Pots: bargain time!

Middle to late fall is usually the best time to pick up some bargain pots, as the nurseries and garden centers are clearing out much of their stock. Late winter is apparently a good time too, as some places are making room for the soon-to-be-arriving spring plants and other stock. I didn't realize this until yesterday morning when I went to pick up some bird seed at a local big-box store. I figured that since the garden center was just on the other side of the wall from the birdseed, I may as well take a look and see if there's anything interesting out there yet.

Besides seeing that they now carry black nursery pots (the ones I get for free from the recycling dumpster, from local nurseries, or from gardening friends), I also saw some clearance signs on some other pots, so took a look. I'm glad I did because although I didn't find anything that I really loved, I did find some great bargains -- and I can never have enough pots it seems.

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The first thing I noticed was these bright purple ceramic pots:

They're small, and I don't usually buy small pots, but these were marked down from $4 to $0.72. Less than a dollar for a ceramic pot? Sold!

I picked up three of them (leaving a few for the next bargain hunter). I don't know if the color is right for me, but I thought they might look nice filled with some semps:

Of course I can always paint these another color if the purple doesn't work for me. I'm most likely going to drill drainage holes in each of these too, as you can see they don't have any.


Next I noticed this resin planter:

Not too ugly (many of them on the shelves are, or maybe I should say they're "not my style"), quite sturdy, and marked down from $25 to $6. Again, I can paint these another color if needed, but this is probably neutral enough to work with most plants.

The shape is quite nice, and appropriate for bamboo too (the circling rhizomes won't lock into a pot with outward slanting sides like this). The inside was quite bumpy though -- I wonder how these are made?

There were only two of these left, and I took them both. Sorry slower shoppers! (I should point out that even though the store was getting crowded, I was the only person out here looking at pots. So it's not like I snatched these out of somebody else's hands.)

The final bargain I debated about for a while:

It's labeled as a "window box", but it's really just a black rectangular planter. It was marked down from $14 to $7, which is why I debated for a while. Only half price -- what kind of bargain is that?

I ended up grabbing two of these (there were many more left), and got a nice surprise when they rang up as $4 instead of $7. Black is okay, but maybe too dark? Again, paint is possible (Rustoleum makes spray paint that sticks to plastics), but we'll see.


So that was my purchase, seven new pots. Some modifications may be necessary (holes to drill, possible painting) but still a decent bargain. Before I start totaling up the amount of money I saved, I should point out that the only reason I bought any of these was their drastically-reduced prices. Since I wouldn't have bought any of them at full price, I really didn't save any money, did I?

Seven interesting pots for just a touch over $20 is a nice bit of shopping though, I must admit.

Good thing I needed birdseed.

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