Decorating With Outdoor Planters

There are several types of outdoor planters. Hanging planters are great to an overall roomy effect to your garden as it adds height and draws the eye upward. If you don’t have a porch or overhang to hand them from, you can buy long poles that have “hooks” that you can use to hang them anywhere you want. Window boxes add drama to any window and look great when hanging from a deck railing to dress up your patio or deck. Planters that sit on the ground can add a nice decorative touch and enhance your décor. You can buy them in classic styles as well as modern to match with your outdoor look.

Outdoor planters can be useful in climates that have cold winters. If you have plants that you want to save over the winter, just put them in a planter. You can enjoy them all summer long outside and then bring them in for the winter. Just remember when you put them out again to acclimate them by moving them outside and exposing them to the sun gradually in the spring.

The types of outdoor planters you choose will dictate the arrangement of flowers inside. A windowbox will look good with droopy flowers that hang over the side as well as some that stick up in the back. Hanging planters should have a flowering plant that has long arms that droop down over all sides. An urn style planter will be most interesting with a mixture of plants – some that spike up high in the center, a few flowers around that and some ivy that hangs down over the edge.

Outdoor planters come in all kinds of materials. Plastic is pretty practical but doesn’t look as nice as cast iron or cement. Resin is a nice compromise as it looks nice but isn’t as heavy as the other materials. Wood looks great for window boxes or square shaped planters but take care to make sure the wood does not rot.

You should take care to make sure that your plants get enough water when you house them in outdoor planters. In hot weather, flowering plants will probably need water every day. You can buy planters that have a built in water reservoir which can cut down on your maintenance a bit. You can reuse planters again in the spring, but I suggest you dump out the old dirt and use a new mix of fertilized potting soil as all the nutrients may be depleted from last years flowers.