Maybe Gardener's Eden?

Try looking at greenhouse shelving systems. Made intentionally for this purpose, very stable and also rust resistant.

@tfitz1006 I wasn't familiar with that, but it looks like it's no longer in business: https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/977/ I'll peruse the comments there and see if anybody has a suggested alternative. Thanks for the reply, though!

You have a green thumb with so many plants. There are at least twice as many plants and big pots as the structure was designed for. It's supposed to be "one big plant per shelf or three little ones". Think prize bonsai display, not supermarket herb display.

Try taking half the plants off for a week. Put the big pots on the bottom shelves with one big pot per shelf. If the structure straightens up, you'll know you need a second (or third!) one. It's a marvelous collection.

If you want to go custom with a carpenter-built display area, consider something like this which has shelves bolted or screwed to the walls as well as supported by sturdy legs. Or consider flat slat wood benches that are available ready made.

Bonsai Display Garden · More Info

Serious gardeners build their own. This gardener would never be tied down to a shelving unit full of small pots that need twice a day watering.

@arcy_gw Just as a point of note, with succulents you often water only 1-4 times per month, which is a far cry from twice-per-day watering. 😉 Containers on a shelf let you create a controlled environment that doesn't have to be as vulnerable to the whims of the weather and how well your yard retains moisture.

@apple_pie_order Thanks! Maybe we will have to get something built. My collection has usually been about twice this size, but I culled them significantly before moving across the country. So I'm going to want a solution that gives me vertical space and can support this kind of volume. I'm also flying a little bit blind, because I was a pretty accomplished succulent gardener back in zone 9, but now I'm in zone 8 with hot, Texas sun and I'm having to re-learn what works and what doesn't.

I don't think your current shelf is wimpy- just overloaded. Like as been said, more pots than are meant to be on it. A lot of us gardeners oops like that too in our beds with the fit a few more or got a couple extra plants to tuck in things. I know I've been caught with a pot or few too many herbs for the porch, or that extra flower I didn't have and couldn't resist ending up tucked into somewhere.

It's OK if you don't want to build your own. A lot of serious gardeners don't. That's why there are companies that make good sturdy greenhouse and outdoor shelving. There's outdoor plant stands that are made of metal that look nice. Some indoor plant stands can become outdoor with with a goodly waterproofing. And a bit to the side, but I've seen bakers racks look pretty good as plant stands.

@beesneeds @apple_pie_order Interesting, it had not occurred to me that this is more plants than it was designed to hold. I think succulents look so much more attractive all squished up together, looking like a horizontal version of an abundant bouquet, so this had literally never crossed my mind. Thanks for the suggestion.

Oops I’m sorry, I meant Gardener’s Supply.

Well, I'm glad you posted this, because I have been looking at the same shelves you have and I wanted to put my Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter cactus on them. Way more than you have.

I hear ya Sarah. I got the tendency to make the pots plush together a bit too much. Thus my too many herbs, lol. Theres just something really satisifying about seeing them like that. Very visually bountiful.

Sarah. If you like the shelf in your image. imagine the 2 taller sections are posts, then you could array shelves such that they run between the 2 posts or are cantilevered left and right off of individual posts. This would allow you an array of large and small posts. You could even install more than 2 posts inline or make l-shaped arrangement.

I used to own a glazing contracting operation (glass company). While the followi8ng image was taken to illustrate a soil screening set-up, in the background you'll see a patio table with a glass top:

The frame of the table was left at the business when its owner decided he could buy a whole new table for what a custom piece of tempered glass would cost, so I saved the table with an eye toward using it for plants. It wasn't long before I found myself to be proud owner of a tempered glass shower partition our supplier made wrong. As you can see, I set the partition on top of the table frame and ended up with an extra 24 sq ft of growing space. I laid patio stepping stones under the table to make it easier to maintain the grass.

The poly planks you see in the image immediately above are GREAT for growing on. These are more than 20 years old and are still as serviceable as the day I bought them. They can be found fairly readily in different lengths/ widths/ configurations.

In the foreground, you'll see a pot turned upside down with a 24x24" paving stone set on top of it. This makes a very sturdy table. This could be used in conjunction with pots of different hts or posts to which the pavers could be attached or cantilevered.

I built the structure above and below against the garage wall between the overhead garage doors. More pavers would allow a structure with as many levels as you like. Size of the pervers serving as table tops is 24 x 24.

Al

@tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a) Thank you very much for your thoughtful post! I love what you did there. One challenge for our space is that our porch is significantly elevated above our yard, so if I want to be seeing the plants, they need to be on top of our nice tile. I'd be hesitant to pile all those heavy stones on top. But maybe I should look for DIY glass solutions; that's a direction I hadn't really considered. Is there another name for those "poly planks" that you described?

Thank you!

sarah, have you ever seen what they do w/cinder blocks? lots of ideas. and you could incorporate what you have, plus some other types of shelves that you make. I'll show you some of the pics so you can see what I mean. you can image search 'cinder block plant stand'.

you can paint them, stencil, mosiac, stack them, even plant inside them.

I love how they painted these. against your white wall, this could look cool.

these would look nice painted, but you can see how they incorporated some simple wood shelving. make sure to coat the wood w/a marine varnish.

Sturdy ladded bookshelf. make it or find a wood one. again, use a marine varnish coating on the wood.

if you use all of the same types of terra cotta pots, you get this look.

make a bench while you're at it w/blocks and 4x4's.

Hi Sarah-

I don't have any suggestions for where to purchase plant stands for you, but looking at what you have, what is missing in the one you have that would lend it good support are trusses.

At the risk of being overly simplistic, those are the triangularly placed pieces that lend support to a structure.

Intuitively you know this.

You knew it every time you watched your mother set up the ironing board.

Climb under any well-made all wood table and you will find some structural member placed triangularly.

Ditto for every picture frame, bridge, cathedral, etc, etc.

(The flying buttress was a truss made out of masonry that made it possible for all those medieval cathedrals to be built.)

Why not ask the architects here on Houzz for some suggestions where you or your husband can place some trusses on your current plant stand, or cruise the local smaller lumberyards near you and see if they have anyone that does small projects on the side. This would be a little job right up their alley.

(The trick of course, is deciding where to put the truss so it doesn't interfere with plant pot placement.)

Or they could make you something to your specifications.

If you are willing to consider storage shelves rather than just plant stands, you may get many more options. Obviously, this doesn't let one stagger shelves for maximum sun exposure and display like a typical plant shelf. I have been using Ikea's HEJNE pine wood shelf unit on my balcony for a couple of years and it can hold a lot of plants. HEJNE Shelf unit, softwood, 303/4x195/8x673/8" - IKEA You might also consider something like these galvanized stands for sturdiness but they are probably not very pretty. Real Living Galvanized 3-Tier A-Frame Metal Plant Stand | Big Lots HYLLIS Shelf unit, indoor/outdoor, 23 5/8x10 5/8x29 1/8" - IKEA

WOWZA! How absolutely marvelous!

Crate & Barrel

CB2

IKEA

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/rooms/outdoor/

Last year, I ended up buying what is actually a bench for this very purpose. Nice and sturdy and I can store pots on the shelf below.

I could also recommend a nice stury baker's rack like this. Put some heavier plants on the bottom to anchor it. You can also anchor to the wall for even more security.

I live in Colorado, land of 70 mph winds. If it's going to be particularly bad, I will go outside and move everything down onto the deck.

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-8021-54/Industrial-Wire-Shelving/Black-Wire-Shelving-Unit-30-x-18-x-54?pricode=WA9271&gadtype=pla&id=H-8021-54&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3IqSBhCoARIsAMBkTb1_B1hxLKN-0pegBfoSv22dF2c8hmuMsvEWKTrz0RrJm2GtmZMdBvYaAmAtEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Used outdoors for years. Zero problems.

I thought I'd give an update. Inspired by the comments here, I ended up getting the Ikea Tordh outdoor shelf. We tested a bunch of stains, but none of them looked quite right with the colors we had on the porch, and eventually we painted it SW Anew Gray. We used SW's Emerald Urethane paint, which I was told was the best choice for something outdoors that we didn't want to have to do a lot of work to maintain. It took two coats to cover the Tordh's red look.

The shelf feels extremely sturdy and I'm very happy with it!

Thanks, everyone, for your advice!

That looks neat.