I have 3 large round planters on my back patio. They are essentially permament fixtures and would guess they weigh in the neighborhood of 400-500lbs each. They are solid, very thick concrete about 2.5 ft high and 2.5 ft across (76cm).
What can I do with them other than keep plants in there real or fake? They are filled 3/4 of the way with planter soil and the top layer is about 2 inches of tree bark. I dont want to water, I dont want succulents or cactus type plants and I don’t want craft-store artificial plants. Currently I have a rusted, welded steel agave and two other steel plant sculptures. I need to get rid of the tree bark and Im not a fan of the steel plants I have. Need to find something kid friendly (not necessarily looking for a child focused solution). I tried river rock but the kids and dog pull/knock them out, so no rocks. Was thinking about making lids and turning to storage, maybe putting in another type of metal yard art, finding a cool filler then dumping clear epoxy in there? Haven’t thought of anything really appealing yet though, just brainstorming. Any ideas?
The ‘cool filler and resin’ idea is interesting, but it would only be visible from above. They might make interesting patio tables, with a clear top so you can see the ‘cool filler’, or just with a table top.
Since you mention succulents and the agave sculpture, are you living in an arid/desert environment? When I lived in the desert, black widows would get everywhere outside or in the garage. Personally, I wouldn’t use them for storage in such an environment.
Though the planters are heavy, you can elevate two of them to make a water feature. Use a masonry drill to drill a hole in the bottom, back side of one planter. Put in a submersible pump and run some tubing through the hold. (Seal around the tube so that it doesn’t leak.) Elevate the other two planters for a cascade effect. You may want to use spouts to ensure the water goes where you want it to. Run the other end of the tube to the top planter (perhaps with a fake hand-pump or other camouflage). You’d also have to seal any drain holes, perhaps seal the interiors, etc. You might put some goldfish in the bottom planter, which gives the kids something to do (watch, feed). You could put water lilies in them. Depending on your environment, you may attract birds.
If you smoke, they’d make great ash-cans. Similarly, if you have lawn parties, you could put the bottled beer on ice in them. Johnny L.A.'s ideas are better.
If you really don’t want to use them as planters your options are pretty limited. I get the impression that you don’t really want them on your patio. If it was me I’d be tempted to rent a dumpster, get a couple of friends with sledgehammers, and spend an afternoon breaking them up and disposing of them. If they’re made as planters it’ll be hard to re-purpose them.
However, if that’s not an option Johnny L.A.'s ideas are good. When I read the OP my first thought was to turn them into water fountains. Obviously this would only work if you lived where it doesn’t freeze during the winter and you’re willing to put some work into them—fountains require maintenance. I suppose you could use them as storage, although I don’t know what you could store in them. Empty plastic planter pots and handheld gardening tools? We also have black widows around here, and they’d love a place like that.
A lot depends on your budget. I like the idea of metal sculptures. You might be able to talk to a local community college or high school and see if they have metal sculpting classes and commission a few from the students. That might save you some folding green. You could also simply fill them 2/3 with dirt and then a top layer of pea gravel (or use what’s there, which sounds fine) and place a couple of bird feeders and a bird bath in them. This might be a good idea as the kids can help feed the birds. To keep kids and pets out of them you could build circular covers. (Something like this but made of wood. Some nice stained cedar decking would look nice.)
A friend with something like that in his back yard arranged some plastic fish and decorations and put a clear plexiglass cover over top so that as you look in the first reaction is fish pond.
Not bad! I like the fountain idea and the “ice chest”. Im in AZ so both would be suitable.
Kopek do you have a picture of what your friend did? I like the fish idea too. Was it just painted light blue on the inside then he put fish mounted from the bottom at varying heights etc or hung from the plexi lid maybe? Filling the entire thing with epoxy would be a PIA and really costly Im thinking.
The fountain idea has me thinking what I could add as the upper water feature without moving the other two planters. I actually like them there; I just don’t like my own ideas thus far about what to with them.
No picture; this was before everyone had a cell phone on them and every phone a camera. If memory serves he use some sand for the base with a little blue and white paint streaked onto it to give a sense of texture and depth. The fish were done with sticks from the base/bottom and there was a couple plastic fern-like things like you see in fish tanks. The effect was something like looking down into a pond or barrel-like aquarium.
To hide the edges of the plexiglass he used some clear caulking/epoxy and sort of shaped it to look like the water was lapping over the side.
