If you are looking for a way to create gorgeous homemade planters without breaking the bank, we have you covered with today’s article!
We love using planters, potted plants and hanging baskets all over our little farm.
They are a simple and easy way to add instant color, texture and life to any space.
But admittedly, they can get quite expensive to create and maintain. Even if, like us, you plant your own annuals from scratch.
Buying or even growing all of those annual flowers from seed can both be costly and time consuming.
Even more, many annuals are difficult to keep blooming strong for an entire season. They simply grow too fast and run out of room to bloom long before summer is over.
More times than not, many gardeners find themselves replanting their baskets and containers by mid-summer. Costing more time, and even more cash!
A New Approach At The Farm – Creating Gorgeous Planters With A Low-Cost Twist
But this year, we tried a little something different with a large portion of our containers and potted plants.
Instead of using all annuals in all of our baskets and pots, we turned to using many of the existing perennials in our landscape to help fill them up.
It all started in early spring when we found 6 large plant containers in the top of our barn. We had stored the planters a few years back, and had simply forgotten about them.
But with the newly created outdoor areas around the cabin and barn addition, they could certainly be put back to use.
At about the same time, we happened to be splitting and dividing many of our perennials throughout the landscape.
It is something we do each and every spring and fall to create more plants and to help fill beds. (See : How To Create A Beautiful Landscape For Free By Dividing)
And it suddenly occurred to us that instead of running out to buy more annuals to fill them up, we could use some of the small divisions of perennials instead.
And quite honestly, it has worked out better than we ever imagined!
The Advantages of Using Perennials In Containers
First off, there was no cost to us at all. These were existing plants that we simply divided and placed into pots.
Secondly, they didn’t require perfect potting soil to grow. For many, we used a mix of ordinary soil and added in just a bit of potting soil.
We used existing hostas, coral bells and sedum plants, and even a few ornamental grasses to fill containers and baskets all over the farm.
For some containers, we planted only perennials, While for others, we used a mix of perennials and annuals. We even used some of our small ornamental grasses as “spikes” for some of our annual-planted containers.
Not only have they stayed strong and beautiful all season long, they have been much easier to maintain, requiring less watering and fertilizing.
Recycle, Replant & Reuse – The Best Advantage Of All!
But perhaps best of all is the incredible cost savings and re-usability ( if that is a word) of perennials as potted plants.
Unlike annual flowers, perennials, can of course survive from year to year.
So this fall, when it comes time to clear out our potted plants and containers, we will simply replant them into the landscape.
And they can be left there to grow, or used again next year. It really is the ultimate win-win of recycle, replant and reuse!
Here is to saving a few dollars and creating your own gorgeous planters from perennials.
For more info on the subject, check out Using Perennials As Potted Plants on our This Is My Garden sister site.
Happy Gardening! Jim and Mary.
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.
As always, feel free to email us at thefarm@owgarden.com with comments, questions, or to simply say hello! You can sign up for our free email list in the subscribe now box in the middle of this article. Follow us on Facebook here : OWG Facebook. This article may contain affiliate links.