It was hard to pass up but I did. Help me figure out a way to use these bargain pots and I will go pick up some. They are huuuge size 21" plastic pots for $5.98! But they were hot pink, Barbie Pink, Bubble Bum Pink, Toy Pink. I have always wanted more color in my yard but this would be pushing it! How can I use this bargain?? I have plenty of large plants that could use a new pot.

Spray paint to the rescue!

Thought about that, Arlene. But it would be $8 per can. And it doesn't last. Would it be worth it??

Try pricing the spray paint at Walmart.

Grow stuff that will cascade over the sides and hide the pot?

There is spray paint that's made to be used on plastic... but I don't know what it costs (or how many pots a can would do). I guess we can see why those pots are on sale

I wonder what would happen if you used paint remover or would the time you spend doing it not compensate for the sale price.

Just my opinion on all that pink. Um, no. Not even in Pepto Bismol pink.
Pink is good if you are creating a Think Pink for Cancer Awareness Garden or possibly Daughter's First Vegetable Garden.

We purchased some large pots that are 'tomato red'; no matter how many times I look at them they still look 'wrong' to my eyes. Yep, I am old fashioned and think outside garden pots should be terra cotta color, dark green or black - keeping a low profile to showcase the plants and blooms - not the pots.

Of course, there is always room for a nice decorative pot like a porcelain vase or something special for a mixed container on the patio. Those bright colored plastic pots may not be a bargain in the long run.

Nix on the pink for me. I can't abide it.

It must be for Pink Ribbon Month celebrating the prevention of Breast Cancer? And yes, @greene, this is a Pepto Pink! Certainly would not fit in most yards. And it wasn't in with the rest of the pots either. I am going back to get some because the Cheap Garden Person in me says, "That's one Helluva bargain!!" I just bought two pots smaller than these and paid $12 for them.

I have used the made-for-plastics spray paint but find other paints that say they are good for plastics work just as well or better as long as the surface is not slick and you use a clearcoat over them.The plastic chairs I have used the paint on didn't last but there won't be many butts scraping over the surface with this. I think I have just given myself a new Winter Project. Like I needed another project?? OH well, a bargain is a bargain even if I have to put some effort into making it just right.

Ah, so what I accomplished was to convince you to 'think pink'?
Okay then, please take lots of photos.

Other ideas to hide the pink -- cover pots with fabric or magazine images then modge-podge, or glue-wrap them with coils of twine or rope.

I tend to share Greene's attitude with his remark: "outside garden pots should be terra cotta color, dark green or black - keeping a low profile to showcase the plants and blooms - not the pots." However, there are exceptions. I'm not real fond of how Aloe vera looks as a general rule. It's an interesting plant, but not as interesting to me as a lot of other things. However, this is an heirloom plant whose origins in the family is lost in the depths of time. When I stumbled across this glazed container on sale, the light bulb went on. It's glaze is nearly a perfect color match for healthy green growth in the summer months and the tannish brown rim is nearly an exact match for it after the stress of winter or transplanting. I usually let this freeze and replant it in the spring, so the brown gets matched a lot . It may be the pink pots might have the perfect plant to grow in them and it never hurts to have something trailing down the side.

I use a lot of pots sunk into the ground, where the pink wouldn't matter at all. Maybe it would repel some of the invading tree roots in my shady oak tree borders. I like to grow cane begonias, but they don't compete with tree roots very well, so the sunken pot method works well.

I dig the pot in far enough that just about an inch or two of the rim is above the ground level, then after planting mulch over the edges of the pots so they don't show at all.

I also have this big urn that (obviously) you can't plant a big, robust plant in it or you'll never get it out. I put a big tapered pot inside it but first fill the bottom 2/3 of the urn with styro blocks, perlite and old potting soil. So the urn is really just a plant stand, but the pot doesn't show at all.

I'd use them like Elaine does; for things I want to grow in the ground, but that need some help competing with others. Or, same way for plants that might otherwise overgrow their boundaries.

Cheryl,
You could try roughing up the pot with fine sand paper first and then spray painting. Not anything you could see just something for the paint to hang on to. Use a cheap white flat from the dollar store first then paint the color you want them to be.

I agree with the light sanding but I wouldn't go with white paint if the final color will be a dark one.

I thought I would jump in here and tell all of you I bought 10 white planters, and they completely cracked apart from the sun within a year. Terra cotta colored plastic pots never do that. Green, lasts 2 years. I'm thinking the lighter colors are made from another product, who knows? They cost the same.

If you use white flat it will cover easy and help hold the other paint on.

Painting a cheap pot will absolutely make it last longer, as it protects the plastic from the sun degradation.But of course you're going to spend almost as much on paint as you spend on the pots.

Sinking them into the ground also keeps them out of the sun. They last 4 or 5 years at least.