13 Beautiful DIY Flower Pot Ideas for Your Porch or Garden

Flower pots are standard gardening equipment. Together, flower pot size, shape, texture, and color help define a garden space, balcony, or patio and add personality and presence. Gardeners can use the landscape’s natural slope and curve to help determine where and how to step outside of the flower pot norm.

You can always go traditional with a simple clay flower pot, but even a traditional design offers some creativity with a little DIY ingenuity and creativity. Check out these DIY flower pot ideas to kindle your imagination.

The closest river, stream, or waterfall might be miles away, but one can still grace the garden. Pots don’t necessarily need to house the flowers. Spilled flower pots act as a vessel for an idea, which they do when laid on their side as the starting point for a flower river. Combine this idea with a rock river, and a landlocked garden gets a colorful “water” feature.

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A flower pot arrangement featuring pots in different colors can set a theme or brighten the backyard. Even solo handcrafted or painted flower pots can add pops of color to an herb garden or plants that might not bring brightness with their blooms. Mix and match or coordinate across the board for pots that make a vibrant statement.

Flowers are beautiful no matter the vessel that holds them. This type of flower pot takes several huge steps away from tradition but will bring a smile to you and passersby. The other benefit—repurposing an old toilet, washtub, or other old household object—keeps them out of the landfill. Think of it as part of eco-friendly gardening.

Need flower pot ideas for the front porch? These broken flower pots create a self-contained world of miniatures. Most are designed for use with succulents of different shapes and sizes. These pots tell a story that sparks conversation and fun. Young children (and grandchildren) take particular delight in a world tinier than them.

Wooden flower pots usually include (or are inspired by) repurposed wine or water barrels. Store-bought models are manufactured rather than repurposed, but they still bring a sense of old-world charm and natural colors and textures. A wooden flower pot also offers plenty of space for flowers, shrubs, or herbs.

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A garden trellis or converted wooden garden station offer vertical space that might otherwise go unused. Hanging flower pots can also attach to existing fencing as a way to “greenify” and extend the visual appeal of the landscaping. Use unique pots in coordinating colors, or invest in matching clay pots for a neutral color scheme to tie together a mix of plants.

Anything that holds dirt has the potential for use as a unique flower pot. Old shoes, pencil holders, watering pails, and jars make cheap flower pots and add personality to the garden. They might also carry vibrant colors, patterns, and other features not usually found in landscaping, giving the yard a one-of-a-kind look and feel. Just be sure to think about drainage. Vessels not designed to hold flowers may need an added drainage hole or may only house plants that don’t require much water.

The flower pots themselves don’t need to be out of the ordinary to make an impact. Sometimes the setup of a flower pot arrangement makes all the difference. The pots’ sizes and shapes offer a starting point for the design. However, the plant’s characteristics should also play a role in placement and arrangement. For example, arrangements could go from biggest to smallest or placed according to the height of the plants they hold.

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Flower pot ideas for the front porch act as unofficial greeters. It’s a great place for topiaries and the brightest blooms. Matching or coordinated pots made of similar materials leave a lasting impression and look stunning. Make sure the pots leave room for callers to stand on the front porch without disturbing the flowers.

Whimsy certainly belongs in the garden. Create an arrangement of stacked flower pots that lean and tilt with their inhabitants looking like they’re hanging on for dear life. In reality, they’re totally safe. It can take some planning (and construction) skills to get it right, but the final result will be conversation-worthy and pack plenty of flower power into a small space.

For those who don’t know where to begin, simple clay or terracotta pots offer a forgiving start point. Clay flower pots have filled gardens for centuries and are made with natural materials. That keeps plastics and other synthetic materials out of the garden. They offer good drainage, are inexpensive, and have a classic look that works with most exterior styles, too.

Flower pot design makes a big difference, especially with front door flower pots. Pots can elevate a somewhat plain home entrance or add a casual welcoming to a formal entrance. For example, the pedestal design of these freestanding pots adds an air of distinction and formality to an otherwise casual front door. Think about not only the visual effect of the plants but how the pots can support the look of the home’s exterior in their height, color, and design.

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A shady corner might need a splash of greenery to enliven an otherwise empty space. Make sure to pick plants that prefer a little less sun. Gardeners also can use potted plants to create shade. Taller plants or trees in a pot offer mobile shade wherever it’s needed. Strategic placement creates shady lounge areas, broadening the ways the yard gets used.