So you think garden planters can only be used for plants? Well, think again! Metal planters in particular can be used in lots of ways to enhance your garden.
For example, galvanized steel planters and stainless steel garden planters from Precious Design make great ponds and water features. A shiny metal surface will act as a mirror, lighting up small dark spaces, as light glints off both the water and the plant container, and the galvanisation will stop any corrosion. Make sure you order a garden planter without drainage holes though!
If you really feel a garden planter should have plants, then how about a planted pond? Use a large planter, and include a few bricks to vary the height inside. Add a small water-lily such as yellow-flowered Nymphaea x helvola, some vertical plants such as iris or rushes, and some oxygenators to keep the water healthy. You can even keep a few fish, though you will have to protect the plant container against frost in winter, and you’ll also need to choose one of our stainless steel garden planters, perhaps a stainless steel cube, or line it with pond liner, as the zinc in galvanised steel can be toxic to fish and invertebrates. Your container pond will need a bit of attention to keep the plants to a reasonable size, but nothing you can’t handle!
Alternatively, if you prefer, you could relax to the gentle sound of splashing water, with the addition of a small solar-powered fountain to your water-filled garden planter, or top it with pebbles, and add a purpose-built small stone water feature with pump, available from most good garden centres. The tapered garden planters would make wonderful water feature fountains, with light reflecting off the water drops and the faces of the pot.
Or how about a row of small stainless steel garden planters in the shape of cubes, each containing a light, to extend your evenings outdoors? Settle the light into the cube, putting the electricity cable through the drainage holes, and top with pebbles for an attractive finish. Look for unusual lights that will complement your beautiful garden pots and sit back and enjoy your plant-free plant containers!
And why stop there? You could use garden planters as stands for modern sculptures, or for beautiful, architectural displays of dried flowers or gold-painted twisted willow, or for anything else you want – the list is endless. Or even have them stand alone so that you can enjoy the elegance and simplicity of the galvanised steel planters themselves: after all, Precious Design really does do metal planters extremely well!
