Junk recycling reaches new heights when creating art and creative containers for the garden.
Just as we must go to the grocery to buy ingredients for a wonderful new dessert to make, so do we make necessary preparations for new and exciting features in our garden. A “normal plant container” can be admired, but for those of us who seek to “shake things up a little” in our gardens, fun and creativity is just begging to be unleashed.
I like to add a little pizzazz here and there in the forms of unusual containers, both inside and out of my home. A vase doesn’t have to be 12 inches tall and glass, it can be a pair of rain boots or an old purse.
For inside containers, all really that is necessary if using as a vase for fresh cut flowers, is a “vessel” large enough to hold a quart jar filled with water, or even a vase that you already have. This “holding “vessel will not be seen anyway, such as in this picture of a bouquet of iris in an old purse.
Children’s tennis shoes can be bought almost at any thrift store for as cheap as 25 cents. That’s how much I paid for these cute blue ones. I planted baby hens and chicks, and when I watered I just misted the plants every week with water. Succulents, such as hens and chicks, require little water, so they make excellent container plants. If they are going to be placed in the garden where they can get rain, make sure you cut small holes in the soles of the tennis shoes for drainage…
For drainage, knock some holes in galvanized tubs, enamel pans, watering cans and wagons like the one above, with a drill, hole punch and hammer or my favorite, an axe. Or just use containers with no drainage as vases. ~~ Sue
And this mailbox looks adorable hung on the inside of my patio fence. Early spring lettuce for a salad flourished up until the hot rays of summer.
Galvanized buckets are becoming very popular for gardens everywhere and the perfect vessel for container gardening of herbs.
Let your imagination run wild and start hitting those thrift stores and spring yard sales as soon as possible. As I said in a presentation to my local garden club, “If it will hold dirt, PLANT IN IT!!!!!! ~~ Jeanie
Want More Ideas?
See ALL of our Flea Market Gardening ideas in this album, Creative and Crazy Containers.
Grow, Grow, Grow, Your Boat... These boat gardens are beautiful, colorful, and well grown. It looks like a lot of… Read More
'Paint' Your Garden with Blue... Is your garden is singing the blues? Mix recycled containers and crafts with blue flowers… Read More
See this hilarious and sometimes poignant list of lost items in the garden Question.......what was the last thing you lost… Read More
Designing a charming garden baker's rack When I first saw Jeanne’s well-arranged and simply delightful Baker’s rack, I thought, ‘Somebody… Read More
Choosing a color from 'Over the Rainbow Garden' Billie Hayman's garden is full of color and she shows how one… Read More
Alliums are drama queens in the garden! Whether real flowers, grown from bulbs or the crafted faux flowers modeled after… Read More
View Comments
Ive filled old leather boots with different and unique ucculents for years . Always an attention getter. Same for old farm equipment. I love yard art, especially with plants. Your purse idea is one ill use inside.
Love those rubber yellow boots on your old coffee table! CUTE! & who can resist the sweet lil' baby shoes!! Lots of great ideas here, Jeanie ...can't wait to play in the dirt again! TFS!
Lots of cute, imaginative and creative ideas. I like seeing ideas any of us can achieve. Thanks for inspiring us and giving us a bit of spring on these dreary winter days.
I used an old spice rack with some of the spice bottles for potting up succulents I propagated last summer. They are ready to be moved, this isn't something they can stay in for long due to the tiny size. I collect old pitchers and creamers from thrift stores, I love planting succulents in them! Love the baby shoes and want to us one of my old purses after seeing yours here. So cute!
Debbie :)
All great ideas! Thanks....I love the baby shoes, too...
Jeanie,I love all of your container ideas ! I think I will try to find an old mailbox to
plant up ! I love reading your articles and stories !
Any thing that can hold soil is my motto for planting also, and anything that can be lined with shade cloth, I use the 'cages' from pedestal fans when they die, line them with shade cloth, attach chains or thin rope and hang them. They make lovely wide shallow hanging baskets. Also the drums from washing machines or dryers, so are a bit difficult to remove but you are left with a massive well draining pot when it is done.
My parents recently passed and have a home full of stuff. This has given me some great ideas for repurposing some of their things. Thank you so much!