Christmas Ornament Planters

Welcome to the Member Ideas area! This community feature is where our members can post their own ideas. These posts are unedited and not necessarily endorsed by the National Gardening Association.
Posted by @GordonHawk on
Here's an idea for turning a large hollow Christmas ornament into a planter.

Thumb of 2012-12-07/GordonHawk/b88398
You'll need a large hollow, hard plastic ornament. They are fairly common; these came from Home Depot.
Cut two or three holes in the top of the ornament for filling with potting mix and for placing your plant into the mix.
Draw the holes with a pencil or pen, allowing enough ornament to remain between the holes to support the heavy planted ornament; 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch should be fine.
Cut out the holes with a saw; there's enough curvature to get a slice started and enough room that you can work the blade to form a corner. This is good for a straight sided opening,
Thumb of 2012-12-12/GordonHawk/05a770
or use a hole saw, good for round holes.
Thumb of 2012-12-12/GordonHawk/b93b00
You could also use a utility knife blade, or a razor blade held with a pair of vice grips. Heat the blade on the stove top till it gets really hot, about 10 seconds will do, then mark the ornament gently until the blade breaks through, reheating when it cools (it takes about 10 seconds to cool also). For your safety, you don't need to press very hard. Reheat often and let the heat of the blade do the cutting for you. It will also re-fuse as it cuts, so after working your way around the hole, you have to reheat then go back and free your cutout from the ornament. This method will cut a round, straight or wavy sided opening.
Thumb of 2012-12-12/GordonHawk/0440e5
Be sure to put a few holes in the bottom for drainage, then fill with potting mix and plant.
This is an ornament planter from last Christmas and you can see nothing of the hole, so don't worry too much about the shape of the hole itself.
Thumb of 2012-12-07/GordonHawk/71ad18
It's best to replace the tiny thread that was used to hang the ornament with something stronger; here I've use a plastic wire tie but a bit of wire or heavier string will be fine.
Thumb of 2012-12-12/GordonHawk/da62fe
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and to all a good night.

 
Comments and Discussion
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
cool! by vic Dec 21, 2012 8:41 PM 2
really clever idea by CDsSister Dec 21, 2012 2:50 AM 2

Explore More:

Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by SongofJoy and is called "Blue Pansies"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.