Succulents!!! Excess water can be 'poured' out. Don't have any pics, though.

I checked your PAGE but could not find your zone or where you live.
I know in Florida if I plant something in metal I cannot put it in the sun or it will FRY! Also remember there is no hole for darinage so you must be careful stuff doesnt rot!
You could line it with stones then add terra cotta pots of plants and more stones to cover the pot unless the plant was so vigorous it covered it.Most of my black kettles are rusty and I choose not to plant in them but display other unique Object de'junque in them
tanya

My advice would be not to plant in it, unless you're able to drill some drainage holes in the bottom. Only if it's extremely rusty and has had better days, would I suggest that. The only plants that can take wet feet very well are bog/pond plants.

It could be made into a small pond with aquatic plants and a small pump. I'm not sure if that would work unless you put a liner in it (rusty water - high iron content - red water?), and I guess you'd have to drape it over the top edge to be sure of no leaking. Not sure how you could seal it at top, but there's probably a glue for that (GEII? rusty iron glued to rubber?). Or maybe drape it over to the indented outside rim, and put some kind of band around the pot to hold liner in place.

But I do have one idea that might be good, I saw Paul James the HGTV Gardener Guy do this .... have a thick, round glass cut to fit over it as an outdoor tabletop. Have the edges beveled of course, and be sure it's larger than the rim of the kettle (approx 6"), so that you'll have an overhang and it won't get wet with rain. Might cost $50 or more but, would be very rugged and long lasting. Fill it with rocks, big ugly ones at bottom, then top layer of real pretty ones, put glass top on it and walla! A couple of rustic chairs would look great to either side, and a potted plant & candles on the glass table top.

Tanya's idea about staging pots in it, after building up a platform of rocks to elevate it properly, is also a great idea.

Never place it near the direct sun, unless you make it into a table. The iron will get hot in the sun and cook anything living inside. Pond or potted plants. Ponds also grow more algae, get slimy and green, much more quickly if they're in the direct sunlight. The shadier, the better. I can tell you this from personal experience :-)

How did you get so lucky to own some iron kettles? If I ever see them, they're very expensive, and I pass. Good luck with yours and let us know what you do with them! ~tenderlee

We call them wash pots! LOL
My Grandma boiled her clothes in one!
The family one that I had was smashed by a van
that crashed through my fence in 2004. (The
whole story is on 'my page').
I bought 2 others in Illinois a couple of years
ago. Got the name of the person from an antique
dealer in Indiana.
One had a hole in it but the other did not.
I also bought a stand for one of them, an upright
pump and a bunch of other things for about $150.
The pickup was loaded.
They are still to be found 'up North', but not
in Florida!

You did not mention if it was an iron kettle that is shaped like a tea pot or cauldron. My Grandmother kept a teapot shaped one, with water in it, setting on top of the iron pot bellied stove. The cauldron one was kept outside for making soap. Later years the cauldron one was used like a chiminea to roast hot dogs. If it is the smaller one I would halfway fill it with pebbles and set a shade house plant in it within it's own pot. The cauldron one would be 3/4 filled with pebbles and have multiple shade loving plants within their own pots. Both iron pieces would be under a heavy shade tree or on a covered porch. Wonder if Bamboo could be grown in a cauldron one? Iron would keep the roots contained and some bamboos love water. Google time. susie

I have a huge iron pot. I think nonacook described what it may have been in it's former life..lol ! It has a round iron frame that it hung from until the chain rusted through last summer. I put a layer of spaghnum moss in the bottom and then filled it with potting soil,adding a little water at a time to compact the soil so that when it rained,all the soil wouldn't sink to the bottom. Then I planted small ferns in the center,begonias around the ferns and ivy and wandering jew around the outer edges so they would drape over the sides when they grew. This pot is large enough that the roots wouldn't drown from too much water when we get rain. It was in full sun in the afternoon ( and believe me, it gets HOT in lower Alabama ),but I guess because of the depth of the pot the heat didn't seem to bother the plants.

Susan

My father in law planted velvet red amarilys in his. He is gone, but they are still blooming every year. I don't have the heart to move them, because they are so striking against that black pot!