Becky: This is such a great tip, there are certainly many treasures to be found at garage/yard sales, thrift stores, flea markets etc. Valleylynn's photo with your tip goes to show what lovely treasures we can find to add even more beauty to our plants!

As you already know Becky, I love your tip. It is like having a treasure hunt when I go to yard/garage/Estate sales and all the other places Lin listed in her post.
You can even look around your own house and find interesting things to turn into a plant container. Like this old mop bucket.

I would say that 90% of the pots in my yard come from garage and yard sales! I have made some fantastic buys so I wholeheartedly subscribe to this tip.
Attached a picture of a real treasure, a hand made Italian pot (BIG) which I picked up for $ 25.....

Oh my, that is beautiful Hetty.

Hetty: That is one beautiful container! $25 is a little above what I normally like to spend on one garage sale item but when you come across something as special as that it's impossible not to buy it! You don't often find authentic hand made Italian pottery at yard sales ... what a bargain!

And, Lynn: I love that galvanized mop bucket and those lovely plants spilling out!

I've recycled a few containers and used them as planters. I've had this old cloth purse for years that's empty at the moment but I've been using it as a plant container for 25+ years:


And, an old tin Colander with grape ivy:


And, I got this idea from a gardener on cubits. When I saw her photo I remembered having an old bird feeder whose plastic insert had broken. So I filled this one with spanish moss and stuck a few Cryptanthus plants in it:

Same here, $ 25 is a lot when I do Garage Sales, but that is easily a $ 250 pot.....
I love the birdfeeder with the Cryptanthus! I might copy that..... I am always looking for spaces to hang plants!

I agree, $25 for that pot is an amazing buy! If you use Tillandsia usneoids (Spanish Moss) it dries out very quickly so watering is in needed almost daily! I can't remember for sure but I think the lady I copied that from used Bromeliads. edited to add: And she used Sphagnum moss.

I love seeing these ideas!

The $25 pot, Hetty, is so beautiful!

Lynn, thanks for being the photographer for this tip!

Lin....I love that purse. I saw it here before...garden Art maybe? but wherever, I think it's super creative.

I love using unusual things for my plants. Currently I have a balcony while I'm attending school so my garden space is limited.

GREAT and thrifty idea

Lin very creative and wonderful containers, love them all, but especially love the colander and bird feeder. That bird feeder would be great for my semps and sedum.

My idea of a bargain is "free".

A local nursery has high prices, but they give away their once-used plastic pots and inserts - including some gallon pots and even larger.

I guess the pots aren't "free" since I always feel obliged to buy something, but their quality is as high as thier prices, so it balances out.

Corey

And you know what, Corey?

A can of Krylon for Plastic Spray paint makes the container beautiful!

Boopaints said:A can of Krylon for Plastic Spray paint makes the container beautiful!

I love the Krylon spray paint for plastic ... just recently sprayed two little plastic tables on the deck that were looking very worn out!

>> Krylon for Plastic Spray paint

Hmm, I'm not very artistic, but I think I could handle that.

All of the big pots are black, and I have more of a brick-red theme, due to my cheap raised-bed walls.

I am not artistic or crafty at all so if I can handle Krylon Spray Paint, anyone can ... really!

Krylon is easy once you get that top off the can! They have lots of colors!

>> easy once you get that top off the can!

For some reason I'm reminded of Kelly Bundy complaining about the directions on a package of Jell-o.

"Stir into boiling water"??!?? Like people just KNOW how to do things like "boil" and "stir"!!!

I'm not going to make any wild claims about "easy" until I get a few pots painted without turning my face or my cat blue.

>>Like people just KNOW how to do things like "boil" and "stir"!!!

This reminds me of a few weeks ago when we had a group of students help in the Botanical Garden to clear an area. Some of them were on pot detail and I just told them to 'weed the pots'
Duh. Do you think they knew what I meant?
Their leader called them all together and gave a 'weeding demonstration': 'See this big plant in the middle? That is the one we want! All that little stuff around it is weeds and need to be pulled out of the pot.' Phew!!!

>> 'See this big plant in the middle? That is the one we want! All that little stuff around it is weeds and need to be pulled out of the pot.'

I was totally sharing your amazement at thier stupidity untill I remembered all the times I have asked in a Plant ID forum, or thought about asking, in my own garden, about plants I planted:

"Is this one a weed, or might it be X, Y, or Z?"

(tiptoeing away quietly, hoping that no one in that class heard me thinking what dummies they must be)

I guess it helps if the plants are bigger than the weeds, but in my raised beds, I'm lucky when that happens. I used to go by "the ones that all look the same must be what I planted", but for the last few years, the weeds seem to thrive in regiments of the same thing at the same time. Now it's more likely that a big, vigorous crop of identical seedlings are all the same ... weed!

you two crack me up. But it's true. We all use terminology that makes sense to us.

But seriously, you have to pry the caps off spray cans now with a screwdriver. Dumb kids that spray apint graffit made it tough on us. lol

I had two old resin weathered Adirondack chairs...faded hunter green. I sprayed them with the blue Krylon for Plastic paint and they are gorgeous! Just sayin'