give me a pretty bad rating for how I'm doing on my gardening so far. Hmmm. I know it's not great, (uphill battle and work in progress) but I also think the person has only seen yards of very affluent people, as I've seen many many yards worse than mine, LOL!

I'm not really into "junk" either but i have several old teapots that i've planted up and have them sitting on the steps of an old ladder.

Don't worry about your "bad rating" - it's your garden and you're working on it and doing your best. Give that person a bad rating for being snobbish and condescending!

I haven't done it yet but I was going to pot up an old canning kettle. I like things I can move around to where I think their needed. I'm also on the lookout for an old wooden wheelbarrow. What I've seen planted up is an old creamer bowl. It was planted with petunias and I thought it looked really nice. I saw Pudges boots and they are really cute!

I like planting in odd things. I think it works as long as you don't overdo it. Basically anything that can hold soil can work. I've planted in a variety of things over the years...an old birdcage, a wicker purse hanging from a branch, an old doctor's bag, battered tea pots, a broken bird bath, an old wheelbarrow, a magazine rack, a chair. Some of these things eventually rot and then I move on to something else. I don't like doing the same thing over and over again. It can be fun. I pick up things at yard sales for my garden. Since they cost nothing, I don't care if they don't last.

I once had an old mailbox and i put a container of trailing things just inside of it - looked quite pretty.

Ladder with 2 teapots and a cookie jar:

I've been looking for one of the mailbox, but can't find one. And i'm supposed to be working.... :>

I went to a "Grandma's Attic" home party several years ago and bought a metal bread box and a small metal version of a chamber pot. DH drilled holes in the bottom of them and they make nice planters. I have an old canner I use occationally and also have a large hollowed out fir block that is almost 4 feet tall I plant trailing petunias or nasturiums in....Jean

Marcia - love your pic!
After building our house several years ago, we had a lot of gallon-sized drywall mud buckets, so i painted them green and used them for planters on the porch rails. Couldn't see much of them after the plants grew. And there was less plastic in the landfill.

I never would have thought of using those buckets! Great idea Trisha! Thanks.

Marcia, love your idea of using a ladder but how do you keep those pots from falling off?

I like *some* garden junk (I certainly have enough glass garden totems) but have resisted planting in containers that are small as I have too much watering to do anyhow. I do have a vintage zinc bathtub ($5 at a yard sale) that I made a fairy garden in year before last but I didn't repeat it as I didn't really think it was worth all the effort. Might try it again just with plants. I also bought a pink plastic wheelbarrow at a yard sale to plant in but it's not very deep and the plants were drying out so I plunked them in the garden where they did well.

One thing I did last year was to use log rounds as risers for my medium size potted plants. Just took a couple of the largest ones out of the wood pile. I could then place the pots in the back of the flower bed. Will do that again this year - it's a rustic look that suits my garden.

I also made some hypertufa pots in which I usually plant hens & chicks but last year the marmot babies made short work of them. I think I'll put old birdcages over the pots this year and see if that works.

Glad to see this forum seems to be more active. Tis the season I guess! :-D

The pots don't fall off, they blow off! It's thick enough in there now that they land in that dogwood and are easy to retrieve. Oh, you can't see the dogwood in the picture, just one of the little euonymous shrubs. The dogwood has grown up so much that i'm going to have to try to move the two euonymous.

I also have a log riser and wouldn't mind one or two more. I'll need to raid the woodshed in the spring!

Great topic. For the past couple of years I like planting impatiens/colorful leaf begonias in a wicker basket (lined with plastic first to hold soil/moisture). The basket has a handle and sits on the rock behind the pond.

I do have an antique round wash tub that my Mom gave me and my sister-in-law painted bird of paradise flowers on the side. I put a basic plastic pot inside and plant flowers in that.

One year I was doing the 'tropical theme' and wanted a small plant for the patio table. I bought a coconut drinking cup from the party store that was a real coconut hulled out. I drilled holes for drainage and planted hens and chicks and one year portulaca in there. Things that can take drought though to be honest some years with the rain it stayed pretty moist.

One year I had a old vase (modern glass one that I got in a clearance section once) that I planted a begonia in.

I found a really neat wooden salad bowl at a thrift store that someone had painted a zebra like design on the side. I drilled holes for drainage and had begonias, potato vine, etc. in that last year. It sits on an wrought iron plant stand by the back door (here too, the plant stand was indoors which I never used so I put outside). The drawback to the salad bowl, however, was that it wasn't meant for outdoors and by the end of the season the wood had split.

One year I had tropical plants on the back deck just in plain black nursery pots but placed inside an old wooden coca cola case. I was going for the tiki wooden tropical theme.

I don't visit garage sales too much but sometimes I like to see if they have any old containers that might be used as planters. Thift stores are good if you are looking for wicker baskets or small, low, wooden bowls, etc.

Hey, Glen, you've never shown us pictures of your gardens. How about it? :)

This old papasan chair was once destined for the garbage - it now sits under a willow tree - last year it held impatiens, the year before these vines.

Look what i found - my aunt's "containers"!

Oh Wow...some great ideas!
This old wheelbarrow,...it was old when I got it about 35 years ago
pouring concrete, [side walk] on my first home in Lethbridge.

Konrad: I love your wheelbarrow planting. I also really like the idea of the pinecones around it. We have a row of pines behind our barn. The squirrels always make piles of cones. Guess I'll have to raid them, it's easier than having to pick them all up! There sure are some great ideas here. Marg

Just down the road here, a neighbour has an old wooden seed drill they plant up and have overflowing with petunias and other annuals, it looks realllly goooood!

Terrance