I just bought some unglazed terra cotta pots at walmart.
6"= $1.07 8"= $1.97. 4"= $.67
If i remember correctly last year i bought some 5 gal real cheap black plastic pots at nursery that were $1 a piece.
I think the terra cotta would be better for rose cuttings because they keep the roots cool and aerate the roots.

I just bought 19 (it was all they had) metal trash containers, silver on the outside and black on the inside, at my local thrift shop that sells office supplies donated by a major employer here. They were $2 each and I bargained them down to $1 each since I wanted them all. DH will drill a hole in the bottom. They look quite fancy and all my family have agreed they'll look nice with plants in them. I haven't measured, but probably they hold 5 gallons.

You can use 1 gal. milk cartons with the top cut off. Worked for my mother and works for me. Be sure to poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage.

How about checking to see if any of the local grocery stores or restaurants could save you any of the plastic buckets that the pickles or other condiments come in. They will usually give them to you for free. Even WalMart has done it.

I got a whole stack of white plastic buckets from a pool maintenance place last summer.

I posted a request on our local freecycle website and wound up with a got a whole bunch of cat litter buckets. They are large, square, and tough.

You could check around cemetaries. Usually there is a pile of old pots from the plants people leave. Just check near the building where the groundskeeper keeps his tools. Don't take them from the gravesites.

I dumpster dive enough plant pots of all sizes and desciptions every year. I go for about 2 hours in the rich section of town once a week April to August. I used to get enough to sell them in stacks after getting all the pots I wanted plus some for my mom and friends. Besides pots I also have gotten plants of all kinds. And a lot of non-garden stuff. Wash them out with soapy water and bleach and let them sit. I like to overwinter them outside in snow, Colorado winters deter a lot of pests. But that's me. It helps if you get an idea of what was in them first. And there have generally been so many I can be picky. Of course, you can't be shy to do this. And it helps that a LOT of people dumpster dive this area; I can ask them if they've seen anything(as most of them aren't looking for pots).

Cacye

do you mean really in a dumpster? or picking up the stuff folks leave out on the street. Where are the dumpsters?

I use to get newspaper coupons from my condo newspaper recycling bin and I was self conscious enough about that!

I have used the black plastic pots of the right size and then wrapped them in a sheet of reed or bamboo screening, cut to size. I have seen this done in Chinese gardens to disguise garbage cans and it looks great and is much cheaper than buying a nice pot of any size.

I think the last response really zeros in on Barb's request: Why doesn't she want to use the black nursery cheapies? Is it the appearance? They are readily available, often for free (just ask me for some from my huge stack in the potting shed!) and hold warmth nicely. If wrapping them in screening doesn't work (and, pdxlights, I'd love to see some pictures of it -- is it difficult to do when one is artisticly challenged?), you can spray paint or spray texturize the pots to a more pleasing color and/or texture, you can mosaic them with free stuff like stones, broken china or shells, or you can decoupage them with old newspaper or pictures from magazines or catalogs. Check out the Garden Junk forum. Those "junkers" have tons of great ideas to create cool stuff from throwaways!

Rain

I got gobs of white 5 gallon buckets from a friend who has a business cleaning floors. The wax comes in it and if you call some businesses you could probably get them free. They are also handy for storing clean pots, compost, sand, peat moss etc etc.

i read on a forum, maybe this one that you can spray terra cota stuff. and it looks real!! hope that helps some!! i bought tons of the black ones, to sell the stuff i have.

It just kills me that at the dump in the big dumpster there was a huge plastic "terra cota" pot in good condition. What are people thinking! Our dump doesn't have a free shed for good usable items except there is a shelf for books at the recycling part. Lots of dumps do though. Check with friends who live in other towns that may have these free sheds and tell them what you are looking for. Its not hard to make cool paint treatments out of leftover paint. I'm going to do granite, terracota, and rusty iron this weekend.