Plant stands that are anything but traditional add a little excitement to your decor.
Plant stands can be surprisingly expensive for something that just holds up a single bloom, or a few. But the support for the plants is part of their display, so you can't make anything too shabby or secondhand work with your decor. Give some thought to an inventive solution that will be an attention-grabber without turning into a money pit. Park your plants in the center of things as living conversation pieces with perfectly proportioned, if unexpected, support. Does this Spark an idea?
Seat-of-Your-Pants Stand
An old wrought iron garden chair fitted with a large pot can hold a florist's window worth of plants. Just remove the seat platform and fit the empty seat frame with a favorite potted plant. Or measure the opening, buy a pot to fit and fill it with a large fern or colorful annuals. If the seat is level and in good shape, just set smaller potted plants on it as if the chair were a shelf. Put a pot below the seat with a climbing vine that you train over the back of the chair.
Concentric Plant Stand
Green a patio or a bright corner of the sun room with shallow nested terra cotta saucers stacked in a tower. Put the largest saucer on a pedestal, low wall or painted cement block. Set small potted plants inside the saucer around the rim and fill the open center with gravel or small stones. Place the next smallest saucer on the gravel and fill its edges with smaller potted plants. Repeat the gravel layer for one more small saucer. Scatter a few bits of gravel in it for drainage and place a single potted plant on the top saucer to complete the green tower.
Table Tableau
A shallow copper tray makes a centerpiece plant stand on an al fresco dining table. Find a tray that mimics the shape of the table -- rectangular, square or circular. Layer fine gravel in the tray to help with drainage and fill it with small pots of low-growing flowers, herbs and greens. You can mix it up and have violets sharing top billing with spreading chocolate mint or pots of trimmed catnip interspersed with miniature pansies. Keep all the plants low so they don't interfere with conversation around the table. The copper will weather to a nice shade of blue-green as the season progresses.
Rainy Day Plant Stand
A recycled wrought iron umbrella stand fitted with a painted plate becomes an original plant stand in an eclectic living room. The plate covers the top of the umbrella stand to make a platform or shelf for the plant to rest on; use a fancy Chinese restaurant plate to add an ornate note. Put a single show-off plant in a raku or painted ceramic pot on the plate. An orchid spray on this plant stand will look like a sculpture in the room. Underscore the gallery impression by training a small spotlight on the plant.
Tags: potted plants, fill with, fitted with, Plant stands, potted plant
