Michelle , I have always liked your trough. Do you have to bring some of the succulents in during winter. I have been keeping an eye out for something similar to use. I like the copper boiler and crock too. I couldn't help but notice the bricks in your border were from St. Louis.

Yes PM2 those are petunias. Actually those were from about three years ago and each year since I have had enough volunteer plants of all the varities that I haven't had to replant it. Even had some to use elsewhere. I did empty it last fall so will have to come up with a new scheme. Perhaps succulents this time, but I do like the bright colors in there.

Hope you can find the pictures Saucy. N.

I love the wheelbarrow, but THAT CAT is a real scene stealer!

Eden, I remember the mixer and the teacups; the mixer cracked me up totally. AHEM... about Angela Lansbury... . I had big plans for the Creepy Guy. I was terribly "dipsointed" that you didn't send him/her out for countrywide photo ops. :( :( :(

I like the pig trough, too... I love Hens 'n' Chicks and plants like that (probably because they're not well suited to my own yaHd, huh?).

I'm sending him Chelone. I just thought there'd be more photo ops for him during gardening season when people could take him out and about. I didn't mean to dipsoint you though. I feel badly about that. I was thinking the first day of spring would be a good day to wish him bon voyage. I knew you'd notice him in the picture :)

Eden

How wonderful! I love all your ideas. I have some large mugs just like yours Eden, that I want to plant with something this summer. Possibly million bells in different shades.

When we were looking at houses to buy last summer, we found a 100+ year old overturned cast-iron tub in the backyard of one of them. My husband was quite annoyed that we would have to remove it ourselves, considering the weight. I countered that there was no possible way that I would allow that to happen.

I had dreams of painting the inside of the tub blue and using it for a water garden. We never did buy that house but I've been thinking about it ever since! Perhaps an old fashioned washtub could satisfy this need instead!

Eden, I can't wait for my "turn with Angela". Yippee... how many more days until "spring"???

Chelone is probably waiting to take measurements so that she can upholster Angela into something weatherproof and attractive.

I like this thread Norma! Your wheelbarrow with metal wheel is special, and makes a great back drop for kitty. And of course Eden's garden always makes me smile. Having no clever steak in or out of the garden I have only pots :(

PM, look again, those aren't bananas :)

Cynthia...well, that will teach me to look too quickly. [g] Yes, now I can see not really a banana. The only thing I can think of that looks like that might be a canna? Doesn't really look like a canna. But since I haven't grown either the banana or the canna, that is a very uneducated guess. What is it? :-)

Thanks Cynthia for catching that...

pm2

Norma - your wheelbarrow could be straight from a Garden Design magazine. Your gorgeous kitty makes the photo all the more special.

Eden and Michelle - fun and whimisical both. The perfect touch for any garden.

Looking forward to Angela's visit.

Mary

Several of my re-purposed containers are old tires filled with soil. I also use pans...espacially enameled ones.I have my amaryllis bulbs in a large enameled wash pan.

I love your wheelbarrow planting Norma. I have an old garden cart that I need to dig out and plant. At one time I had a toilet bowl planted !!! LOL

We have bath tubs that I have given thought to using as water gardens. Nolon has an old boat that I wanted to use, but he didn't go for that idea...:-(

Marian

What fun this thread is!!!! Loving all the pics everyone.

This is a wire basket I bought at Home Goods about three years ago now and last year I finally made a coco fiber lining for it to plant this fuchsia in.

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This tall skinny urn used to be on one of the pedestals in the shade garden by the shed. Early last year it fell over and one of the handles broke off. I almost threw it out but then decided to get Doug to drill a hole in the bottom and I planted this asparagus fern in it.

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Again, I found these crocks at Home Goods and had Doug drill holes in them for me.

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Michelle, love all your containers, that pig trough is marvelous!

I think Eden wins the creative challenge here with her fantastic use of kitchen items for containers. Love, love, love that colander Eden! And that mixing bowl! Too fun!

Deanne

Wow guys! How fun is this? Norma, what a great post! I *love* your wheelbarrow full of flowers. That turned out fantastic! I hope you gave it a good focal spot. Will you do it again this year? If you do, I would love to see how you planted it! :-)

Wow Eden! I knew you would come up with some great creative and whimsical ideas. I saw your mixer on your link to your garden. How fun! Hey, maybe this year you should plant it with Butter & Eggs! :-) I can't remember the proper name for the plant, but I know there is one that is called that. And maybe you could add ajuga 'Chocolate Chips' to the planting too! :-) Love the delicate look of the flowers in the copper collander (I can not spell anymore!). Love how the eye of the impatiens (? - I think they are impatiens) match the copper color of the collander. Well, everything is wonderful...great vignette with the sedums/cacti/arid loving plants and the wagon. Your bathtub reminds me of something I once saw. I met an elderly German woman at a garden club I once belonged to and she invited me to see her garden. She used an old cast iron tub as a pond, with fish in it and everything. I can't remember now exactly how she had it set up, but it really was the cleverest thing. :-)

Michelle...I remember your pig trough...you did such a wonderful job with it. The pebbles were a great finishing touch. Did you winter over the plants in the trough? Or will you have to replant this year? The crock is very neat too and I *love* the way you planted the copper boiler...what a cool pot! :-)

Deanne...your plantings are so lovely. What a gorgeous wire basket and the fuchsias were just *perfect* in it. I love the urn too and glad you didn't throw it out. It looks *classic* with that asparagus fern in it. I know asparagus ferns are common, but I think they can be really lovely in a planting, as your planting shows.

Have nothing to share here, as last year I didn't do anything creative. I think a couple of years ago I did plant up some watering cans that turned out pretty nice. I'll see if I can find the pics.

Anyway, I hope you guys will keep these coming. I love all the ideas and glad that someone call this back up to the top or I would have missed it!

Ei

Marian, I remember the old tire planters well. I have done those in the past too. I like the old enamel pans too.

Deanne I like the "urn with the fern" and your crocks too.
Did Doug use a masonary bit to drill those holes? I have a couple of tuffa pots That I didn't put drain holes in. I'm going to have to try to drill those. The wire basket is neat too. Of course with your gorgeous plants any container would look great.

Ei, I would love to see your watering cans if you can find them. Norma

Eden, Ei has a good thought there with the butter and eggs and chocalate chip. MMmmmm cookies LOL!

Say I bet Bella would love to feed a few gold fish in your tub bog garden and they would eat any mosquito larvae. And you could water your cantainers with that enriched water.
Bella, tell grandma you want some gold fish! Hee, hee, hee. My bad.

Unfortunately I found that I had dipped my largest fantail goldfish out with some leaves the other. I didn't find him until the next day and he was quite frozen. :(

Pm2, it is a copper boiler that the canna 'King Humbert" (from Ei) is in. They don't get nearly as tall in a container. That container has been planted with annuals for 25 years, it was the beginning of my gardening.

As for the trough, I took the tenders out and overwintered in the house and the semps went into the garden. That was actually 2006, I didn't do it last year. Maybe again this year.

I found a few more that I did back in '04.

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Norma, I use masonry bits to drill my 'tufa. I was surprised at how easy you can go through them - let the drill do the work.

No pictures for some reason, I've enjoyed looking though - my kids sure have grown. I have the "hub" from an old work truck - nice and rusty. Guess I'll have to wait until it's filled again!

Fun to see everyone's ideas....I'm really ready to get my hands dirty this year :)

Saucy

Michelle, Nice patriotic themes and I really like the tea kettle and bowl.

Well darn Saucy. Be sure and show us when it gets filled up again. Funny that you mentioned the kids growing up. I was just looking at some where Wyatt was about a year old and Jake at ten.

I guess a whiskey barrel is a re-purposed container too.
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and a metal tub

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And I thought you all might get a kick out of this.
Me planting the wheelbarrow above. Note the bare feet and hose in hand. Thats me all summer. LOL
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Michelle your patriotic themes are wonderful. I especially love that one with the white and red enamel pot? That is *so* pretty!

Love the color combos in your latest submissions Norma...Love that bronzy look and do you notice that the color of the coleus matches the copper bands of the whiskey barrel? :-) I love going barefoot too and have been doing it ever since I was a kid. Of course now I have feet of leather...LOL! Seriously though, there is nothing like the feel of soft grass on barefeet...one of the best "simple pleasures" in life.

Well I found some pics from years ago, but haven't done anything in recent years.

These are all from different years, but apparently when I get an idea I like...I like to stick with it...LOL!

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This is an old cracked bird bath that I filled with succulents one year. ItÂs early in the season here, but it did fill out eventually. Unfortunately, I didnÂt put the birdbath in the garage in winter and it broke into pieces over winter.

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This is an old French crock(?) I think thatÂs what itÂs called anyway.

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I do remember for a few years I had some galvanized tubs that I bought from HD and painted them green and planted them. I liked the way they looked, but canÂt seem to find any of those pictures.

I'm in heaven with all these pictures and ideas!!

I had forgotten that I had a pretty metal watering can just like those in the pictures that I can use in the same way!

Do you punch holes in the bottom of the watering cans? Or simply tip them over to drain the excess water? lol

Hi Tricia! I was just looking to see if my post showed up and there you were! :-)

Yes, make sure it's a watering can that you don't want to use anymore, as you do need to put holes for drainage. I think I drilled 3 or 4 holes in all of them with one of hubby's thinner drill bits. It's not hard. You probably could use a nail too and just punch them.

I thought for sure I had posted on these incredible containers, and now there's Ei's watering cans! Great idea to have that fragrant flwrng tobacco by the door. A self-sown throatwort/trachelium has seeded itself into the patio bricks and is just about to bloom -- love this plant.

I'm sure I've posted this before, a wire spice rack mossed and planted with succulents, but lots of new ones just filling out:

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Deanne, yours are just so elegant.

Ei, I remember your watering cans. The purple birdbath picture is so pretty with the alliums.

Norma, do you garden in barefeet? I ran barefoot all summer as a kid, but I couldn't do it anymore.

Denise, you always have the coolest succlents.

Thats an old coffee pot that's red and white, you can just see the spout on the right.

Norma, my tires are not turned wrong side out...
but are filled with soil even inside the tire. The plantings change from year to year.

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Next is a canna in a large leaky waste basket...

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Achimines in a strainer...

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Elephant Ears and caladium in a washing machine tub... last year the EE was accompanied with differant plants...

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and Orchid Cactus in an enameled kettle...

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Marian

Ei, those watering cans are great. Don't you just love that Sedona coleus. I like the purple you paired it with.
My favorite can has to be that one with the tools on the side. Did it come that way or did you decorate it?
What a shame your birdbath shattered, that is so pretty.

Michelle,I don't go barefoot all the time, but tend to kick off my shoes a lot.

Marian, The washing machine tub is a great recycled idea.
Nice enameled pot too.

Denise, I do remember your spice rack planter, but I'm glad you posted it again. Do you use a gritty soil for your succulents?

Hi, Tricia. We will be looking forward to seeing your watering can planted up this summer.

Marian your orchid cactus in the enamel kettle is very cool! It reminds me of a Chihuly glass sculpture or something Picasso might paint.

Denisez - I love all your succlents. You really do some very neat things with them. Have you seen the wall hangings that Gardener's Supply is offering now? Very cool and I was wondering how hard they would be to care for, but I bet with succulents it would be pretty easy, since they don't need to be watered much. How cool to have Tracheliums re-seed in your garden! :-) They are very neat. I didn't see any offered here last year. Do they grow easily by you? Yes, it was heaven passing the doorway! :-) Those little yellow flowered plants in the same pot as the Jasmine tobacco were 4 o'clocks and they smelled lovely too. That pot was really too small for the planting though. But you reminded me how much I enjoyed the fragrance at the door. I think this year I'll put a larger pot by the door and fill it with all the fragrances I love. Let's see, I'm going to need some jasmine tobacco, lavender, heliotrope, 4 o'clocks, mignonette, alyssum, sweet peas, lilies, lavender, pinks, brugmansia.... LOL! Guess I'm going to need a *really* large pot...LOL!

Hi Norma - thanks...I liked that watering can too. No, I didn't make it, it came that way, but I don't have it anymore, as it finally rusted straight through.

Michelle...yes, I see the spout now. Was that a family kettle or did you buy it? I really like it.

I hope everyone will keep the ideas coming...I'm really enjoying all your creativity! :-)

I just remembered I have a bucket photo too! recruited because it wedged in this iron stand/ladder thingy, hoping that the plants eventually fill in then drape downwards, a hanging gardens effect. There's a pot under the airborne bucket which sits on the ground growing a lonicera Mint Julep that you can see snaking up the stand. Might be a bit much and still not quite sure about the whole endeavor, frankly, lol. The plants seem to love it, but it's still just a bucket in a cage to me!

Love your photos, Marian. All our doorways are either too shaded or too hot for fragrant pots of plants but a neat idea. Hope you get all your plants in one pot, Ei! Jasmine is in bloom around town, which makes walking Ein extra nice lately.

I use standard potting mix for succulents, nothing special, but then we get no rain in the growing season to worry about, and the winter rains are usually just enough to keep the pots going.

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I want to master the insideout tire urn before I die. I have two perfect candidates...

Snow treads on the rims... leftover from my coolest car ever. A 1983 Oldsmobile 98 Regency sedan. What a great car that was... . The helpmeet likened it to driving from the comfort of your dentist's chair; totally "American", utterly sinful, and a total blast.

But I digress.

Deniese,With your blue fence the rustic ladder thingy and silver bucket look just right. The touch of yellow and green in the plants set it off. What color is the lonicera Mint Julep ?

Chelone is making the tire planter on your bucket list? LOL
I haven't even seen the previews for the movie but have been involved in a few conversations about it. Aparrently the movie is about doing the things you always wanted to do before you kick the bucket. I'm going to have to look that movie up. When we were visiting DD in Florida, their neighbors 80 year old mother was visiting too. She had always wanted to ride a motorcycle, so they strapped her on and took her for a ride. I love people who go for it. LOL

There are a lot of things I'd like to do before I die, Norma. Crossing the Mississippi River would mean considerably more to me than turning a Regency 98's defunct snowtires into planters, but the latter is certainly more immediately attainable! and it could be a source for some pretty good laughs.

We saw the previews for the "The Bucket List" when we saw "Charlie Wilson's War". I don't think I'd be lining up to see it, but that's my own opinion. Wait for it to hit the Netflix rotation. ;)

What's that pretty cat's name?

O, no, in my zeal to clean out the basement, I KNEW i should have kept that old watering can, saggy chair, and worn sofa, LOL...

These photos and ideas are terrific, All. I only just now had a chance to look and marvel. It shows what a fantastically creative group this is.

And a great idea, Norma - thanks for starting it. No need to check out garden show websites - we've got artists and designers right here.

Now, we can make a bucket list but I hope no one has any plans to get to the end of it any time soon!
--Cindy

Wow this thread has really moved along since I was last here. What a great collection of ideas for containers!

Norma, we already have 3 goldfish that we put out in the pond each summer. I think they're about 7 years old now and more white than gold. We started out with 4, John, Paul, George and Ringo but I found John had jumped out of the pond one morning a couple of years ago and was no more. Bella does love to feed them in the pond during summer and the aquarium in the winter.

Here's one more idea, not my picture, but one I found somewhere and saved to try out. It would go well with my kitchen themed containers I think.

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Eden

Eden, the dishrack is fabulous. Cindy, you have no idea what restraint I practice, lol! Brought this home a few weeks ago, curbside, to possibly moss and plant, but just like the bare outlines for now and keep a few candles in it. Reminds me of a dressmaker's model, with the curve at the top for the shoulders:

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Okay, a practical question -- do a lot of these containers have drainage holes you've provided such as what Deanne went to the trouble of doing (drilling holes)? or are some of these just a lot of gravel/other drainage items at the bottom? I envision some of these things getting soggy and rotting when they get a deluge of an inch of rain? I know I've had that problem w/ a few of the succulent containers I've done, despite them having drainage...

So, Eden, did you drill your tea cups or that silver tea service in some fashion? or Michelle, some of your wonderful big troughs?

Cindy

Cindy, I have Brad drill holes in everything I use for a container.

Eden

Morning all,

Well I LOVE that dish rack idea!!! Eden that's brilliant I can't wait to see your version!

Marian, lots of lovely plants and containers.

Denise, Eileen, love, love love everything.

My creative juices are flowing. Bring on the warmer weather.
Deanne

Chelone, we live west of the Missippi and we just finished redecorating our guest room ;o)

Eden, the dish drainer is quite cool. I have some pictures that I took at the IA State Fair where they used dishes as plant markers that I thought was cute.

Cindy, I have my own cordless drill that I drill the containers. The trough had some rusted thru spots in it for drainage.

Denise, I have a birdhouse too. It was one my kids had parakeets in. Mine has lost the bottom though. I'll be interested to see what neat thing you do with yours.

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I must have been a little off balance when I took that picture ;o)

Michelle, love, love, love what you did with that bakers rack!!!!! FAbu, fabu!

Can I come too???

Deanne

Deanne, I'd love to have you visit! Any other Idylls too!

Lovin this thread, and wish I had a contribution.Does this mean I lack unconventionality ? Denise your salvaged bird cage is F-F. Also like the container for Marians Epiphyllum-but I am partial to blue. And the watering cans !

And what a thrill to see Angela again after all these months...

Kathy in Napa

Deanne, loved your halloween vignette. You find the neatest containers and I love finials in any form and material.

Michelle. I am amazed that your copper boiler has lasted that long. Who knew, copper would be so long lasting in the garden?

Norma...enjoyed both your whiskey barrel pics and the pic of you waterinjg it. I have two whiskey barrels, but I have been growing peas up a trellis in them. String beans in the summer. I keep trying to plant something pretty around the edge, but nothing has looked good yet.

Ei...great watercan collection! My fav is the purple. Also found the birdbath with succulents so eye catching with the alliums which are huge!

I am a big fan of wire racks and mossed containers. I have one hay rack to fill this spring and I am going to need help figuring out how to moss it. Denise...I love your trio of wire baskets with succulents. Are they heavy? What did you use to hang them? I also love your bird cage idea with the candles in it.

Marian...Your Achimines is so unusual. It reminds me of a streptocarpus, one of my favorites.

Eden, the dish drainer is amazing! lol I would have never thought to put the dishes in it..and it fits just perfect!

I have often wanted to catch a few yard sales to find some unusual containers to try to repurpose like this, but I seem to garden away most weekends in prime yard sale season. I did buy a couple of wire wastebaskets with the intention of mossing and filling, but I never did get around to it. There's always this year...hope springs eternal.

Okay, who pray tell, is Angela? [g]

pm2

I filled the rusty hub/drum with Peppermint Portulaca (it can take the heat from the metal) and here it is sitting on top of a cement stand in the berm garden:

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What re-purposed containers are you using this year?

Saucy

Saucy, thanks for bringing this back. I need inspiration...and time. This should help! (It was 44F this morning...)

Cool container Saucy!

Saucy,that is right up my alley. I am attracted to old rusty things. I especially like it nestled in amongst the other plants. I am slow with my containers this year. Need to do some tomorrow and get plants out of their nursery pots. Norma

My wintered over coleus are outdoors at least, but actual planting up of arrangements is not likely to happen this year. It will be one plant type per pot I suspect, if it ever warms up. Yet, I am enjoying the cool.

From this year:
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Here are two of mine :

A long retired garden cart:

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You farmers will know that these blue tubs are what you buy Salt Mix in:
:

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This isn't a recycled container..but this pic is for Marie, pm2, and any others that love these plants;

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