Plant flowers in it? lol! I bet if you took the cover off and plant according to the container gardening principle of a "thriller, spiller and filler" it would look wonderful - especially if it is an old weathered trash can. Rather than fill the whole thing with dirt, put 2 liter soda bottles, cans or styrofoam in the bottom to fill in the unused space. Or put one pot upside down inside of it as a stand for another one that would be planted. I see what you mean about the picture, it does resemble a trash can!

How about cutting holes in it to make it like a GIANT strawberry jar?

Here's a rick rack planted in a galvanized can I bought just for this purpose. I'd love to learn how to age the can like your example, Mary, that looked really cool, natural.
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I'm thinking there is a wash you can use to age the galvanized can....I'll ask DH about it. I've also seen the small garbage/trashcans "tied" with a metal type ribbon for dressing and also with the raffia/straw ribbon you can buy at the craft store. You can also distress it with some copper or vertigre paint. You would need to sand lightly in places though.

When I first looked at it (and I love it too, not the price though) I thought of one of those things in an old air conditioner. I think they are called rat wheels or gerbil wheels or something. You could use your trash can easily, and let it weather a little, I love that idea. Let us see your results.

Luna HAHAHAHAHAHA You're hysterical!!!

Just keep your trash can outside for a couple of years and it will age. Maybe you can beat around the rim to flatten it a bit so it looks less trash canny. HAHAHA That sounds funny. My trash can is all beat up now but I've yet to plant anything in it. Just remember, if your plant needs full sun, don't plant the plant directly into the can but leave it in a pot cuz I'm pretty sure the can will heat up something awful and kill the roots of whatever is directly planted in it.

Tenderly, your rick rack is AWESOME!! I've never seen that plant before and will now look it up. Would love to have one myself! (have looked it up and it has the most beautiful flower!! And not to be picky but it's spelled 'ric rac'. ;-) You know I can't spell!!!!)

I have seen garbage cans used for veggie plantings too!

Tennesseetrash,
I love that ric rac plant! I have a small one but that is just down right Awesome!!!!!!

Isn't there some pleated metal sheet that we could use to imitate that planter?
I think trash cans make nice planters. I had an old rusty metal can that I used to plant every year until the bottom fell out. Now I put a plastic pot inside the remains. (Dh thinks I'm nuts.)
Has anyone used that liquid sander that I've seen lately on HGTV to sand wood? I wonder what it would do to metal.
kathy

You didn't know you'd get a book here, but ...

Thanks about the Ric Rac & for correcting the spelling :-) I've read it's also called Devil's Backbone, Fishbone Cactus, and Zig Zag Cactus. I stick with Ric Rac because the special friend, Theo, I purchased it from 3 years ago, called it Ric Rac.

Theo, a Master Gardener from North GA who was a good friend of mine, died in 2007 with ovarian cancer. She had a cool garden shop attached to her house to earn extra money, and she was a junker with a capital J! The shop was called Peacock Alley, and during the last couple of years before she passed away, she sold her favorite things to her favorite *recipients* of the items (to the best home!). I was lucky enough to purchase this wonderful ric rac from her 3 years ago. It was in a clay pot then, but grew so much I had to re-pot it (thorny & heavy, hubby had to help!), and chose the galvanized can then. I do keep it out of direct sunlight, it got early morning sun here, but then was shaded before day got hot.

I miss Theo, you guys would have loved her, and I'm working on a memorial/tribute area in my garden to her called Peacock Valley, since Chatta is in a valley between mountains. I'll share with you if I ever get to work on it again!

Before leaving subject of Theo, another goody she sold me was a Luxfer Prism Glass window designed by Frank Lloyd Wright when he worked for Luxfer Glass circa 1897. It came out of an old store in Florence, Ala. I intend to hang it in my kitchen window in front of the real window, but don't have it hung right now. It is one old window that won't be used in the garden! Might make a photo for you one day & put on Convo side.

For the "stakes" in the Ric Rac, I used (how tacky is this?) the 4 aluminum posts left from the frame of our old sliding glass shower door frame. I strung copper wire through holes in the top of the 4 pieces, and it supports the weight of the plant. I have to use hand trucks to move it into the basement each fall it's so heavy!

Cindee, I had used an old Potato Pail (that's what it says on side of faded can, so I felt safe in that it was used for food) to grow this pepper plant in, then I read that bad chemicals leech into veggies grown in galvanized containers, so I stopped using them for food plants. In this photo, the pail is on the left, (the shiny galvanized planter on right I got at Big Lots and have a Pink Mandevilla in it). The old pail is aged naturally, and looks so much better than the one on the right. BTW the pepper plant didn't grow as well in the galvanized pail as in other containers. I think I'll use the old pail for another succulent.
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So sorry about the loss of your friend. Theo sounds like a very special person. Nice pics and trellis.
kathy