Triceratops to Toilets: 7 Awesomely Unexpected DIY Planters

We love reusing household items (like jars and cans) and turning them into DIY planters.  We found some really creative planters and wanted to share them with you.  From toilet bowls to dinosaur action figures, some gardeners have created some pretty funky places to grow plants.

Dinosaur DIY Planters

Give your old toys new life (literally) by turning them into a dinosaur DIY planters for your small cacti.  These dinosaur action figures have become a fun way to display air plants and succulents.  

Old Books

We don’t recommend hacking up your library for gardening’s sake, but old books found at a garage sale or thrift store would work perfectly for this. The hole is shallow so plants with long roots won’t thrive, but a book housing a succulent is a “novel” idea. (Get it?)

Toilets

A toilet bowl makes a large pot that is large enough to plant flowers.  Your neighbors might usually complain if you stick a toilet bowl as decoration in the front yard, but we think they’ll be a bit more excited if it’s a small garden.   

Shoes

This gives a whole new meaning to “leave your shoes outside”.  Small shoes like high heels and sneakers make great succulent holders, while tall shoes like rain boots (that can have draining holes cut into the bottom) are tall enough for larger plans like flowers.

Old Furniture

Bring your indoor furniture outside and make a whimsical, unexpected garden from items like dressers.  You can stack the several drawers to make small box gardens that can grow taller plants.  Stack different kinds of flowers for a colorful, vertical display.

Ingredient Containers

Put your caffeine addiction on display and grow a plant in your coffee can for your desk. (And remember to use those coffee grounds to grow mushrooms.) Or use an empty ingredient can, from oatmeal, to tomato sauce, to salsa to plant something new inside of it. It’s fun to grow food in containers that formerly contained ingredients, and these large cans are big enough to grow herbs such as thyme, tarragon, oregano, or rosemary.

Teacups

Your natural inclination may be to throw out a teacup when it gets chipped. However, you can reuse teacups that have been retired from your cabinet as mini-DIY planters that sit on side tables, coffee tables, windowsills, and in every corner of your home filled with cacti, moss, or small flowers. Teacup gardens also make a cute gift for birthdays and Mothers Day. If you don’t have any teacups, track some down at flea markets.