Pot - $1 Bird house $3Pot - $1Little green frog is a thermometer - $1Pail - $1Garden helper - pricelessAcorn - freePurple pot - free (from incredible edibles)Pot - $1

Lava rock - stolen from Hawaii

Al

haha love them, those are all great. Very crafty , creative and thrifty.

wow. Very inspirational.

Those metal pails from dollar tree are so nice - much better than their plastic ones. I had the rectangle pot and it didn't even last a season.

Al, most of us know you and your extensive knowledge of plants and how you know how to water in containers without drain holes, OR have you drilled holes in all of them, with the exception of the acorn cap LOL ??

Of course it's long since rotted away, but he acorn cap had a hole in the bottom with a little string to act as a wick. It was watered by tucking the wick under the acorn, then setting it on a capillary mat. It lasted about a year - just a novelty to use as a companion plant when displaying bonsai. I've grown stuff in Chapstick caps and other very tiny pots.

Compare size to the nap on the towel.

I've had plants over the long term in containers w/o holes, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I probably have plants in at least 200 containers, all of which have drain holes. If they don't come with a hole, that's not a problem. I own a glazing contracting business (glass company) and we drill all sorts of stone and vitrified materials, including glass of course.

Al

I have the smaller metal pots like the op’s. One says welcome and the other says home. I’m loving the Dollar General pots this year!

Al..what a fantastic collection of economical and clever containers!..you proved that plants look good in anything..I agree that a drainage hole is recommended..I tried 2 tall "self draining" pots..they had a removable perforated tray with feet at the bottom..they were horrible..when I dumped the stagnant soil out it flowed like vomit..my husband drilled drainage holes and they're fine now..

Quoteable gardenweb quote of the day, "..soil flowed like vomit". You're hilarious. I had the same problem with the self-watering planters. It seems like a good idea, but doesn't seem to work that well.

popmama..I debated about saying vomit..but that's what it was like! Lol..and as it splattered on the ground it made quite a disgusting sound too!..it took several days to dry out that soil..I'll stick to containers with drainage holes from now on..

FYI..the soil was a raised bed mix which resembled a fine mulch..the bag said it could be used in containers..I mixed in a small amount of peat moss..it's a beautiful dark brown bark based mix..if I'd used a typical peat heavy moisture retentive potting soil it would've created an even bigger mess..

I like alternative planters. They make plant displays so much more interesting. However, I am not too fond of metal ones because in my zone the sides can get very hot if they sit in full sun. I also avoid black or very dark because they can get very hot as well.

I’ve never had much luck at the dollar store. But maybe I’m not paying attention. I don’t have the courage to pot up anything with no hole in the bottom.

For my houseplants, I like to use little plastic pots. I've recently started buying cute liners, but for a long time I would just have the bare plastic. Sometimes they're cute colors. The Dollar Tree and 99cents Store are FANTASTIC places to get good pots, whether you want ceramic (including nice terra cotta ones, which I like for outside) or plastic, or what. :)

They have a really wide variety of sizes and shapes, too!

I do a lot of propagation of woody and other interesting plant material, and give the propagules a good start on their way toward bonsai. When people visit and show interest, I give these plants away. Of course, they look soo much better if they're in a nice pot, so I always have my eyes peeled for cheap ones. A few years ago, I bought about 3 dozen smallish soup bowls (hold about 2 cups of soil) with interesting drip glaze or planty-looking hand-painted patterns for $.99 each from Walmart. Obviously, soup bowls don't come with holes, but a .5 inch diamond core drill (around $20) makes short work of putting a hole in the bottom. You get about 20 holes per bit fir vitrified materials (glass/ceramic) - depending on the hardness.. If you are drilling terra-cotta, you might get 100 holes per bit.

Repots I've been doing for the last 3 weeks:

Sort of hard to see everything. These are my deciduous trees. I have about an equal number of conifers and tropicals, so this about 1/3 of my collection.

Al