Elevate Your Outdoor Space With These Planter-Tree Combos

For all that your houseplants do for you—like cleaning the very air you breathe—the least you can do is give them a beautiful home. For showstopping indoor planters that won’t break the bank, we turned to some of our most loved ceramists and home decor brands for inspiration. These innovators have been cooking up some truly original house planter designs for succulents, small plants, and leafy greenery that’ll match any decor. Prefer a classic look? O.G. terra-cotta planters now come in sleek modern shapes. Looking for something flashy and modern? Shiny metal planters will add a glow. Just need a pop of color on the windowsill? There’s a hyper blue ceramic planter for that. And may we suggest that, if you do have that itch for a decor update, new plants (and, obviously, plant pots!) are really the best place to start.

“There’s something very Gothic about the design of this light planter” with its repeating pattern of pointed arches, said Mr. Pascoe. Pairing it with the frothy, very pale flowers of a miniature Cinderella crabapple tree would create “a classic blue-and-white palette—my favorite,” he said, adding that the planter’s sleek, aluminum surface updates the look. With long, slender branches that reach up and out like thin, curving fingers, Malus x ‘Cinzam’ “still looks enchanting in the winter when it has no foliage,” he said. Oomph Ocean Drive Outdoor Planter in blue, from $1,575, chairish.com

Third world maize (Zea mays L.) production is characterized by having extremely low yields, attributed in part to the poor planting methods employed. Maize planting in most third world countries involves placing 2–3 seeds per hill, with hills being roughly 30 cm apart. The variability in seeds per hill and distance between hills result in heterogeneous plant stands that are directly responsible for lower yields. Oklahoma State University (OSU) has developed a durable hand planter with a reciprocating internal drum that delivers single maize seeds per strike and that can also be used for mid-season application of urea fertilizer. The hand mountain planter is 1.4 m in length, 5.8 cm in diameter, and weighs 1.9 kg when empty. The seed hopper has the capacity to hold 1 kg of seed and the tip has a sharp pointed shovel which can deliver seed to a planting depth of 5 cm in no-till and tilled soils. The current prototype has been comprehensively tested and evaluated to deliver at least 80% single seeds (singulation), with 0% misses and work well across varying seed sizes (2652–4344 seeds/kg) and different operators. Using the OSU hand planter, third world maize producers with average yields of 2.0 Mg ha−1 could increase yields by 20%.

Choose a spot that gets at least six hours of sun. If your planter is against a wall, you can get by with less sun because of the reflected heat.

A 4-ft.-wide planter is ideal for harvesting from both sides. Keep it to 3 ft. wide if you’re placing your unusual planter against a wall or fence.

Line your planter with a “fish-safe” rubber membrane. It will prolong the life of the wood without leaching chemicals into the soil (and your food). You can buy fish-safe pond liners in different thicknesses and materials at home centers, garden centers and online retailers.It’s always a good idea to make sure depth-gauge wheels are in contact with the soil surface. This check is particularly necessary when planting at deeper than normal depths or if dry soil increases penetration resistance encountered by the seed opener. If gauge wheels are not on the soil surface, extra weight must be transferred to the row unit via the down force system on the parallel links attaching the row unit to the planter frame. In some cases, extra weight may be required on the planter toolbar frame to allow penetration of the seed opener. This last issue is more commonly encountered when a large number of row units are used on a given multi level planter toolbar (e.g., narrow- or split-row planter use) or separate fertilizer injectors are used on the planter.