A Dozen Unique Out of the Pot Planters

Looking for creative planters? Here are a doze unique out of the pot planters that are sure to wow!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

You know I have a love affair with unique planters!

Here are some of my favorites and here’s to getting our hands dirty.

An armchair planter – all that’s missing is the ottoman!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Everything including the kitchen sink in these flowers planted in an old sink.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Forget dishpan hands – turn that washtub into a tree planter – oh yes!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Only Funky Junk Interiors would think to turn an old Mix Master into a planter!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Forget the tire swing – how about tire planters!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

I can smell the burgers … I mean the flowers on the grill.  Turn that grill into a planter like Cottage at the Crossroads did.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Who needs a bubble bath when they can have a bathtub planter!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Forget peddling and prop that bike against a tree and plant flowers in the basket like French Country Cottage did.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Vintage screen door trellis is such a fun focal point in the garden.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Turn that shovel upside down and turn it into a trellis for your favorite climber like Cottage in the Oaks did.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

An antique gas fireplace as a planter!

You’ll never believe what Beth from Unskinny Boppy paid for this beauty and you’ve got to see the rest of her fabulous mantel that goes along with it!

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

And of course my dresser planter wants in on the fun.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

My mop bucket planters say no to cleaning and yes to enjoying the garden.

12 Unique Planters - think outside the pot! kellyelko.com

Here’s to putting our fingers in the dirt and coming up with some unique ways to show off our plants.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever used as a planter?

50 Comments

  1. Ok, the moss chair is a little creepy to me, but I’m in awe of the vision there! Great post, Kelly — have a flea market to hit on Saturday morning, so now I’m armed with inspiration!!
    xo Heidi

  2. Hi Kelly,
    Thanks for including our old grill that we turned into a planter. It’s still sitting in our flower garden, waiting for a little freshening up this spring! So many great ideas here. I can’t help but look at things now in a whole new way!

  3. I love all these ideas! I currently have an attack of the dreaded little white fly in my yard. Once I get rid of those pests you can be sure that I will use this post as inspiration… I have my mother in law’s metal baby buggy… Can you imagine how cute that is gonna be with ivy and petunias? I can’t wait!!! Love people who think outside of the “window” box! xoxo jules

  4. In various places within my yard I have an old school desk with moss growing out of the top, a wheelbarrow, some old rubber boots and a workboot, various old pots – the cooking kind, I mean and yes, I actually have a bathroom sink on a pedestal filled with and surrounded by flowers. Oh, I almost forgot a couple of washtubs, too! It’s very eclectic!

    Love these pics!

  5. OMG, these are all awesome! I can’t decide which one is my favorite! That arm chair planter truly rocks as well as the mixer and tires!!!!! Love it! All I have to do now is try not to kill the plants once I find a unique planter! Ha! Have a “black thumb” you know! 🙂

  6. Thanks, Lovely Lady for including my shovel trellis! I absolutely adore the chair……it might be the next thing in our flower beds. =) We’ve also used an old headboard/footboard and planted within the frame. We called it our flower bed. {har. har.}

  7. What great planters. It is so much fun to take something and turn it into a planter. I am always trying to do that. Your dresser is awesome and I would not have thought to use an old mixer as a planter. The others are great too.
    Have a wonderful weekend,
    Bev
    @ Eclectic Red Barn

  8. What beautiful planting ideas, Kelly! I have a couple of old chairs I’m wanting to turn into growing yard art myself. I love the bicycle and your buckets up the steps are so sweet too. I am so ready to get my hands dirty…I can barely wait. Then after we can sit and admire our handy work while drinking that margarita!!! 😉

  9. Love the planter ideas, Kelly. I do have an old bicycle that I plant kind of like that. I REALLY love the one with the galvanized pieces in the tree. xo Diana

  10. Oh I just love the bicycle baskets and the old screen door trellis! So cute! I have a couple enamel colanders that are waiting for petunias. But here in Minnesota we are in a blizzard warning! My poor robins! There’s a couple inches of snow on my garden! Thinkin cozy fire and chick flicks on tv kind of afternoon….

  11. Love the unusual planters. One spring/summer I used little girl’s kitchen playthings, i.e., Easy Bake Oven, kitchen sink, refrigerator, doll carriage, highchair, wagon, hard plastic sizeable toys picked up at thrift stores.

  12. Love all of these ideas…but I am really obsessing over the pretties in the baskets. I have seen so much of it lately and they always look so unique. I wish this “frost” weather would hurry up and get behind us so I can get out there and plant! Jesse @ Scout & Nimble

  13. Thanks Kelly – I about fell off my chair when I saw my washtub on the tree photo! I’ve posted on Hometalk, but that’s my first time seeing something of mine picked up in a blog – words can’t describe how wicked awesome that feels!!! Thanks again!

  14. Great minds think alike! I am cooking up something to share soon that I used as a planter. That chair planter is amazing!

  15. I have used old aluminum light covers from the 60’s as planters. I am ashamed that I have an old claw foot tub at our old house in the yard empty. Love your blue chest. Olive

  16. I once used a small crystal bowl that was shaped like a basket with a handle to plant a small version of ivy. My Mother in Law had a conniption when she saw it. I thought it was cute on my coffee table, and it didn’t hurt a thing.

    You have an inspiring collection!

  17. The most unusual thing I’ve used as a planter is an antique Japanese toilet. It’s a rectangular trough about 24 inches long by 12 inches wide. It’s white with blue designs sort of a delph pattern. It doesn’t have a bottom on it, so I built a cedar box to set it in. It’s quite pretty all planted up!

  18. Thank you for the fresh ideas. My mom used her old green grill for her strawberry plants some twenty years ago. What is old is new again. I found a bed pan in the basement of our old house. It’s getting flowers in it.

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