I got 13" x 13" x 24" and it was VERY heavy for me. The next size was
18" by something (maybe 13")and the guys where I was getting them
said it would be VERY VERY heavy for me!

I got two of them and am contemplating one more!!

J, what did you plant in yours? I plan on driving the car right around to the back of the house to unload. My DH will be with me. I think someone said something about using a hand-cart.

Where did you get yours? How much were they?

Gesila

Yeah,Gesila,that was me! Mine are too heavy to carry,and I used a hand truck to get them to the garden. They weigh a ton! The walls of them is about 3/4 of an inch thick. Good luck! Phil

Gesila, I got mine at a brick supply place and paid $18 each! My hubby had back surgery about 11 yrs. ago and
has had a weight lifting restriction ever since--not that he abides by it if I'm not around but when I am, I won't
let him help me very often and I'm on him like a hawk, which he hates. One of our SILs, bless him, helped me with them!

I'm presuming that the flue liners are open at both ends and ~1 foot high. Right? Are they deep enough that roots from trees, etc., won't invade? I've got a few of liners lying around the garage; that'd be an interesting use for them. Nance

I don't know why they are so hard to find. I just went to my local Lowes. Mine are deeper that that. About 24 inches deepx12 inches across. Phil

Our Lowes' does not carry them--it was the first place I checked!

I got mine today, 12 X 12 by 24 inches high. $18.20 a piece. I'm not sure about root problems. Maybe Phil can chime in on this.

I did ready about Spin Out liners. I'm thinking about using those liners in the bottom of some of our raised beds I am going to put in the back near the maple trees.

Gesila

Gesila, you can buy the spin out fabric by the bolt then you could line the whole
raised bed, perhaps!:o)

OMG hey j, that is sheer brilliance!!

LOL, Michele, not 'brilliance' just part of the rationale and making a way of a desperate and enabling hostaholic.!

I don't know about root problems,as mine are not near any big trees. Of course,they are open at both ends! They are used in chimneys? How would the smoke get thru? I haven't been using them for a long time,maybe a couple years? I just planted the third one this year,with Pineapple Upside Cake. The flues are actually many years old. We used to plant tomatoes in them. I saw a pic in one of Diana Grenfells books,and that's where I got the idea. Phil

You could just buy some of the spinout fabric by the bolt, like Janice said, and cut them in maybe 2 x 2 foot squares and shove them down in the bottom of the flues. Leave enough for some fabric to come up the sides and...voila`!

Can someone post a photo of a hosta in a chimney flue? I'm having a hard time picturing this.

bkay

Here are my two:

I want to get a third one for 'Sunpower'!

Phil has some to share--I know--and they're good!

janice

Very nice Janice! I love what you've done with your! Mine stick out like sore thumbs right now.

I wanted to use the liners to get some height into the garden and hide the chain link fence in the back.

Gesila

I don't have a close-up pic,but here are two of mine in the garden. The other one is farther down the hill. One has Red October,and the other one in the pic is Ginsu Knife. I just planted Pineapple Upside down cake in the other one. Phil

{{gwi:1037755}}

Okay, Phil--tell me you DON'T spend ALL your time down in your woods in the summer!!!
I sure would!! What a beautiful AND peaceful scene!

Janice and Phil, Thanks for posting the flue liner pics. Very nice!

Janice, do you leave your flues out for the winter? Do they or the plants suffer in the alternate freeze/thaw cycles? I tip all my containers on their sides to prevent plants from rotting and I bring all ceramic containers into the garage to prevent cracking. It's a bit of heavy lifting but seems necessary here in northern Illinois.

Mark

Mark, Phil can probably tell you about the over-winter aspect, (just got mine) though he did tell me he has
had no problems with them! I have had no breaking of ceramic pots in our zone 5, which can get plenty cold,
but maybe not as cold as your area of '5'! I cannot leave out clay pots, though but they are more porous, while
the flues are vitrified clay!

I use to tip my pots but I have found that burying them about 1/4-1/3 down has been a success--so far!
Time will tell but over the past 2 winters I've not lost any I've done that with! I even have a huge pot
sitting on our deck railing corner that has survived, as it sits, when in the past I would lug it down and
tip it with the hope it would have a better chance!

Well,down here we don't have the freeze thaw/ cycle you all have up north,so no,I don't have a problem with the winters here. They sit outside winter,summer and all year around. Janice,no,I don't spend all my time out there! Right now it's too hot,but it is much cooler in the woods,I must admit! We were 92 here yesterday,with little or no chance of rain for this weekend. Phil

Thanks for the photos.

bkay

Do y'all know of an inexpensive source of SpinOut fabric that I don't know about? It's $150/roll PLUS shipping!

Could you not simply put a patio block under the flue, roots certainly will not be able to go through that concrete?

Brillant idea Bernd! Going to get some right now. The one I want to plant next is going where there are some serious roots.

Gesila

I'm not sure it would work to keep roots out, but I sometimes use screen wire in the bottom of pots that have really big holes (to keep the dirt in and let the water out). The plastic kind is really pliable and conforms to the pot very well. It might work.

bkay

I found an article thar recommends filling all but 8 inches of the liner with gravel. With that much gravel roots from below should never be a problem. However, hostas and many other perennials should have more than 8 inches for their roots.

Mark

Here is a link that might be useful: Country Living Article

I use pavers under my half-whiskey barrels which seem to keep roots out, but pavers have to lie on top of the ground, not flush with the ground. Flue and paver probably do not match perfectly, which means there will be a little gap on some places around the bottom of the flue to let water out, as needed.
Good luck! Bernd

Treemon, thanks for that great article. It suggested using the liners for invasive plants you`d like to keep...I didn`t even think of that!
A liner with some Chameleon plant, I love the idea!
I just Googled the liners...why did I do that to myself!
These are GORGEOUS high end liners.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clay Chimney Flue Liners

Nutmeg, I saw those GORGEOUS high end liners too. I think they are actually called chimeny pots. I'm going to see how my ordinary clay ones hold up over the winter. If they fair well, I am going to start requesting those chimeny pots for Christmas, birthday, etc. gifts!

I'm wondering if there are any brick suppliers that have those chimney pots in a "scratch and dent" sale? Or maybe one they ordered that the customer ended up not wanting.

Chameleon plant? I can still smell (mentally that is) the roots on those and it's been a year since I dug mineup. They were only in my garden for a week before I read about them being invasive. I found one the other day that had grown up through 4 feet of dirt. I must have missed a very small root.

Gesila

Gesila, I must be one of the rarities. I can`t even grow it! lol
I bought a nice little mounded plant five years ago, before I knew better.
Every year it got smaller, last year it came back as several tiny leaves I had to search for.
THIS year, it is the same little sprig, now TWO whole inches tall, with one tiny white flower.
I planted it in the most bone dry, hard clay, full sun area right next to the sidewalk, where I hoped it would fill in as a groundcover. I've read that that kind of siting is the only possible hope of it not going crazy.
MAYBE.
Now that I think about it more, putting Chameleon plant in a liner with an open bottom and rich pottting soil would be a bad move!
Thanks for helping me rethink that before it was too late!

Oh, I don`t have to worry about ever being able to afford those massive, pricey liners. But, I can still look!
Michelle

You use to be able to get "seconds" from Superior clay (the link above) but you had to go to their factory. Lucky me they are in a nearby town - at one time called the Clay Capital of the world because they made so much clay sewer pipe. When plastic replaced clay, all the clay plants closed, except Superior which adapted to the market with chimney pots and other clay products. There is a clay museum which is really cool. The clay workers used to make all kinds of stuff on their off time. Planters, tombstones, lamp bases. http://www.dennisondepot.org/claymuseum/

And that is your history lesson for the day.

I planted mint in a chimney pot and the roots went out the bottom and you know the rest of the story. Definately line them for invasive plants.

I like the look. I also think this could be a deterent for voles if a litte fine mesh fencing was put in the bottom.

Well well, look what came back to life!

I have one chimney pot that was at my favorite local nursery. It was huge! Since I got it BH (before hosta), it is sitting off in a corner, but now will come in handy like Gesila says, to raise the viewing area. IF I can manage to get it on the dolly to its preferred location. I have two tall square clay flower pots turned upside down, and hosta in containers sitting on top of those. Even empty, those pots are heavy to move.

Another source for old chimney pots would be an architectural salvage yard. They have everything. My wrought iron security door (removed and given away) is about to come home and might be used for climbing vines.
It could be placed against a solid plain (bare) wall, and fixed to look like a gate in the wall where there is none.

Gesila, how tall is your chain link fence? can you plant vines on it? Down here (and in Tuscany where I saw it first) I am putting star jasmine, evergreen in our zone, and it is already beginning to cover our 7 foot high chain link fence. It will be gorgeous once it fills in.