i am wondering which might be the most durable and long lasting materials for planters which will be used in outdoor Northern Garden with temps which will go below 0 degrees F in winter, and be in 80 degree temps in summer (full sun)..
i have choice of polyethlene planter, resin planter and fiberglass planter.
am looking for whichever material will last the longest, and need some peoples experiences if possible to help in purchasing decisions. These planters will be kept outdoors year round and will (hopefully) last for years to come.
many thanks
alice
(Far North Gardener)
most durable winter containers (materials used in manufactur
Alice
Hi I have a type of planter that is some type of styrofoam and I leave mine out all year. For the winter I let them dry and put a big plastic bag over them to keep the moisture away . Some I can turn over and empty then stack upside down. They are quite large and I'm not sealing them in just covering the top part. I do the same for my glazed terracotta pots. I have found that the poly planters fade with the sun but they winter fine as long as you don't touch them when they are frozen,( thats when they shatter). It seems keeping them dry is more important than warm.
Good luck in your choice.
Ann
thanks,Ann
good information..i wonder if that would not hold true for all the types i mentioned:
( cover with plastic and keep dry..)
it is just, well, the temperature extremes which you know so well..
full sun in summer (20 degrees C)to cold winter (minus 10 C )
something like that.
is a strain on all substances..
but will try anyway, thanks
hoping for a couple more responses.,.if possible.
alice
Dry,
is the key since water expands when frozen and that is what would cause stress cracks.
I use foam pots too. They're big, and I don't do anything to them in the winter. I leave my perennials in them, plant spring blooming bulbs in them, and leave them empty too. Our extremes here range from about -10F to 100F. I've had them for about 7 years. I also use ceramic, but I empty them. Terra cotta chip or crack after a few years. I also use the resin and fiberglass. I like the foam best because they seem to insulate the plants from the temperature extremes better than the others.
These are my foam pots.
thank you so much.. please forgive me..but you mean styrofoam..no...what kind of foam..they look like the resin post they sell here. or fiberglass.
are they like the kind of foam which the stores sell as coolers..??that kind of foam.??
sorry to be so stupid..
where did you get them?
thank you once again for your time on this.
it is much appreciated
alice
Not styrofoam, like coolers. It's much denser and more solid than that. Here's a bigger picture. These are very lightweight, but very sturdy and thick.
Revclaus
Mine are very similar to yours , just a different pattern.
Alice, they are squishy almost like nurf stuff in the kids toys. They don't leak water unless you have a hole in them. Mine are about 9 years old and some have small cracks but with a bit of florists paint I can just fix them up. Most folks think they are terracotta. We have the 80 plus for summer and -35-40 at times in the winter.
So these have certainly done the trick. I don't move them at all in the winter, they are tucked in a corner of the yard and partly empty and stacked. I cover the top one with a very large garbage bag and it covers the top edges of that stack but the bottom is visable. As soon as it warms up I will get a photo in here for you.
Ann
Sounds like a nice solution. Where do you find these?
Edited to also ask.....who makes them?
This message was edited Nov 22, 2006 10:29 PM
Mine are not squishy. They're very solid and dense. I got them from a friend, so can't help with who makes them. Sorry.
I've seen ones like that at Home Depot and Lowes around here and even Target (at least the ones that have a garden center)
I have seen them at Big Lots too. However, they don't have much this time of year. They cleared out most of their garden stuff for Christmas stuff. They had a pretty big mark down in late September early October.
Alicemagooey
We seem to be in the middle of -30 at the moment so I pulled one of my photo's from the summer. The foamy type pot is the one with the margaretta sweet potatoe vine at the front. I may have misled you with squishy , it is firm, but if I push hard it moves inwards. The form is very sturdy but it has a softness compared to ceramic.
I did see some at Home Depot this summer with the same pattern as revclaus's.
Ann
Boy, that sure does make me feel better. I can barely remember my garden when it starts getting cold. Pics always help. Thanks!