Turn Flea Market Finds into Plant Containers

Given thick, sturdy boards laid across its rungs, an old stepladder can become an instant plant stand. This one balances Portulacaria afra(elephant bush) emerging from a whimsical faux-shoe planter, echeverias, a container holding a maidenhair fern, and a ceramic hen bristling with Sedum rupestre 'Lemon Coral'.

Hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum)nestles on either side of an Orostachys planted in a repurposed zinc grain feeder for chickens. Succulents will thrive in containers with a shallow base. If there are no drainage holes, place pebbles and charcoal on the bottom to keep the soil from going stagnant.

An antique 16-inch-wide colander filled with Senecio, Kalanchoe, Lampranthus, Portulaca, Aeonium, and Crassula ensures the succulents don't get waterlogged. For open-slat containers, such as egg baskets and colanders, utilize a moss mat as a liner. Burlap sacking and window screen can also be used to hold the soil intact.

Even if your veggie garden is confined to a container, you can make it a showstopper. Here, a vintage infant bathtub cradles dinosaur kale, basil, parsley, nasturtium, copper fennel, and 'Bull's Blood' beets.

A slatted metal olive bucket finds another career holding brightly colored 'Stained Glass Copper' coleus. A creative eye and sense of experimentation can turn most castoff items into vessels for plants.

A black coal scuttle makes the flower colors pop with Dorotheanthus 'Mezoo', Arcada Begonia 'Light Pink', Fuchsia'Mary', and Aquilegia'Leprechaun Gold'. When looking for containers to host flowering plants, make sure they are at least 7 inches deep and have drainage holes. Drill a few holes if necessary.

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' sprouts from a vintage metal milk box that once graced a front porch. A drill with a bit made for puncturing metal can make necessary drainage holes.

Extend a rusted watering can's life beyond its ability to hold water by popping in Salvia splendens Ablazin 'Tabasco'. Contrasting colors add pop to this simple combination.

Drilled with some screw holes for hanging, a vintage painting tray becomes a planter for succulents. Only tiny plant plugs will fill its narrow pocket.

On cottage steps, an enamel bucket becomes an aquatic garden with water hyacinths and Ruellia brittoniana 'Purple Showers' (Mexican petunia). Behind it, a milk bucket is planted with Salvia farinaceaSallyfun 'Blue' and a double petunia.