Pots & Planters

Pots & Planters

Size is the decision that matters most with a planter and the one most often got wrong, because a pot that looks generous in a shop looks small on a patio. The range here runs 33cm, 35cm, 36cm, 50cm, 55cm, 66cm and 70cm, and as a rule anything meant to hold a shrub or a small tree wants to be at least 50cm across so the roots have room and the compost does not dry out in a week. Shape follows use: round pots suit a single specimen, square and tall planters line up along a wall or a path, and rippled and antiqued finishes read as decorative in their own right. Slate grey is the default modern finish and disappears against most paving; black and bronze antique finishes suit a traditional garden. Novelty and character planters in animal and vegetable designs are a different purchase entirely, bought for the look rather than the planting. Drainage is worth checking before you fill anything.

Tierra Verde supplies most of the larger contemporary range through the Concerto round, Sonata square and Serenity ripple designs in slate grey, with Gardag on rustic antiqued pots, WGP and Smart Garden across novelty and character planters, and GardenSure and ProPlus on greenhouses and polytunnels for growing under cover. Related departments are Gardening, Garden Hand Tools, Plant Food, Compost & Bark and Solar Lights & Garden Ornaments.