Ideas For Quirky Pots/Containers - Alternative Ideas to Standard Pots

I'm growing a large collection of plants that I want to put in pots permanently and was wondering if anyone had any quirky ideas on what to use instead of bog standard terracotta pots or oak barrel, which are expensive anyway.

I was hoping to use a few old metal buckets but don't think this will be appropriate for all of my plants. I have a bay leaf which I'm looking for a large pot for, which I don't think a standard bucket size would do in width of depth.

Also I have a Cat Mint which after buying a few weeks ago has been mauled by the local cats. I need some sort of container that would be tall and thin so the cats wouldn't be able to reach it. Don't really want to use a chimney pot as they seem so expensive now for some reason.

Would love to see if any members have any pictures of some of their quirky pots too.

 

old galvanised water tanks are great, can be left natural or painted the colour of choice.
old drain pipes or new ones even for something tall and thin.
old metal chests
washing machine drums

look on freecycle, ebay or gumtree.

 

Hmmm, some of my ideas are smaller, such as childrens rain boots, mens work boots, old pair of shoes, I've seen old kettles (metal kind), tea pots.

Bigger ones could be an old bathtub, plastic tote bins (painted up).....heck I've even seen an old toilet, and they used the water tank to put lobelia in, and the seat was removed but the toilet part was full of geraniums, and believe it or not, it did look kind of cool, and if nothing else, its a great conversation piece.

You could also try some wooden crates, those would most likely have to be lined with somthing, but those are kind of neat too.

Make sure to post some pics of what you do, so we can all see.

 

You've probably seen piccies of my containers before, but in case not: they are just plywood boxes, on legs, which I then have a 3-sided smart-looking "cover" made from plywood that I put around the "Box" to smarten it up. I have some spare boxes "round the back" so that I can swap them over for the seasons.

http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/versailles-planters/

Old chimney pots perhaps, stone sinks or Butler ones (Shiney has loads ... relieve him of one/several? )

I like terracotta pots, particularly as they can be shuffled about as some come into flower etc., but the effort of watering them is too much for me - scarred for life after the number of pots that my Mother had that needed watering regularly

 

I have a couple of huge tuna tins,keep thinking they would look good planted up, but I, like Kristen like a little "formality" for want of a better word,
It depends on your own particular style, I suppose you could use old sweet, biscuit tins, barrels, painted neutrally and then decorated to your taste, a nice job for winter months. Plenty of those about , I have a bag full in the shed .

 

Tyres stacked on top of each other to varying heights. Can be painted too.

 

Someone I know has a collection of toilets planted up.

 

I have ....

~ an old plastic kettle (housing an ivy)
~ a coal scuttle that I put a pot into
~ a small chocolate wafer tin (contains chocolate mint)

My friend has a plastic water butt that she uses for her olive tree (rather than throw it out when she replaced it for a preferred oak water butt). Might be an idea for your bay?

• Catering tins make great containers.
• Old boots (but I think everyone does that)

 

i used to have a nice little collection of kettles & teapots that i picked up at car boot sales & the like, they looked lovely planted up with trailing lobelia but my fav was a big pink & white snail ornament thingy i got for about 50 cent (i have no idea what it was for really ) but the inside of the snail's shell was hollow & just perfect for planting yet more lobelia (is it obvious i went through a lobelia phase ) who could turn away the chance to have a big pink snail in their garden...not me lol

 

They look amazing. Dave has just had a look at them and reckons he can build the original ones. However it's not really what I'm looking for at the moment.But reckon I will certainly get him to build me one in the future for a certain goat willow I'm not brave enough to plant in the ground.

I'm looking for something at the moment that is recycled but looks "tasteful" (sorry no toilets, urinals or tyres I'm afraid) and that will last. I'm off to my scrap yard today to see if they have anything of interest that I could use.

The washing machine drum and coal scuttle ideas that have been mentioned I will see if I can find today.

 

How about taking inspiration from retro tins like i know u are very creative . maybe getting some images to decorate your containers. there must be a way to seal them against the weather.

also some ceramic tiles /glass tiles maybe as decoration.

just an idea
i have an old wheelbarrow