Shop unique and handmade items directly from creative people around the world Popular items for wicker chairIf you’ve ever admired the charm and whimsy of a planted chair, you’re not alone. I’ve always liked plants combined as a design element with furniture. When my mom passed along Grandma’s 1940s wicker porch set, I knew that the slightly unraveled rocking chair was destined for a new role in my garden. So two weekends ago, on Mother’s Day, I started creating a sedum seat for the cherished rocker. After giving Grandma’s wicker chair a fresh coat of herbal green paint, I was ready to turn the family hand-me-down into an ornamental garden feature. Here’s Part Two of my Mother’s Day gardening project, which illustrates how to prepare and plant the chair. Step One: Using a sheet of 1/4-inch wire mesh and a pair of wire clippers, I cut out a seat-sized section to fit into the chair’s base. A staple gun came in handy to secure the mesh to the piece of wood bracing.
Step Two: I layered sections of dry Angel Moss over the mesh. A highly-absorbent variety of sphagnum moss, Angel moss is a nifty product that I discovered last month while teaching four container and hanging basket design classes for Gardening How-To magazine. The moss hails from the bogs of New Zealand and, because of the way it is farmed and harvested, is considered a renewable resource. You can purchase pre-formed liners to fit into wire hanging baskets or flat sheets to use for projects such as mine. As dry as a piece of brittle cardboard, Angel moss changes its character dramatically when exposed to water. It’s a fabulous medium for baskets, window boxes and the mesh seat of my wicker chair because the moss proves itself to be an excellent material for holding soil and plants. It doesn’t dry out as quickly as the kind of coco-fibre or woodland moss we’re used to here in North America. Step Three: On top of the Angel moss I spread approximately 3 inches of my planting medium.
I’ve learned that the best environment for growing succulents (especially in containers) is to mix equal parts organic potting soil with cactus mix. Erin Taylor, owner of Botanik, a great garden emporium in Summerland (near Santa Barbara) taught me this recipe soon after I moved to Southern California. One look at her shop’s awesome succulent containers and I knew she was speaking from experience. Step Four: My friend Jean Zaputil, who I call my garden muse for the 25 years of design, horticulture and landscaping knowledge she’s shared with me, was visiting from Seattle last weekend (along with our mutual friend Jan Hendrickson). We had a little free time on Sunday morning so Jean offered to do the planting layout for my chair. She worked with about 14-16 small succulent plants of varying colors (ranging from silvery-white to lime green to red-burgundy). Before planting the “seat,” we tackled the tricky gap in one of the chair’s rolled arms. A total negative from my mother’s point of view (the shredded wicker arm reminded her that a childhood dog had gnawed on the arm and practically ruined it for comfortable use), I decided to use the gaping void as a spot for more succulents.
Jean fashioned a shallow tray with the 1/4-inch wire mesh sheeting. We fit it under the arm and wired it into place. Just as with the seat, we inserted some pieces of Angel moss and poured in some soil. The chewed-away openings now hold three succulents, including the very pretty Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’. Its chartreuse-color and fluffy form will drape over the arm and soon obscure the mesh tray. Jean arranged the sedums, sempervivums and other succulents to create the planted seat. Even though the root space appears shallow, these plants will do just fine. They are ideally suited for my project – able to withstand extended periods of drought. A quick “shower” every week or so will give the plants enough moisture to take root in the soil/Angel moss and begin to spread, eventually filling in the seat. And pretty soon, I’ll have a lush, succulent “cushion” for my grandmother’s wicker chair. Now I’m looking at a modern wicker chair – a Pier One version with leg bent from too many teenagers leaning back in it while playing X-box games – and thinking about giving that chaise a new life in the garden.
It’s currently natural colored, but maybe a coat of paint and a new planting theme will give it the necessary style to move outside. Wonder what plants belong in that chair? Maybe I’ll paint it peacock blue and do an all-white flowering scheme! This entry was posted on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Creativity, Furniture design, Gardening, General, Plants, Playfulness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.1Recycling and old chair into a creative planter provides you with a unique, creative garden planter. Not only is this project a good way to recycle, but also a crafty outlet for your combined gardening and craft skills. This is a guide about making a chair planter.6 Articles All Articles RelevanceAll ArticlesSolutionsCraftsPhotosArchivesNewestOldestMost HelpfulLeast HelpfulMost CommentsFewest CommentsRelevanceSolutionsThis guide contains the following solutions.
Have something to add? Please share your solution!By Little Suzy5 FlagUse an old recycled chair from the junk to make into a planter for flowers to set in the garden. Approximate Time: 1 1/2 hours. Supplies: chair 4 screws saw paint screwdriver pot with flowers Instructions: Get an old chair to use. Take the seat off and use as a pattern to cut one out of hard wood to withstand the weather. Before planting flowers in the pot, turn it upside down and center in the middle of the new cut out seat. Draw around the pot. Now draw another line about 1/2 inches inside that hole. This will be your cutting line. If you use the first one your pot will fall through. It needs to be a bit smaller then the top of the pot. A roto zip tool or jig saw works nice. Paint the chair and seat. You may want to paint or spray it with polyurethane to protect it. You may want to keep your chair old and rustic and not paint it at all. Screw the seat on after it dries. Plant the flowers in the pot and place the pot in the hole.
I used a hanging flower pot I got for Mother's Day but removed the hangers. All ready to set in the garden and look at when you are out there working hard. It'll make your work seem more worthwhile. By Little Suzy from Millbury, Oh Comment By Cyinda Flag0I sell at a Farmers Market every weekend. Several years back there was a gal selling chairs suck as this along with a bunch of other unusual things to use a planters. She did really well$$! One of the coolest was this old scraggly pair of scuffed up leather high top work boots. With bright colored flowers in them they looked wonderful! I could go on & on & on with the crazy things she used as planters & sold. Besides the boots, another favorite of mine was an old beat up birdcage. You can use hanging ones or the big standing cages are great for outside on the porch planters. She even used bird houses, old rusty buckets with holes in them, the pockets of blue jeans & old broken depression glass. It's strange how with the flowers added, the chips in old china made it look even better!
Her secret was to use many different textures & color of flowers & foliage together. Just drill some drainage holes & use your imagination. It's recycling at it's very best!Related Content Reply By Nelda1 FlagMaterials: 1 old cane back chair chicken wire burlap preform or hanging burlap basket moss potting soil if needed plants Instructions: Once these old chairs have the seats go bad on them, unless you can refurbish them, they're usually pretty worthless. I found a great way to salvage them as well as come up with new planters. Take the webbing left in the seat area and strip it all out. Cut an ample square of chicken wire to fit down into the seat area and form a square or round type of planter to hold your plants. Roll the chicken wire over the seat frame area and twist the ends of the chicken wire to hold it firmly in place. Take your moss and line the planter area that you've formed in the seat. I go a little heavier on the sides to prevent losing it when watering. Take the burlap and fit it into your seat area, fill in extra moss around the edges;
you want to have a stable planting area. Fill with plants to your heart's desire. I like to take either ivy or taller plants on the back side, they entwine themselves around the chair frame as they grow. Looks great on your front porch and adds a little variety from your regular pots. You can also pre-paint or refinish the chair to your liking before turning it into a planter. White with stencil backing or ivy painted on the framework looks great too! By Nelda from Dallas, TX Comment By joanfry Flag0I love this idea. It is just what I needed at ths time. I have four metal chairs without seat bases. Now I know what to do with them. I can put them around my garden, hither and yon. I even have loads of ivy on my land. I will just transplant that. Reply Tip: By Elaine S.1 FlagI have found that the kind of chairs with the seat missing are ideal for this. They are usually found that way in bentwood chairs because the seat is round. I just bought two at an auction for $2 and gave one to my daughter-in- law.
Comment Tip: By Robyn Fed3 FlagI had a baby doll high chair that wasn't being used. I put a plant in it, and it makes a good plant stand. It is so cute! Comment PhotosCheck out these photographs. Click at right to share your own photo in this guide.By Sharon8 FlagThis is an wooden chair that seen it's last days, so I decided to make a planter out of it by boxing in the seat part of the chair with some scrap wood then filled it with soil and plants. By Sharon from Modesto, Ca Comment ArchivesThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.Archive: 0 FlagBy Colleen MouldingFrom junk shop chair to garden feature! First you need an old dining chair with a push out seat as this is where the flowers will be growing. If you haven't got one lying around in a garage or shed, ask around friends and family or offer a couple of dollars/pounds for one in a junk shop, charity shop or thrift store. If you want to paint the chair this is best done first, although a chair showing signs of age looks very good for this project too.
You can get a very nice effect by painting your chair with one colour, leaving it to dry completely, and then applying another different colour all over. When this second coat is completely dry, lightly sand off the second coat in the places that would naturally have received the most wear and the first colour will show through giving a very pretty distressed look. When you have your chair frame looking the way you like it, fix a double layer of chicken wire where the seat used to be, in a bowl shape. A heavy duty staple gun is ideal for this job. Next line the chicken wire with a good layer of pre soaked sphagnum moss as this will be needed to stop the soil falling through the wire. When you have a good layer of moss in place, sit a plant pot saucer or small shallow dish on top of it, just to retain a little of the water and stop it dripping through quite so much. Then fill your moss lined chicken wire with soil or compost and add your plants. Pansies look very good in these chairs, as does a cushion of busy lizzies.