Garden Planter Ideas: Farmhouse Friday

Farmhouse Friday comes a little early this month since the first day of the month fell on a Friday. Our farmhouse blogging group chose garden planters as the theme for April and I thought I’d share examples of garden planter ideas I’ve used around my house, along with a few other ideas for you. Take a look, and then visit my fellow farmhouse bloggers at the end of this post.

Most of my garden planters are pretty simple. I’ve never been a big fan of overdone floral groupings in containers. I prefer one to three types of flowers in a container. I like my containers simple, too.

 

My window boxes are a perfect example of simple flower groupings. I like to fill them up with impatiens and a simple vine or two. The impatiens will get bushy and start to spill over the sides. This photo is taken from a previous year since it’s still too cold in Illinois to plant annuals. But every year I plant impatiens in my window boxes; they’re my favorite annual.

 

Even the hanging baskets on my porch are filled with impatiens. These are just getting started last year so they’re not yet spilling over the sides of the baskets.

 

This is what the hanging baskets on my porch look like in the middle of the summer when they’re more mature. The flowers practically hide the baskets themselves. Impatiens are so easy to grow and do really well in the shade.

 

In early spring, I like to set out cool weather plants in smaller garden planters, like this over-sized, weathered mug I found at our local greenhouse.

 

I tucked a pot of dainty English daisies in it.

 

Short-season flowers like hyacinths can simply stay in the pots you bring them home in. To dress it up, I simply wrapped it in a book page and tied it with a stretch of twine. A tiny bow finishes off this mini garden planter.

 

Some of you know that I work at Aquascape, a water gardening manufacturer and installer. One of our popular products are patio ponds. Container water gardens are a wonderful addition to your spring and summer gardens. Fill a water-tight container with water and place aquatic plants inside. Use small bricks to prop up shorter plants. You can even add a small fountain to this charming water garden planters. See how to make your own container water garden like this one.

 

A co-worker made this adorable teapot container water garden. A small pump keeps the water circulating through the teapot into the cup below. Set it out on the deck or greet guests at the front door with this whimsical garden planter.

 

Flea markets are an excellent resource for garden planters. I found this one with a cute kitty on it at our local flea market for just one dollar!  It had a small crack in it at the top but you can’t see it with the flowers spilling over the sides.

 

Of course, any kind of crate makes for a great farmhouse garden planter.  I took a plain wooden one, painted and distressed it, then added a French graphic to each end. Instead of filling it with dirt, I tucked flowers from my garden into mason jars filled with water inside.

 

Photo by Jake Moss Designs

This summer I want to add a few galvanized garden planters to my yard. I might place them out by the vegetable garden and fill them with flowers for cutting. That way I can have fresh flowers in the house for virtually free all summer long!

Be sure to visit my farmhouse blogging friends below for their garden planter ideas!