Nurseries and garden centers are filled with beautiful containers in every color of the rainbow. They’re eye-catching, elegant—and expensive! Luckily, you don’t have to empty your wallet to create a beautiful container planting. With materials you already have around the house—old boots, baskets, and cheap wooden barrels—you can create charming, quirky containers that combine huge personality with a refreshingly low price tag.

 

lovely boots  

When your favorite old boots get too worn out to wear, don’t be too quick to toss them in the garbage. Instead, pack them with flowers and trailing plants to turn them into living conversation pieces.

 
1. You may have walked so many miles in your old boots that you’ve worn holes in the soles. If you haven’t, drill a few holes for drainage. Fill with good-quality potting mix down to the toes. Do not fill to the very top, because you’ll need room to add plants.

2. Choose an upright focal point (we used a miniature rose and a primrose) and put it toward the back of the boot. Arrange trailing plants like ivy and baby tears so they cascade sideways over the boot’s tongue. Add compact fillers like violas for colorful accents. Carefully tease the roots apart and add additional soil around and between the plants. Water and gently tamp the soil.

 Wisley 2008

3. Using old bootlaces or heavy twine, tie the tongue of each boot shut so the soil won’t spill out. Like all containers, these old boots will need biweekly applications of liquid fertilizer as the plants grow.

 Como Park

savory surprise

  
This basket of herbs does double duty: It brightens a sunny balcony or patio and also flavors your favorite recipes. If you use perennial herbs like sage and rosemary, you can enjoy this basket year after year. Keep the herbs pinched back so they stay lush and full.


1. Place a shallow plastic container inside a slightly larger basket. 

 

  Euphorbia Ascot Rainbow

2. Fill with moistened potting mix. Start in the center with a tall, upright herb such as sweet bay. Loosen the roots of the herbs before planting them. Use shorter, bushier herbs such as oregano, sage, and parsley around the edges of the dish, with trailing rosemary cascading over the side. Water and gently firm the soil.

 Gaillardia Mesa Yellow


3. As the plants mature and the parsley goes to seed, replace it with a heat-loving herb like basil. Feed with diluted liquid fertilizer every other week and rotate the basket so all sides get regular sun. In winter, bring indoors or protect from frost, depending on your climate.

  Lavandula angustifolia Thumbelina Leigh
cascade of color  
A barrel of flowers cascading into your border is easier than you might think, and it’s a clever way to pack color into an area of poor or compacted soil. We chose a pink and purple color scheme and used various types of dianthus and daisies mixed with ornamental kale.


1. Set the barrel down on its side on landscape fabric (to serve as a weed barrier). Position it so it blends naturally with the garden plants around it. You may need to wedge a stone or brick under the barrel to keep it from rolling.

  Mango Punch coreopsis


2. Drill drainage holes in the part of the barrel that will have soil in it. Add fresh potting mix in and around the barrel. To plant, cut holes in the landscape fabric and mix some of the potting mix into the soil underneath.

 ESC5986  

3. Once the barrel is planted, water with a liquid fertilizer. Add mulch to the entire area to tie in the barrel plantings with the rest of your landscape.		 SnowPrincessBaskets