Early this summer I planted a row of flowers alongside one of our beds in the back of the house. I used old containers. Some are cheap black plastic containers that came with plants we bought. A couple are flowerpots that are so old they’ve started deteriorating.
I used the conglomeration of pots for two reasons.
The first reason is I knew if the flowers thrived you wouldn’t even be able to see the old pots. As you can see from the photo I was right about that.
The second reason was more meaningful.
I’ve visited many Appalachian women over the course of my life and noticed the beautiful flowers they had growing in their yards, but also in any random container they had on hand. Things like old coffee cans, butter containers, and old rusty buckets held beautiful plants.
Often those containers were sitting along the porch railing or directly on the porch floor or on the porch steps.
The women, who were my elders, weren’t embarrassed a bit about a little rust here or there nor that plastic ones were printed with advertising for whatever came in them. They only saw the beauty of the bloom as it reached for the sunshine and brightened their days.
Last night’s video: August in the Mountains of Appalachia – It was a Good Month!
Tipper
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Oh what wonderful memories this post brought back! My grandmother had flowers all around her porch railings and the pots were just as you wrote, coffee cans, plastic bowls, anything she could find but boy they were pretty when they bloomed. Thank you
Make do. That’s what we call it, then and now. Some folks call it recycling. Some call it up cycling. Either way we didn’t and don’t have money for fancy planters and pots but we have plenty of leftover containers. There’s no shame in it. Our plants are just as beautiful as the photos in those fancy home magazines.
Your story was every bit as pretty as the attached photo. TY. Love ya.
Norman, it was so good to see your post. Please know I will continue to pray for you. Also will be praying for Granny, Nana, Debbie’s cousin & all the folks who have broken hearts due to the evil actions of others & all who are going through trials & tribulations, whether it be physically or mentally. I hope the Wilson/Pressley family & all the subscribers will have a good & safe Labor Day Holiday.
my grandmother used old cans and pots to plant it too. I have thought of those plants many times since your vlog.
I recall seeing flowers planted in lard buckets, coffee cans, etc. It’s a great way to recycle. These days, a decorative container can be part of the presentation and folks spend a lot of money on a pretty flower pot. Regardless of what you grow your flowers in, make sure the containers have drainage holes. Otherwise you are going to end up with waterlogged soil and suffering plants.
I love this!
Tipper,
I share your nostalgia about flowers planted in random “things”.
I didn’t see my grandmother too often, but the thing I remember about her most was that she was really eager to show off whatever flowers she had planted about her porch, in whatever she had planted them in.
My Mom enjoyed flowers too. In her later years when she and Dad were retired they would meet up with friends to camp together in Cades Cove. They made great friends from all over the states and they would make reservations to all camp in the Cove at the same time each year. They soon started bringing flowers with them to exchange with each other. Many were wild flowers. It wasn’t too long until Mom was taking me around her yard and through the woods to show me flowers that so and so had brought her from Illinois, New Mexico, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama or wherever. I guess they were all back at their houses, showing off whatever she had taken them from Tennessee! I have really good memories of walking around looking at her flowers with her. You can’t go wrong by keeping the flower traditions alive!
Love the picture of all those beautiful flowers! I’ve seen flowers planted in just about anything and they were always so pretty. Making do with what you have sometimes turns out to be a beautiful thing!
Lifting up Granny, Nana, Norman and the families in Minneapolis. God bless all of them.
Oh yes, I save and reuse plant containers-
Some for starting seeds and transplants but also flowers. They are handy for sharing plants that have been divided! Love the ‘old ways’.
And praying for healing and comfort for those need .
My grand parents porch had beautiful plants, all in coffee cans. That was about all the trash they had and my grandmother put it to good use. They raised and canned vegetables, had fresh milk and made their own butter. Chickens provided eggs and meat for frying, baking and stewing. One of their kids or grand kids would kill hogs in the fall, so their was sausage and lard.
Biscuits and bread were homemade from flour that came in sacks that were cut up and used in various ways. Only things I remember them buying was coffee, sugar, salt and pepper. I don’t drink coffee but I have lots of big green bean cans that I plant and put around my yard and patio. I take the labels off, poke holes in the bottom and love the look of the ribbed cans. Always makes me think of my grandmother.
I love the vibrant colors of your little ‘old container’ garden Tipper, and the continuation of making do & using up what most discard. One could apply this to ‘us oldies’ as well – of which I am one. 🙂 Have a great day. Praying it will be a good day for Granny too.
You suddenly reminded me this morning of an old enameled metal bucket my Grandma had flowers in. It was the mixed blue and white “graniteware” kind. If memory serves, it had rusty chipped places . I suspect it was a “find” from somewhere being re-used as a flowerpot. She also had a few of those tires made into a planter that someone had made for her but they were not obvious. She grew cannabis lilies in them. She always had several clumps of them around the yard. Since you have me looking back, I think I need to look for granite ware to see if there still is such a thing. If so, I’d be doubtful it is made here. And about those ladies not being embarrassed … hooray for them. Nowadays you have to pay extra to get fake rustic but I like real rustic myself.
Ron, the bucket you describe is exactly like the cooking pans I was trying to describe in my comment that my Grandmother would use. I hate to say it, but I would sometimes shoot them with by BB gun and listen to the enamel “ping.”
Been planting in an old, rusty wash tub with legs I found thrown away the last several years. Usually a mix of flowers and little kitchen stuff because it’s close to the house. The height is perfect. There’s marigolds, a leaking plastic watering can with lemon balm growing in it and a fuschia that’s about done in it right now. Because of my mini “goat bluff” been using bins, bags and buckets as I try to figure out the little microclimates. I try to arrange it cute and call it messy-cottage-core.
One of the prettiest and most unique ‘flower beds’ I have ever seen is a white used toddler’s bed full of bright red flowers. I want to copy that idea by using a racecar bed my daughter stored in my shed years ago, but I keep putting it off. It’s hard to imagine a yard without flowers, regardless of what kind of pot they are planted in.
I noticed Tipper had requested prior for me, One hospital said I had an aneurysm one said I don’t, you know you can trust the Lord but you can’t trust doctors, but I want to say thank you and God bless you for praying for me, God bless you Tipper
Showy Zinnias and Dianthus grace my former friend’s wheelbarrow which I painted a deep yellow. It sits on my front lawn and people that go by will stop and say how lovely it looks. When she broke up house I bought several items from her. I know if she could see the wheelbarrow now, she would love all the colors. Every once in awhile I have to jerryrig it together as it’s falling apart, but I love it so much I can’t bear to throw it out.
❤️
It’s authentic and simple. As you say, a seed wants to grow. It’ll grow anywhere. Even in old tins and pots. It’s the beauty of the plant thriving that makes where it’s planted on no matter.
Tipper, you are so right about the beauty of the bloom overflowing from the old rusty coffee can. Appalachian women put everything to good use. It warms my heart to read posts like this one.
I also enjoyed reading Barbara’s link about Appalachian history.
Continued prayers for Norman and your Mama. God is good.
Momma had a tractor tire she filled every year with beautiful, colorful flowers and she would use a pair of Daddy’s old worn out work boots and cut holes in them for hens and chickens. They were gorgeous! She also used one of the boys old rusty Tonka dump trucks for flowers too. She had rain barrels cut in half at each end of the driveway too. I just loved the beauty of the yard come summer!!! Blessings from Ohio.
O love the idea of using old and various containers to plant flowers. It’s a great example of recycling and making do with what you have. Also, the flowers don’t care where they’re planted. As you’ve said in the past Tipper they just want to grow.
I love to go to antique stores and find old metal cans and buckets. My favorite that I have is an old large traverse city mi cherry container that I have in my backyard.
One more thing, I personally have flowers planted in an old Maytag wringer washing machine, an old style wood wheelbarrow that I made using an iron wheel and now for next year, the ultimate redneck flower pot, an old toilet/commode. I don’t throw nothing away and try to find a use for it!
My mom used old pots or containers to plant her flowers too. She had flowers everywhere, outside and plants inside the house. Someone could bring her a plant that looked dead and after a couple of days in her care it was revived and after a month she had the plant thriving again. Like you Tipper, she had a green thumb!
First, I didn’t comment yesterday, some things going on (not health related) that are not helping my depression and anxiety. I did read about Norman and have been praying for him. Grandmother would used any and everything she could for her flower pots, one of her favorite things were the old enamel cooking pots that rust and get a hole in them. Granddaddy put planks across the bottom leg stand of a wood cook stove and she would use it to sit some of her flowers on.
Randy, I’m praying for you and hope things work out okay.
I love that! I remember flowers planted in old coffee cans and tires. Momma always planted a big ol tractor tire full of flowers.
I plant the old black iron kettles with flowers. I used to have beautiful beds, but now everything is in the black iron or galvanized warsh tubs. My daddy brought me over the first one and after he and Momma passed I received 2 more. Of course they all have cracks is why they have flowers in them.
I remember Momma always cooking beets in a big iron kettle my brother received. She’d have a fire under it and lay a piece of tin over it and cook them to make pickled beets.
Love the memories you always stir in my heart.
Continued prayers for Norman, Nana, and Granny. My cousin needs prayer. He found out he has cancer in his kidney and spine. They placed his port yesterday. May the Lord be near to all and may His presence be felt not only by the afflicted, but also their families.
Debbie, I will pray for your cousin.
Miss Tipper, Add me to your prayer warriors praying for all those in need.
Please pray for all the families that lost or had injured kin in the shootings this week. How wicked this world has become. May God be with and help all the needs requested and to raise us all up in prayers for them and may the healing begin. Thank you Lord today tomorrow and always b
Jennifer Lee, I will pray for you.
Praying for your cousin, Debbie.
I took love to see all the things people put flowers in to grow. As you pointed out, once everything is bloomed out you can’t see the pots anyway.
I love the idea of planting flowers in old containers. I have seen flowers planted in old rusty wheelbarrows, old toy wagons, and kitchen pots that had served their purpose and now had a new one. Hubby’s grandma planted flowers everywhere in all kinds of old pots, pans, and containers…and they were always beautiful. When I was a little girl, I remember my daddy somehow turned two old tires inside out. He painted them white, placed one on each side of the porch in the front yard, and filled them with soil. Mama planted the most beautiful flowers in those two containers every year. My dad was so great at creating something new out of something old.
Years ago, old tires made like you described were quite common in this area. I haven’t seen any in a good while.