Unusual Plant Containers

        Looking for ideas for creative plant containers? 

 

Yard sales are a great place to look for unusual containers to use for plants. Old tins, lunchboxes, baskets, bird feeders, old stove-top coffeepots, old metal pots and coffee cans can all make great plant containers.  Just remember that there must be drainage—poke a hole or two in the bottom and you’ll be all set.

 

I always thought it was strange that people would put their old shoes, some quite worn, in yard sales. I had better-looking gardening sneakers at home. Then it dawned on me that they would make unique planters!  I found a cute pair of toddler saddle shoes for 25 cents at a garage sale and brought them home for my first experiment.  I filled them with good potting soil and tucked in lobelia along with some long-acting fertilizer.  I tied the laces into cute bows and put them on from front door step.  They grew like crazy!  Anyone who came to my door commented on how original they were.  I had to remember to water them often, since there wasn’t a lot of room in there.

 

My aunt gave me an old work boot that she found in her shed; it was well worn, to say the least.  I filled it with dirt and planted “hens & chicks” wherever I could fit a root through a hole.  I leave it outside year round and it keeps coming back, year after year. The old boot sits in a spot in my flower bed that is easily seen. It, too, gets a lot of notice.

 

My mother gave me an old pair of boots she had; black vinyl lace-up things that she used to wear in the fall before snow came.  They were in pretty good shape but she didn’t want them anymore. I filled them up with good potting mix and planted impatients and alyssum in them.  They sit on my back porch.

 

I’ve heard of using an old purse hanging from the back of a chair as a container; might be really cute with ivy or a hanging petunia coming out of it. A pair of shoes tied together, hanging over a railing, planted with lobelia would be quite a conversation piece as well.

 

Be brave and open-minded when it comes to looking at old things with a new eye as unique plant containers; check our your basement and attic and you might be surprised to see an old wooden miter box that just calls for marigolds, or an old metal watering can that could be overflowing with bright white petunias. Go wild and have fun in your quest to find original plant container ideas!

More Nana and Hannah’s Travel Adventures

Laura, Hannah and I drove to the Old Port section of Portland; I’d forgotten how fabulous it is to be there and smell the salt water mingled with all the delicious scents from the cafes and restaurants! We walked the cobblestone streets and poked in several stores. I bought myself a casual dress and a lovely white ruffled skirt and bought Hannah several sets of Playmobil toys.  We had a wonderful lunch at an Irish Pub called Ri-Ra; we sat upstairs at a window seat that overlooks Casco Bay and watched water taxis and ferries coming and going.

After lunch we walked out on the wharf and checked out some schooners and the view of the city before heading back to Laura’s to drop her off and grab our gear for the next leg of our journey.

The drive from Westbrook to Bridgton is lovely, especially with all the apple trees and lilac bushes in full bloom. Hannah was quite taken with Naples and thought it pretty cool that there were different lakes on each side of the street; Sebago on the left and Long on the right.

We arrived at my brother’s house and Hannah went off to play with her new toys while my brother, sister-in-law and I caught up.  I hadn’t spent much time with them of late and they had recently been on two trips-Mexico and Las Vegas. My niece, Meghan, came in awhile later; I was quite surprised to see her as she lives in Farmington (an hour or more away) and attends college there.  She comes home on the weekends to work.  It was wonderful to see her and since she is studying to be a teacher, Meghan and Hannah had a great time visiting.

After dinner we all played the DVD version of “Singing Bee”.  I had never heard of the show, but I’m always willing to get involved with a game, expecially one that involves music. Well, I sucked. We really didn’t keep score; our idea was to just have fun, which we did.

The following morning, Hannah and I met my brother at the Police Station (he’s a cop), where he proceeded to give us a tour.  He did a great job explaining everything to Hannah in terms she could understand, but he didn’t talk down to her, which was wonderful. She wanted nothing to do with the jail cells! Bernie fingerprinted her for an identification card before showing her his police car. She sat inside and turned on all the lights and the siren, saw his shotgun, radar, camera and all the good stuff cops have.  She was quite thrilled with the whole thing.

The drive home seemed longer than the usual two hours, as it often seems to do.  We had a fantastic time, but I was really glad to get home and enjoy some quiet time with Hannah and to see my beloved Jim.

Until next time…