Day Project - DIY Tipsy Planter

Today was such an overcast day in North Carolina I decided to do a quick day project and call it a wrap. After looking around at the yard and thinking about what it needed I came to the conclusion it really could use some more color. The biggest problem with that though is 95% of my yard is considered Full Sun and some of the best color producing plants are of course, partial sun.

So I put on my thinkers cap and came up with a crazy idea! A Tipsy Planter! Basically these are awesome looking planters that can bring a ton of conversation to any back yard event. Plus I could set it up in the very narrow strip of shade which would let me use some of the, in my opinion, better looking flowers.

So, a quick trip to Lowes and Walmart with my daughter and I had gathered everything I needed to build a great looking Tipsy Planter. Here is a picture of the final product;


I had planned on purchasing more "hanging" type plants that would flow over the sides and provide a little bit more texture to the planter. However my daughter was firm in her desire for Vinca's, Petunia's and English Daises, so of course those are the ones that came home with us.

As for the other items that you will need.

• Garden Stake - I purchased a 6' and drove it roughly 2 - 2 1/2 feet into the ground. Be sure the one you get will fit through the drainage holes in your pots.
  
• Planting Soil - I went with a pricey Miracle Gro variety but feel free to use your preferred brand.
• 6" Terracotta Pots - I got five of them, 3 standard and 2 chocolate colored.
  
• One large Base Pot - I had an old one laying around, be sure the one you decide on is large enough to accommodate the terracotta pot.

One thing I lucked out on was my base pot had offset drainage holes. This allowed me to set the first pot back a bit and gave me just enough room to plant an English Daisy in the base. If your base pot has a centered hole then you may be better off with some type of ivy or another vine.


Once you have the base pot set how you like it, start driving the garden stake down using a hammer. When I had about 1 foot driven down I stopped and filled the base with dirt and placed the first pot in place to check every thing out.


Ensuring that everything was proceeding according to my vague plans I went ahead and drove the stake down some more then placed the other pots alternating them one way then the other.


Before placing the flowers into the pots I finished driving the stake down so that it was roughly 3" from the top of the uppermost pot. The next step was simply filling in the pots with flowers and giving everything a drink of water.




The only thing I may decide to change down the line is the garden stake. It happens to be a fairly windy day and I can see the pots sway slightly in the wind. As we get closer to hurricane season I may pull the planter apart and replace the garden stake with a length of re-bar*.

*Re-bar is used for masonry work, to help hold slabs of concrete together. You can usually find a 10' length at Lowes for around $5. Whereas the stake has a steel plate around the outside, the re-bar is solid steel.