Shop Front: The easiest way to spruce up your patio, deck or terrace is with a few new plant pots. Whatever you do, don't replace all your old pots: just a few fresh ones make a difference.
Don't worry if they don't all match. That's what's great about a messy collection of plant pots - if some are aged or broken, all the better. Perfection is boring, perfect gardens even more so.
Place them in random groups and mix different materials. Here we've gathered some wicker, metal and ceramic pots, which could all work together. Although places such as Woodies, Atlantic Homecare or small hardware shops are good for large basic pots, in order to get a good mix going, it's an idea to visit places not immediately associated with gardening. Roches Stores, for instance, sells cute metal buckets in primary colours for €5.95. All you've got to do is punch a hole in the base. Do the same thing with the tall metal pots from TK Maxx (€10). It's unexpected, which is also why it's a good idea to limit the amount of terracotta you use - too much is bland. The other thing you might think of doing is buying as many small pots as possible. None of those here is larger than about two feet wide. As for the plants, remember that if using a coloured pot, plants with complementary colours often look good: e.g., the turquoise square pot from Gardenworks looks effective planted with a blue grass.
