How to Make Easy Tiered Flower Planters

For several years now, I have wanted to make a tiered, or stacked, flower planter and this year I finally did it.  This was a pretty easy project.  First, I bought three plastic flower pots – a small one, a medium one and a large one.  I went with black pots because all of my other pots on the back patio are black and I wanted them to be uniform in color. I chose plastic because they are lightweight and better for stacking.  I also bought two very inexpensive plastic pots to put inside the two lower pots.  These “inside” pots did two things: 1) they take up space inside the main pots so that you need less soil, and 2) they form a base for the main pots to sit on, which helps to elevate them to the right height.  You could skip the “inside” pots, but then you would need a lot more soil and the stacked pots would not be as sturdy if they are simply resting on soilTake your larger inside pot and put it, upside down, into the largest pot.  Then, fill the rest of the pot with soil, taking care not to cover the top of the inside pot.  Next, put your next largest pot on top of the upside down pot and continue filling the rest of the larger pot with soil.  Repeat the process again until you have three pots, stacked on top of each other.  In order to make them sturdy and not fall over in a strong wind, I buried the middle and top pot about one third of the way into the soil in the larger pot.

Once you have your stacked pots filled with soil, you are ready to plant.  These pots are made for trailing plants, so look for things that have that growing habit, such as petunias, million bells; or trailing lobelia as well as plants that add some green, such as silver licorice, vinca vine or any other trailing annuals you can find at your local garden center.  I used a mix of different colored and sized petunias as well as vinca vines to give the pots some interest and variation.  It took my stacked pots about five weeks to really fill out to the point where you really can’t see the top and middle pots.  I suspect by the end of summer, you won’t be able to see the lower planter either.  I am so pleased with how these stacked pots turned out, that I may make some smaller versions next year as well.