How to Brighten up Your Porch with a Beautiful Planter

If you’re looking for a little pick me up for your porch, a planter full of beautiful bright flowers is just the thing!

Our spring planters were getting awfully tired, so I gave them a little makeover. These are pretty heavy, so I have to do them in place, which can be pretty messy. However, I have a couple tips to make it easier.

Choose Your Planters

If you don’t already have planters, now’s your time to get something you love! We got these huge terracotta bowls years ago, and we really like the patina they’ve acquired over time. If you’re in the Portland area, stop by Little Baja. It’s our favorite terracotta store ever! (They only ship a small selection, and I’m not an affiliate or anything. But I love that place so much, I just had to tell you about it!)

I looked all over and couldn’t find any planters exactly like ours, but I linked some other really pretty ones at the bottom.

Choose Your Plants

First, you get to choose your flowers. This is my favorite part! It’s so fun to go to the nursery and see all the beautiful color. Or if you’re more of a gardener, you could grow your plants from seed.

If you aren’t sure exactly what you want, it would be good to plan out the flowers in advance. Sometimes all the gorgeous options at the nursery might be a little overwhelming. You might end up coming home with flowers that don’t necessarily work.

Obviously, you’ll want to choose colors that go with your porch (or wherever!) Also consider the available light. If you don’t get any direct sun, for instance, you might stop off at the shade house at the nursery. Most places have lovely blooming shade plants.

Because we’ve had our planter and its twin for a long time, I’ve refined my style over the years. I usually have something tall in the back, against the brick. Something mid-height at the front and sides, and sometimes something trailing over the edges. These snapdragons, above, are my tall ones.

And these geraniums are my mid-height ones. Actually, I’m still looking for some trailing ones. The nursery didn’t have what I’d envisioned, so next weekend I’ll go poke around some more.

Out With the Old

The first thing I do to prepare my planter is to take out any old plants that are still in there. In Portland, the city provides great big yard waste bins, and I roll ours right up to the porch. That way, it’s easy to just put the compostables right in it. No extra stage of setting them aside and having to pick them up again later.

If you’ve had things in your pots for a while, the soil will probably be bound up with roots. So here comes the tricky part!

Tricky Tip #1

I just lay an old sheet on the porch next to the planter. (You can tell exactly how old by its lovely “retro” pattern!) Then tip the planter over and dump all the soil onto the sheet!

Then this is my second favorite part. Get in there with your hands, break up the soil, and pull out the roots. If you have a bigger sheet, you can ask your kids to help you! How about that root pile I got? However, as nice as it is, it went directly into the bin!

Wash your planter if it has any mold or if you had bugs or whatnot on the last plants. Add some rocks, broken pottery, squished up pop cans, or etc at the bottom for drainage, then put in some soil.

Tricky Tip #2

And here’s another tricky trick with the sheet. Because you have all the soil on it, you can grab up all the corners/edges, leaving one little opening at the bottom. That makes it into a giant pastry bag kind of thing!

Instead of trying to scoop the soil back into the planter with a trowel or something, you can just tip the soil out into the pot! As long as you have all the other corners securely gathered, there’s hardly any mess. Also, you have lots of control and it doesn’t take forever.

Obviously, the better the soil quality, the better your flowers will perform for you. I try to completely replace my soil every few years, and I fertilize often in between.

Trim Any Broken/Dead/Wilty Bits

Now that you’ve prepared the planter, go back to your flowers. Trim off any parts that are looking particularly sad. For instance, these yellow leaves on my geranium.

Then, holding one hand flat over the soil and around the stems, gently turn the pots upside down over the planter. (Because when you turn a pot upside down, dirt usually falls out!) Give the bucket a good couple squeezes with your other hand to loosen it from the roots, and ease it gently off.

Plant the Plants

Start with the tallest ones. In this case, I wanted to plant the snapdragons at a lower level in the soil than the geraniums. First reason being, because they’re taller. Also, they needed a little more stability. So my first layer of soil was not too high.

Then set your plant in the pot where you want it. Most likely, you’ll want the taller ones in the middle (if you can see all sides of your planter,) or at the back (if not.) Then fill in some soil to the level that you want to set the next plant.

(Cautionary note: some plants do NOT like to have their crowns buried. So if you’re not sure, ask the nursery people how deep you can plant each one.)

See how the big one is buried quite a bit, and the other one is sitting on top of the soil? Just keep going like that until you’ve got all the plants in there, at a height that you like.

A small aside: About the root ball, there’s once again a difference of opinion. (I feel like I’m always saying that!) Some people break it up, and some people gently loosen it. Yet others, leave it the heck alone. I’m of the leave-it-alone school, although I’ve had friends who swear by both of the other methods. We’ve all had beautiful planters, so at this point, I’m recommending your own personal preference. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

Once you’ve got your plants arranged to your satisfaction, fill in the rest of the planter with soil. Firm it in a bit, then sweep up.

I sweep up before I water, just in case I might spill some H2O. In which case, I have to clean up sticky mud instead of easy dry soil.

Water Your Planter Well

There you go – NOW you water! Repotted plants love yummy nutrient-rich soil, and a good drink after their adventure.

Enjoy Your Planter!

And you could have a snack and a good drink after your adventure too! Maybe sitting right there on the porch, admiring your new planter!

———- Shop the Porch Planter Post ———-

Click on the pictures for links to pieces I used for this post.  If the exact item isn’t available any more, I chose a similar option.

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This Post Shared With

• Homestyle Gathering 30 – Hosted by Serving Up Southern
• Metamorphosis Monday #643 – Hosted by Between Naps on the Porch