I have grown trees and shrubs in all kinds of large containers (in zone 7), and what I've come down to is mostly using the best-looking "plastic" I can find (or resin or whatever it might be called). I do put them on dollies but I still need to be able to lift them. Oak whiskey barrels are virtually immovable when filled with soil and they do fall apart. But because the shape is so great, I have used some plastic whiskey barrels in certain locations, surrounded by some low plantings, or for veggies. A second option is to buy large square or rectangle teak or redwood (with integral casters or on a dolly) and use a cheap plastic container that fits inside. My father made several planters for me years ago and he shopped for inner containers from the array of plastic stuff like storage tubs and so forth that come in all dimensions. You can find specially-made liners at a higher price, though. When you shop plastic, it's interesting to note how some look more like something else (concrete, pottery) than others and so what I look for is ones that come the closest and/or are the least offensive replicas. Usually it's not the ones that try real hard, and terra cotta is the hardest to fake; some of the beige ones do better. So you can take a lesson from a book I read once on trying to dress well for less--you can't just always say, I want an inexpensive gray wool suit today. Instead, you have a feel for really nice fabrics, and then you look to see whether the inexpensive wool looks cheapo and a synthetic in a different color or weave might look more real, or maybe you had hoped to buy gray, but the black inexpensive wool looks much richer so you get that. So for containers, you go look at the good, real stuff and then you look at the fake stuff (now, I am using real and fake in terms of the problem of weight of the very large "real" containers, and to lesser extent cost) and you see which color and finish and shape do the best job of achieving the look you want.This could include containers that are obviously not pottery or stone--maybe a colored metal, or maybe a modern-looking synthetic, or it might be a very unobtrusive color that fades into the background--depending on your house style and the plants you intend to put in them. I have a few concrete planters that are small, and I love how they look now that they are moss-covered--definitely give the garden more of a sense of "age", and I'm keeping my eye out for how to achieve more of that--but they are in semi-permanent locations.

Carla Emory has a couple of paragraphs about home-grown rabbit food: "The old-timers who wintered their rabbits on food they'd grown themselves fed them such things as stock beets and cabbage in winter as well as their grain and hay. So can you. Pea and bean vines can be cured like hay and make an excellent hay substitute or supplement. "In season, rabbits like anything green, but you must be careful not to feed them plants that are outrightly poisonous, such as chokecherry or rhubarb leaves, or potato peels with sprouts or the ones that have been in the sun long enough to get even the slightest touch of green. Other greens are only mildly poisonous in the uncooked state such as pigweed, amaranth greens, spinach, comfrey, and Swiss chard--but for a creature with a small body weight like a rabbit, especially a young rabbit, these can be a problem too. Much of the reason that people develop a fear of growing their own rabbit food, or have had bad experiences with home feeding of rabbits is that they don't understand how very many greens, wild or domestic, are not fully safe to feed rabbits, and which are. Before feeding a leafy green or herb for the first time, check the list under "Edible for Rabbits" below, to see if there is a warning of any sort about it. Stick to feeding them human-type salad greens unless you know for sure a wild one is safe. If cooking is advised for a green or category of greens (the amaranth family), don't feed it to rabbits who, of course, would be eating it raw. If it's in the least toxic, don't feed it to them. If it might have chemical residues in it, don't feed it to them. "I plant extra rows of lettuce for them. And when I weed in the summer, I take along a bucket to put the pulled edible weeds for rabbits. Feeding this way you never have to buy a rabbit pellet and they do fine. When fed home-grown stuff, they'll grow a little slower (and more normally) to that 2-lb. butchering size. But it's far cheaper, and I have organic meat because conception on, they've been nourished with home-grown foods and greens, or hay and grain from a source I know is chemical-free. "Vegetables/Greens/Fruits: A combination of grains is better than a single one. A combination of veggies and greens plus grain and hay is better yet. Let your rabbits do some of the picking and choosing. They'll choose what they need. They'lll love much of what you offer of this sort, and it's a nice way to tame them--hand-feeding them some veggie treats. For pregnant and nursing does, variety is especially important. Offer the vegetables or leafy greens in season (the longer the season, the better). Garden and kitchen vegetables and fruit scraps can be included also, as long as they're not on the unhealthy list. If you're just starting to supplement a rabbit's diet in this way, go slowly at first until your bunny gets used to it. Limit what you feed so that surplus doesn't rot in the cage. Rotting surpluses are good for chickens or pigs, but not rabbits. In fact, rabbits can get sick from eating partly spoiled greens. Garden vegetables for rabbits, as for people, are mostly water. Greens are water plus lots of minerals and vitamins. Root vegetables are higher in energy supplied, lower in the mineral-and-vitamin department."

I couldn't get past the "a"s. American Holly. How many people plant hollies? Almost everybody and unless the dogs chew on the trunks, (do dogs do that?) the leaves and berries are fine. And American Hollies are in all the woods around my house. I find most of these lists to be ridiculous, like the warnings given on pharmaceutical commercials. Yes, most things are toxic but that's life. Don't eat bacon, btw. However, there are some very dangerous plants in which every part of the plant is poisonous and those plants I will never have in my yard. My dogs do dig and may accidentally eat a piece. Oleander, Foxglove and Angels Trumpets are a few off the top. These lists rarely distinguish between the deathly and the marginal and most people can't dig up their whole yard so they don't bother eliminating or never buying the deadly plants so common. Lowes had a bunch of foxgloves recently...they sold out quick.

Sharon, your first pic is not Purslane,(Portulaca), it's chickweed,(Stellaria). It would probably be good for rabbits, because it's edible and nutritious for humans. The second plant is not Echinacea, It's goldenrod, (Solidago). They are native plants, but some, like the one you have, are weedy and invasive. The seeds blow in on the wind, and they can take over a garden in no time because of their fast spreading root system. When removing them you have to comepletely remove all the roots, or it will just come back. I don't know if goldenrod is good for rabbits or not, but the wild rabbits in my yard never eat it. I can remove all the goldenrod each year, but the next spring there is always more. Your third plant looks like a weedy Veronica. Most species of Veronica are edible and healthful so you can try those for the rabbits. Some Veronicas taste like watercress. I live in Joliet, 40 miles south of Chicago.Sharon, it's kind of puzzleing what the wild rabbits in my yard are eating. They sometimes munch on the legumes, but I haven't seen any damage this year. I went to pull up a horseradish stalk I was trying to get rid of, and there was a bunny nest under it's large basal leaves, so I left it undisturbed. I heard you can grow new carrots from the tops that still have leaves, so I tried it, and the next morning I discovered the rabbits had eaten every last one of them. I guess they really love carrot leaves, though I'm also guessing that eating too many carrot roots is not good for them. Purslane is a weed that might make it to your yard on its own. Echinacea you would have to aquire. If you did have Echinacea last year, it may yet be still alive and choking inside the huge clump of Solidagos. Echinaceas don't do well if they are crowded by nearby taller plants.