Wait Til Your Father Gets Home

Just a bit of all the little bits of life at home!

{the mad planter}

By 72 Comments

Let me just start by saying that this might be my most favorite project I’ve done since starting {Wait Til Your Father Gets Home}.  Since we moved into our house, my husband has made it his mission to completely yank out everything from our yard (front, back, sides, the whole-she-bang).  The yard we acquired was, to be blunt……a hot mess.  We pretty much have a blank canvas to work with now (which is so nice).  It’s fun to be able to plan out exactly what we want to put into our yard.  It would be even nicer if we could just do it all at once, but unfortunately flowers at Home Depot and Lowes are not free!

planter

I’ve been perusing Pinterest (as usual) and have come across some really cool planter ideas.  This one in particular caught my eye from Home Stories A-Z, so I did what I usually do when I find something I like on Pinterest….I showed my hubby.  I always expect him to tell me the things I show him are crazy, or silly, or girly, but he LOVED this concept.  He loved it even more when I suggested some red, white, and blue (I mentioned here, that we are quite the patriotic bunch in our household).

 

I decided to call it…

Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden

To make your own version, you’ll need:

Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden

  • 1-8″ clay pot
  • 6-6″ clay pots
  • Spray primer (primer in a paint can works just as well)
  • Spray Paint (I LOVE Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Paint in Banner Red and Navy Blue–both gloss finish)
  • Polyurethane Spray (you could use poly from a can as well)
  • 10 ft rebar (found at Lowe’s)
  • potting soil (had on hand)
  • annuals (of your choosing) We got two flats of petunias since the planter is smack in the middle of full sun for most of the day and had a LOT left over for a second planter project that I will share soon!
  • newspaper or tarp (had on hand)
This entire project cost about $45, plus we had a ton of flowers and soil left over for my second planter project that I hope to share by Friday!  The cost is a little more than I usually aim to spend on projects that I share on the blog, but I don’t mind because I have made something super unique and that we can use year after year.  Plus, we’ve gotten so many compliments from neighbors (and compliments are nice)!
To get started, spread out your newspaper or tarp and lay out all the clay pots.  Remove any stickers that may be on the pots and begin priming each pot.  I only had to apply one coat of the primer.
Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden
Once all the pots are primed and dry (it shouldn’t take too long to dry, especially if it’s 85 degrees outside like it is here in Georgia today), decide on the colors you’d like to incorporate and begin to spray paint.  As I mentioned, we decided on a red, white, and blue theme.  I think they’d look great with one color or even a stenciled pattern of some kind as well.  The possibilities are truly endless and completely up to you!
Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden
Since I didn’t have white spray paint, I just left two of the 6″ pots primed and didn’t apply color.  Don’t you just love the red and blue together?!  (FYI–I applied two coats of spray paint).
While the pots dry once again, decide where you want to put your Mad Planter (makes me smile every time I say that out loud).  We decided to put ours in our backyard since that’s where we hang out most of the time when we’re outside.  I swear, every time we’ve gone outside since putting the Mad Planter in, we comment on how much we love it.  My hubby was nice enough to hammer the rebar into the ground for me (I’m extremely handicapped when it comes to trying to use a tool…I need to fix that).  He thinks he put it about 2 feet into the ground, so a little wind won’t disturb our Mad Planter (I hope)!
Before you can begin assembling the Mad Planter, you’ll need to seal the pots with some polyurethane.  I used a fast drying, clear gloss poly made my Minwax.  Each coat completely dried in about 1 hour (again, it’s amazing what some hot Georgia sun can do for ya)!  I know it’s boring to wait around for paint to dry, but trust me, you need the polyurethane, otherwise the sun and rain will ruin your pots.  I’m hoping that this paint and sealing job will last us for a few summers before we need to sand and re-paint.  Here are all the pots after being painted and poly’ed…
Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden
Time for the assembly!
To assemble the Mad Planter, simply “string” the hole in the bottom of the pot (you know, the one for water to drip out of) onto the rebar, like so…
Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden
The 8″ pot is the base of the Mad Planter and should lay flat.  The rest of the pots are still “strung” through their water holes, but sit on the rim of the pot below, making each one look slanted.  We filled each pot with soil as we assembled the entire planter, and added some red & blue-ish petunias as well.  I am absolutely thrilled with the end result!
Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden
I LOVE the red, white, and blue-ness of the entire planter!  I also LOVE how it looks against our white picket fence!
Make this Mad Planter with some terra cotta pots, spray paint, and one piece of rebar. Easy and super cute via www.waittilyourfathergetshome.com #planter #spring #garden
What are your favorite annuals to plant each summer?  Do you have any fun planters that you’ve created and named after Alice and Wonderland characters?  Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear feedback from my readers!
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Comments

    • waittilyourfathergetshome says

      I think I’m going to make another for herbs….I’m sure it would work beautifully!!

      Reply

  7. Amy says

    I love it! Not sure it would hold up to our winds here in the plains ( I can see pots twirling on the re-bar), but maybe the pots could be glued to each other?? Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

    • waittilyourfathergetshome says

      I bet you could definitely apply some sort of heavy duty glue to make it work for you! I’d also put it near a wall to help with some of the wind as well!

      Reply

  12. Brooke @ The Crafting Chicks says

    Wow, this is so cool and FUN! My kids would totally love it too. 🙂 I love the patriotic colors and it would be fun to come up with other color combos as well. Found you on TT&J’s linky party! Have a great day.

    Reply

  14. Jo says

    I love your mad planter!
    I am new to your blog, so don’t know much about you, but in this post you mentioned you were redoing your yard. When my brother moved to a new house, he bought trees and bushes, but when it came to the perennials, he got seeds and starts from family and neighbors. We have shared with each other lilacs, daisies, poppies iris, lilies, poppies, tulips, ranunculus, peonies, hosta, bee balm, and many more. Do you have any neighbors or family who will share plants with you? You might also want to consider placing an add asking for starts or seeds in your local newspaper’s free classified section. Is there a freecycle group in your area? I got some beautiful iris from a freecycle add. I’ve since shared starts of them with an aunt and with neighbors. Flowering plants pack a punch in the landscape and the added bonus of getting someone to share them with you is you get to think happy thoughts about the person who shared every year when the plants bloom.

    Reply

  16. Richella @ Imparting Grace says

    Love this! I saw Beth’s, and I’m sure a lot of people are going to be using her great idea. The idea of doing it in red, white, and blue is really cool–instant decor for Memorial Day and Independence Day!

    Thanks so much for joining Grace at Home! I really appreciate it. 🙂

    Reply

  20. Evelyn says

    This caught my eye at Here Comes the Sun. Congrats on the feature. I love it. I would love to invite you to link up on my first time ever Link Party. Hope to see you there.
    PS I am already planning on where to put my Mad Hatter

    Reply

    • waittilyourfathergetshome says

      Thanks! Yes, I’ve seen a few on Pinterest with a few different names! Glad you’re planning on making one!

      Reply

      • Evelyn says

        I am so glad you linked up on my first Freedom Fridays:) FYY I have had so many repins on pinterest on your Mad Hatter that my inbox is smoking. LOL You should be getting a thousand hits on it.

        Reply

  22. Jill says

    Wow! What a fun idea! I love the patriotic colors. Great job!! Thanks so much for entering into the Project Pinterest Challenge! Good Luck!
    Jill
    twoyellowbirdsdecor.blogspot.com

    Reply

  24. sherry says

    This turned out lovely the colors selected are eye catching! I discovered you on Two Yellow Birds and I’m now following. I would appreciate if you could follow back. Txs

    Reply

  25. Susan says

    This is such a cute idea. I bought the pots, rebar and all the other material and made mine today. I am a bit confused with the rebar. I bought a 10 feoot stick and after stringing my pots I still have quite a bit of the rebar sticking up above the last pot that I strung. I buried the rebar 2 feet in the ground which would have left 8 ft exposed and ready for stringing my pots. What did I do wrong? I bought one 8 inch pot and 6- 6 inch pots.
    Thanks

    Reply

    • waittilyourfathergetshome says

      I would just try to hit the rebar with a mallet a little bit more until it isn’t exposed anymore. We had to do that too! Glad you like the project!

      Reply

    • waittilyourfathergetshome says

      No I haven’t. I probably wouldn’t put anything like that inside for quite some time with a little one running around. I could see it working for some people though 🙂

      Reply

  30. maria says

    I love this idea, but I have a question I live in an appt. complex and I have a balcony, is there any other way I can create this without drilling the rebar?

    Reply

    • meredith says

      I bet you could just do a smaller version (maybe three pots) and make sure the dirt is really packed in on the bottom pot! Let me know how it turns out!!

      Reply

  31. Betty Edmondson says

    I love The Mad Hatter. I was not sure what you meant by stringing the hole in the bottom of the pot. Are all of the holes in the exact middle of the pots or staggered to the side. Please explain. Thanks

    Reply

Trackbacks

  2. […] different and unexpected is even better. Being inspired by a picture on Pinterest, Meredith of Wait Till Your Father Gets Home made a fun twist on a typical garden planter by creating this patriotic flower […]

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