The area around the house is a visiting card of any site. Special attention is always paid to its design. Outdoor flowerpots with a variety of plants are an excellent decor option. With their help, you can create whole compositions of flowers, or place accents throughout the site.
Pros and cons
Vases as a landscape decor, involving making with your own hands, have positive and negative sides.
The benefits include:
- Transportability. Thanks to their easy movement across the territory, you can create new compositions, and during bad weather or in winter, transfer plants to the attic or veranda.
- The ability to decorate a yard where the ground is covered with concrete or tiles, and planting plants in the ground is impossible.
- Fencing function. With the help of street containers, you can divide the site into zones, make a cozy corner.
- The ability to create favorable conditions in each flowerpot for an individual plant: special soil, fertilizer, watering.
- Low cost. Compared to many other garden décor items, containers are cost saving. DIY products allow you to do this doubly.
- Saving space. In containers, you can place not only flower beds, but also cultivated plants, use them instead of beds for growing cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, berries. This is especially true for small areas in order to save space.
Vases for the street have practically no drawbacks, however, depending on the material, several of them can be distinguished:
- Fragility. Refers to products made of plastic and wood.
- Plastic flowerpots are harmful to health, as they can release hazardous substances into the air.
- Ceramic products are very fragile.
- Plants in ceramic and metal containers require frequent watering because the soil dries out too quickly.
- Great weight. This disadvantage is possessed by products made of concrete and stone.
Shapes and sizes
Outdoor flowerpots can be of a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Making them with your own hands, you can be sure that you get a product that meets all the required criteria. And its appearance may be due to the material used and manufacturing technology.
When choosing the size for the future flowerpot, you should take into account the space on the site.
In a small area, large, massive containers will look ridiculous and cumbersome. Bulky plant compositions should also be avoided. At the same time, in a spacious area, small, modest containers will get lost and will not fulfill their function of decoration.
The container can be of any shape. It is limited only by technical capabilities and imagination. If the site is planned to be decorated in a certain style, then it is he who will dictate the appearance of the street decor.
Choosing a material
The choice of material is determined by such factors as the cost of the finished product, the peculiarities of its manufacture, the availability of the necessary tools for manufacturing and the skill of the master. Decorative flowerpots for a summer cottage or garden can be made with your own hands from wood, concrete, stone, plastic, ceramics, metal, or from scrap materials.
Wood
Refers to short-lived materials, since the product is constantly exposed to moisture outdoors. Such a product must be treated with a special anti-rotting agent. In this case, it can be used for several years. The most common version of a wooden flower container is making it based on a stump. The inside of the trunk is scraped out, holes are made for drainage, and the plant is placed inside. It is better if the earth is first poured into another container, and then put inside the stump.
Concrete or plaster
Simple and inexpensive materials to work with. Concrete and plaster products are durable, practical and resistant to environmental influences. With their help, you can make almost any shape of the flower girl. However, it will have a lot of weight, so it is better to do it immediately in the place where its further location on the site is planned. Peat can be added to the cement as a variety when mixing concrete. In this case, you will get a product made of hypertuff, which outwardly practically does not differ from real tuff or sandstone.
A rock
Stone flowerpots are heavy and expensive. They look very presentable and have a long service life. The process of making a container made of stone is rather complicated, so it is better to purchase such a product ready-made.
Plastic
Plastic products are characterized by a short service life and a simple appearance. However, they are inexpensive and come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Plastic containers are usually purchased ready-made.
Ceramic or clay
Such flower girls are fragile and break easily. A ceramic or clay product can be made with your own hands if the technology is followed correctly, including firing.
Metal
Metal flowerpots are durable and will last a long time. Forged products look very original, although they have a rather high price. The process of making a metal flower pot is laborious and requires special equipment.
Materials at hand
The choice of improvised means for making a flowerpot is limited only by imagination. A flower container can be made from a huge number of things usually unnecessary in the household: tires, bottles, old barrels, carts, baskets, buckets, tires, foam, rubber boots and bicycles. Such products will be distinguished by originality and uniqueness.
Master classes
You can make a beautiful flowerpot from scrap materials.
Made of wood
The easiest way is a flowerpot made from a piece of a sawn tree or stump. Birch is best suited for this. From tools for work you will need a drill and a chisel.
- Several holes need to be drilled on the surface of the stump. The more of them, the closer they are to each other, the easier further work will be.
- Scrape the inside of the stump to the desired depth.
- Place a container with earth in the recess.
- Treat the entire wood surface with a special anti-rotting agent.
In addition to the stump, you can use ordinary boards or timber to make a wooden flower girl. In this case, you will need a hacksaw and a hammer.
If the starting material is boards, four of them need to be put together separately and connected to each other. It turns out a rectangular container, which must be treated with a protective agent and decorated as you wish.
If a timber is assumed as a material, the flowerpot is assembled according to the principle of a log house, like a designer.
The bars are cut to the desired size, and on each side, a cut is made to half their thickness.
Then the whole structure is assembled and fastened with nails and screws. The finished product is sanded and coated with a protective agent.
Concrete
On the basis of cement, flower girls of a wide variety of shapes and sizes can be made. For this:
- It is necessary to prepare a form, most often it is plastic, suitable in all respects.
- Prepare the mixture for filling the form. It contains cement, agroperlite and peat in proportions of 2: 1: 2. All components are poured into a suitable container and diluted with water to a thick consistency. The mixture turns out to be a lot, it is very difficult to stir such an amount, so it is worth doing it in several approaches, dividing the solution into parts. To make the flower container colored, dyes are added while mixing the solution.
- Line the bottom of the mold with cellophane. The main thing is that its surface is smooth, without folds. Any unevenness will be imprinted on the finished flowerpot.
- Put the prepared mixture on cellophane. First, fill in the bottom, making it about 5 cm thick. You can use a toothpick or straw to control depth. Previously, a cork wrapped in polyethylene is placed on the bottom of the future flowerpot to provide for a drainage hole.
- Then line the remaining surface of the mold with the solution.
- When the mold is completely filled, it must be left for 10 days to harden. If the mixture dries out, moisten it with water.
- Pass the finished container with a metal brush over the entire surface to remove all irregularities, and give too smooth places a slight relief.
- After that, the flowerpot must be rinsed with water, dried, wrapped in foil and left for about a week.
- When the product brightens, you can remove the film and put it in the right place. The weight of such a flower girl is very large, therefore, it is better to deal with the process of its manufacture right at the place where it is planned to be found further.
To increase the strength of the structure, a metal frame can be inserted into the concrete layer.
In addition, for the same purpose, crushed fiberglass can be added to the mixture.
From car tires
Unused car tires are a material that often lies idle or thrown away as trash. You can easily make a bright and original decor for a garden or cottage from them. It is better to choose winter tires without spikes, they are softer and thinner.
To make a flower container in the shape of a flower, you need:
- Draw the desired outline on the sidewall of the tire.
- Cut along the contour of the part. To do this, you can use a rubber knife or jigsaw.
- Next, you need to turn the tire inside out. For this, cuts are made throughout the tire every 5-10 cm.
- The pot is ready. It remains to decorate it as you wish, cover it with earth and plant a plant.
From plastic containers
A very simple way to make a flower pot is to use a plastic bottle, barrel, or any other container as a basis. It is enough to cut a hole in it for planting a plant, make several drainage cuts and cover with earth.
However, in the case of a plastic pot, it is worth taking care of its stability. If the container is small, you can simply cover its bottom with small stones or pebbles. If we are talking about a large container, it is better to make it stationary.
To do this, you need to dig in a metal pin at the chosen place.
The bottom of the bottle is cut off. Then the bottle is "put" on the metal pin with its neck and a little deeper into the ground. The finished flowerpot can be decorated as desired and covered with soil.
From pipes
The original idea is to use plastic and metal pipes to make flower girls.
The pipes can be installed vertically. In this case, only the upper part is used for planting plants. If you install several pipes nearby, different in height and diameter, you get an interesting composition.
You can install the pipes horizontally by making plant holes on the surface.
Such original flower pots look beautiful along paths, lawns, along the perimeter of houses and greenhouses.
Finishing options
For large outdoor flowerpots, you can choose an original decor, which will be the finishing touch of their design.
The easiest way is to paint the product with paint. You can use one shade for all made flower girls, or you can create a multi-colored composition of all colors of the rainbow. The main thing is that the planted plants should be in harmony with the color of the painted container.
For plots with old-style houses, artificially aged flower girls are suitable. To do this, they are covered with the selected paint, and a layer of craquelure is applied on top.
In order for the paint to hold for a long time, the surface must first be coated with a primer.
Another way to design an outdoor flowerpot is to decorate it with various materials at hand. The decor can be created from cones, twigs, small stones or pebbles, broken tiles, mirrors or colored glass, creating a mosaic effect. This requires only special glue.
If it spills or stains the surface, it must be removed immediately, otherwise, after hardening, it will be impossible to do it.
After that, the flowerpot must be allowed to dry. If tiles, glass or stones are used as decor, the surface can be additionally treated with grout to complete the work. In addition to natural stones, you can use artificial ones, which will be perfectly matched in size and look more aesthetically pleasing than natural ones.
How to arrange a summer cottage?
When choosing containers for flowers as a decoration for your site, you should first of all assess their safety for people. For example, commonly used car tires are not the safest option. They can release toxic substances into the air and can be dangerous, especially if the family has small children.
In addition to safety, the flowerpot must meet the requirements for appearance: match the size and style of the site.
Its size should fit harmoniously into the space. In addition, if the house and the entire plot are decorated in a certain style, the flowerpots should correspond to it.
Not all plants are suitable for outdoor pots. To decorate the site with flower arrangements, it is worth considering the peculiarities of their root system, watering and the need for sunlight.
The following plants are suitable for planting in flower girls:
- Petunia. These are easy-care flowers of various colors that bloom all summer.
- Pansies. Their flowering continues for a long time. They are unpretentious, differ in a variety of colors and varieties, grow short, but fluffy.
- Ageratum. Differs in long flowering and unpretentiousness in watering.
- Fuchsia. Due to its flowing appearance, it creates the impression of being in a blooming, fragrant garden.
- Verbena. Suitable for planting in containers, has a modest root system, can be combined with other plant varieties.
Beautiful ideas for inspiration
Here are collected photos with various options for street flowerpots, which you can make with your own hands for inspiration with new ideas and original solutions.
What designers and gardeners themselves have come up with:
- fabrics, napkins, filled with concrete and frozen forever;
- rubber boots of bright colors and different sizes as original flowerpots;
- ordinary bowls attached in rows to a wooden fence or strung on a metal pin like a herringbone or pyramid;
- you can even build an alpine slide from tires;
- broken ceramic bowls should not be thrown away, shards can serve as an original decor;
- old galvanized watering cans, buckets;
- mosaic from old ceramic dishes;
- a box of boards with a grate for climbing plants.
For methods and step-by-step instructions on how to easily and beautifully make an outdoor cement flowerpot, see the following video.