I like having the birds around, but most birdbaths available seem to have a Greek pillar design and don't fit with my mishmash of things. A couple of years ago I started with just a clay pot on the ground with a clay pan for the water. But ultimately it grew to stacked pots and cheap metal pot stands so it was a container planting. I used variegated (for obvious reasons ) Hedera helix for the plant and as it grew the stack has been adjusted and I found a chunk of sandstone with a flatter surface for the base. Relatively inexpensive. Also not very squirrel friendly. They have trouble climbing and for some reason haven't tried using the ivy. They are always ingenious, though, and one once launched itself from a near location and tipped the top pieces of the stack over. Some breakage and replacement then, but it's only happened the one time. The clay tray is easy to take off and clean from time to time. In the winter months I take the bath and stand off so I can take the ivy inside when temps get too cold for a potted plant. The early version here gives a clearer idea of the stack, but the one where the ivy has grown is how it is today.

Oh, very nice. I like that a lot.

How original! Looks good!

Not a fan of traditional styled bird baths here either, they're way too formal for me. That's awesome!

I suspect the ivy might be OK staying outside. I have that same kind in a pot hanging from a tree branch and I know it froze solid this past winter, though not for more than 48 hours at a time, length of freeze is usually a factor. Two nights in a row in the teens, and the foliage was encased in ice during that deep freeze, like everything else outside. It was on the porch when I moved into my last place, so it's been outside for at least 8 winters. Putting a pot in a sheltered corner can make the difference, if you're interested in experimenting with an established cutting one of these years.

Yeah, the ivy is pretty cold hardy. I let it freeze if it's above the lower 20s. But being in a pot makes a difference. I had a sedum get badly damaged last winter and it ordinarily handles freezing really well. What was growing in the ground wasn't damaged. And I had two native cacti plants of the small barrel type get killed last winter. They obviously survive quite well in the ground. Also, there is my preference for clay pots. While they give better insulation than plastic does, they are prone to flaking, cracking and even busting apart when they get frozen. It's sort of become part of my winter activity to be moving potted plants back and forth from inside and outside depending on the forecast! It's when the weather folks miss those forecasts by too many degrees that I get in trouble
:(.

I know what you mean. But the look of clay pots is very pleasing, especially with cacti and succulents. They just seem to go together.

Yes, I didn't mean to imply one would leave a *clay* pot out to get frozen. Sorry if I left that impression. Those things are expensive and that will ruin them!