Vintage watering cans in the garden

Watering can wondrousness

It’s personal. I love watering cans and know not why… I don’t remember seeing one at my childhood home and haven’t had anything but a utilitarian, plain watering can, ever! Until,… I began seeing all the wonderful patina-ed and painted watering cans belonging to my friends and fellow gardeners recently. Now I seem to be obsessed and a bit whiny, as I see picture after picture of watering cans posted here on our Facebook page. I even started expressing my jealousy by asking those who had them to send them to me! Shameless!

What do you think? Do you like watering cans? Why do we like them, do you suppose? Tell us in a comments below…

Meanwhile, take a look at what some collect in the way of watering cans:

Lisa Daniel’s basic watering can

Annie Downs’s watering can hangs on a shepherd hook

Annie Downs: “Old watering can hung on a shepherds hook. I use to use the can pouring water into my pond. It was replaced with an old hand pump, so the watering can became a planter!”

Debbie McMurry’s impressive collection

Debbie McMurry: “A ‘few’ of my vintage galvanized watering cans….fun to collect all sizes and styles.”

Sherry McGinnis’s former oil can

Sherry McGinnis: “Recycling galvanized watering cans… Mine has some kind of oil in it. We rinsed mine out with gas. Then I used a ‘citrus soap’ & hot water to clean it all out. Flowers are growing in it. So I guess it worked.”

Funky Fusions Garden Art’s vignette

Funky Fusions Garden Art created this pretty vignette with a watering can.

Kathy Gilbert ‘garden’ of hanging watering cans. Does this make the garden self-watering?

Kathy Gilbert’s ‘garden’ of watering cans

Kirk Willis’s ingenious water feature

Kirk Willis: “Our water feature… I used an old watering can, added some glass floats… I have since added smaller water plants so you can see the can better. This sits by our covered, country, front porch. We sit in our porch rockers and relax to the sound…love the sound of water”

Marie Niemann’s ‘rust-ic’ can

Marie Niemann’s watering can was used for oil,…it can could be thoroughly cleaned and used for watering or planting instead. It’s the same kind as Sherry McGinniss’s above!

Laura Goines’s quaint shelf holds her collection of watering cans

Laura Goines’s quaint collection and entire garden is featured here.

Epilogue

The story ends well for me. Our own Annie Steen, heard my pitiful pleas for a watering cans, hearing me cry that I could never find one,…anywhere. She brought one with her for me, when I met her this summer and I’ll be ever so grateful to her! And treasure my new (old) watering can always. Thanks, Annie!