shani01
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:29 pm
Location: Minnesota

new container ideas?

Hi, I am looking for new container ideas. Anything I that has or that I can make a drainage hole in. Thanks and happy gardeing!! :D

otnorot
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:38 pm
Location: Toronto Ont

Heres something different to try wood and rock.
Bill

otnorot
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:38 pm
Location: Toronto Ont

Roots from a red cedar.

minnesota_girl
Senior Member
Posts: 155
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:29 pm
Location: Minnesota

Thanks. I think I'll try that. I love rocks and I have quite a collection of decorative rocks already in my garden. Any plant suggestions? I was thinking annuals, maybe petunia. :)

Garden Spider
Cool Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:07 pm
Location: Western Washington

I went to a thrift store and bought some very small metal mixing bowls, that hold maybe 2 or 4 Cups of something. When I get around to it, I'm going to drill holes in the bottom for drainage and plant sedum in them. What's really cool is the bowls have a metal ring on one side, so I can hang them from a hook, as long as the bottoms are braced against a support.

I also snagged some wire baskets from the lab where I work; we were getting rid of our surplus. They will also be used for succulents.

I have a Maidenhair fern growing in a hollow log, and I planted succulents in a beach rock that had a lot of holes and depressions.

otnorot
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:38 pm
Location: Toronto Ont

Sedums are the best thing to grow on rocks as they don't need any more than an inch of soil.Hens and chicks are the best.
Bill

Garden Spider
Cool Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:07 pm
Location: Western Washington

LOL, Bill--about the sedums. You are absolutely right about nont needing much soil. Once I was repotting a clump, and some tiny pieces fell onto the cement steps of the porch, and were overlooked. By the time I noticed them, they had taken root on the steps and grown a little. Whatever microscopic amount of soil was on the concrete was enough to make them set roots. They didn't survive long, as they eventually got trampled, but I'm sure that without foot traffic, they would have soon covered the steps.

That gives me an idea . . . maybe I'll try to cover a concrete block like that.

User avatar
samiamvt
Full Member
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:23 am
Location: Vermont

I like to use old sap buckets (for maple sugaring) as containers. They are dead easy to make drainage holes in, all you need is a hammer and a screwdriver. I really like the vintage/rustic look of them. I even try to find slightly more beat up ones.
Admittedly, this is not exactly an original idea here in Vermont, but maybe some of you folks in other parts might stumble across some somewhere. The images are of mixed plantings done for a client (in the Fall, obviously), but another advantage of the sap buckets is that they hold a lot of medium if you want to use them for a larger single plant such as a Canna or an ornamental grass or a hosta.
I also keep my eye out for other things made of similar metal to use for containers, like an old coal bucket that I found. I really like the idea of the mixing bowls! I think they could fit in with my "collection". Thanks for the suggestion.
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[url=https://img378.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sapbucketsyq1.jpg][img]https://img378.imageshack.us/img378/8819/sapbucketsyq1.th.jpg[/img][/url]



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