When a co-worker mentioned that my friend Brenda at Thompson’s Building Materials in Fontana, CA had made some pallet gardens, I rushed (literally!) over to take a look. Don’t let Thompson’s name fool you into thinking they don’t have fantastic plants and pottery (and really awesome built in BBQs if you have the space for one). Because they do! I bought a kumquat while I was there. If you’re in Southern California, you should go check them out. The pallet gardens are hanging near the design center.

By the way, Brenda attached the pallet gardens to the wall using brackets. She said there has been no sign of damage to the wall behind the pallets, probably because she used succulents which need pretty minimal amounts of water. She did mention that since she used pallets with wide openings between the slats that when it is time to replant them, she’s going to use chicken wire to help hold the soil in better.

Oh, one last tip I learned from Brenda. If you have pallets that are colors you don’t want, you can stain them. That’s what Brenda did. She has quite a few on the wall and she wanted them to match, so they’re all stained the same.

While taking a walk around the Queen Village Neighborhood of Philadelphia I spotted this super gorgeous windowbox jam packed with interesting foliage plants perfect for fall. Black Mondo Grass and ornamental cabbages? Yes, please!

If you want to recreate this look, here’s a container plan and plant list:

1. Black Mondo Grass
2. Fern
3. Ornamental cabbage
4. Wire vine

You may have to really squeeze the plants in, but the strappy leaves of the ferns and mondo grass look best when they comingle with nearby plants. I’ve found that it’s easiest to start from back to front, putting in the larger plants first, and then following with smaller plants.

I recently came across this snapshot from last year’s winter Patchwork Festival (a must see if you live in Southern California!). I love the brightness of the lemon yellow frame, and how easy the creator made it to grow vertically. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million times: taking advantage of your vertical space is one of the smartest moves a space-challenged container gardener can make.

Are you growing vertically?

All of these photos were taken at restaurants in San Diego. Patio areas at trendier restaurants often incorporate interesting potted plants. Since restaurant patios are high traffic areas and it is doubtful that the restaurant staff has time to fuss over plants, you are often safe in assuming plants on local restaurant patios are tough, relatively low maintenance plants for your area.

Seems like this container could easily be recreated by someone with basic woodworking skills.

I’m embarassed to admit that Outdoor Iron sent me this planter to review quite some time ago. As you can see from the photos, it’s a very cute planter. I used colorful pots and succulents to add a little interest to a small, narrow space in my parents’ side yard. It sits right under my mom’s craft room window. She has mentioned a couple of times that the planter really makes her happy, and I do think it looks pretty nice. So, why the delay in reviewing it? I kind of felt stumped because, well, what do you say about an iron planter? The design is charming, the packaging properly protected it during shipping, the owner of the site seems like a really nice, hard-working guy…and?

I assume you guys expect more than a sentence from me, so I thought I would use the Shasta Metal Planter as an excuse to chat about how you can incorporate an iron planter in your garden.

You can fit more plants in the same space

When you have a small space, there are only so many plants you can fit into a single space. Or not. When you use a multi-tiered planter like this one, you can fit twice as many plants in the same space by putting plants in both the lower shelf and the main planting area up top. Thing about all the herbs you could grow in the relatively small space this iron planter takes up!

One small tip: if you want to use pots whose base is narrower than the space between the iron slats, you can weave thin iron rods (look for them at hardware stores) between the slats so that your pots have a firm surface to sit on.

Direct foot traffic

At my last apartment, there was a decorative piece of woodwork that hung down low, right next to my front door. If someone tried to make a beeline for my door, they’d whack their forehead on that piece of wood. That is, until I put an iron planter very similar to this one underneath the spot, forcing people to walk around it and avoid the decorative woodwork. Problem solved! You could also use a planter to block off an area with style.

Create privacy (or hide an unsightly view)

In many apartments and condos, your living room or bedroom window may look out onto a walkway that your neighbors use to get to and from their units. You could use an iron planter planted with tall, dense plants like horsetail can obstruct passersby view into your apartment. Same thing if your outdoor space is a little too exposed for your taste.

The opposite problem can also be solved by an artfully placed planter full of tall, dense plants. Let’s say that your problem is not people looking into your space, but something ugly you can see when you look out. Maybe it’s an ugly panel of utility meters. An iron planter is perfect because you can block your view, but it can easily be moved aside when a meter reader needs to take a look.

Do you have an iron planter in your garden? How are you using it?

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I received iron planter to review from Outdoor Iron. To read more about my review policy, click here.

Gail is back with a new update from her balcony garden! You may remember from Gail’s first guest post that she’s from Calgary, AB Canada. Gail is was new to gardening back then, but she’s got another year of experience under her belt now. I think you guys will really identify with the success and challenges she’s had this year. If you’d like to chat with Gail, you can find her at twitter.com/missferran.

Well, it’s another summer of container gardening. The season isn’t over and I have high hopes for my plants. So far, it’s what I consider a victory. I got a handful of peas this year! That in itself seems like a miracle.

So, instead of no sunlight, the challenge this time around is that the plants are surviving (even the two hailstorms we’ve had so far), but not really producing. Gone are the withered and wretchedly growing impaired plants and in with the lush green plants with no fruit or veggies.

First, I should say that my potatoes seem to be a smashing success. The ones in the grow bag have beautiful, lush vegetation and lovely white flowers. The ones in the pot have the same green vegetation but pretty purple flowers. Aaah, variety! I am looking forward to harvesting them. Having said that, I have to get a move on and figure out when I can harvest. Further investigation is definitely needed.

There was a lot of excitement for me one night last week when I discovered little green tomatoes growing on one of the tomato plants I started from seed. I have a tomato plant that I bought that had tomatoes already growing, which is awesome in itself, but I find that to have something grow from seed to grow on its own is more of a reward. I can’t tell you how accomplished I feel about it. I’m hoping that they will mature so that I can have them for dinner and can proudly boast about it *grin*

I also noticed a lone pansy growing with my plants. I didn’t plant it, but it’s a welcome addition. Lately I’ve notice three or four pop up so I have a cheerful little group of flowers to greet me in the morning. I’m going to have to purposely plant some next time. They are lovely little things.

My major frustration is my peppers. Not one plant has grown higher than a seedling and they’ve definitely not born fruit. They refuse to mature and sit in their container as if in stasis. Not growing, not dying, merely existing in their tiny world, unencumbered by a desire to grow.

The one thing I am SUPER excited about is my ground cherry plants. I have two of them that started out like the peppers, silent monuments mocking my efforts to make them grow. And then there was a good rain and they sprung forth from their pots like little green beacons now mocking the peppers. They haven’t born fruit yet but I am confident they will. Ok, more hopeful than confident, but I digress.

I also have herbs growing both in the house and out. The garlic chives are wonderful and I have parsley, sage, rosemary, and garlic (thought I was going to break out into a Simon and Garfunkel song, didn’t you?). There are a few more herbs growing happily as well.

I also have a container that I like to call “Mon Homage au Gazon.” Or, if you like, “My Homage to the Lawn.” Or, if you prefer,” A Container of Weeds.” You’re probably asking yourself why I keep it. Well, I think some of them are actually flowers that haven’t grown yet. But I know for sure that some of them are most definitely weeds. I don’t know what weeds (although I know a dandelion was growing there at one time), but weeds none the less.

I must post a requiem for my poor, poor zucchini plant as it drowned in the last storm we had the other day. It had beautiful flowers. But, of course, it bore nothing before its untimely demise. I wasn’t brave enough to champion it from the sudden onslaught of the hail storm we had a couple of days ago. I believe it was the waves upon waves of water that fell from the sky, rather than the maelstrom of hail, which heralded its demise. On the other hand, I haven’t had to water my plants too much in the last couple of days.

The rest of my plants seem to be living fairly well and there’s still another month for things to grow. I’m starting to consider what I can grow in the living room in the winter as well. My goodness…so much potential!

I’ve been on the right coast, in Philadelphia to be precise, visiting my brother. Philly is a really neat city in many ways, including having a vibrant urban gardening culture. I even saw a sidewalk koi pond!

And this is the koi pond. The gardener made a large box out of wood and then lined it with thick black plastic. Then he or she filled it with water. koi, tropical plants, and even a turtle!

From my latest article for Fiskars.com: Preserving the flowers and leaves from your garden is a great way to collect the memories of the garden you and your children grew together. How to press flowers and foliage >>>

Are there any flower pressers out there?