Easy Arrange Your Outdoor Planters

This week, I'd like to share a tutorial for an easy arranger that I made for my outdoor planters. This insert makes arranging greenry in the planters quick and easy and holds everything securely in place. 
The first step is to measure the inside of the planter to determine what size the arranger insert should be.....Using a planter with sloped sides, take a measurement towards the top of the planter, where the size is the largest and this will give you the 'ledge' to hold the arranger insert in place. After you have your measurement, you need to go in search of a container matching the measurement to use as a mold.



Materials you will need - A box of Plaster of Paris, disposable gloves, measuring tape, container to use as a mold that fits the measurement of the planter, 6 PVC pipe connectors (you can purchase at Lowes for 5 cents each), garbage bag cut in half with seams removed, a container for mixing.





Line the bottom of the container being used as a mold with the opened garbage bag and place your PVC connectors in the bottom, one in the middle and the other 5 evenly spaced approximately halfway between the edge and the middle. Mix the Plaster of Paris using the package directions. Because of the size needed, my mold was 13.5 inches wide, I had to use the entire box. I mixed half the box and poured in and then decided to use the entire box contents so that my insert would be about 1.5 inches thick. I was going for an insert no thicker than 2 inches so this worked out well for me...you will need to experiment with the amount of plaster to mix based upon the measurements of your container. Before pouring the mix in your mold, be sure and spray your garbage bag with water to help release after dried.

I let my insert cure overnight before I removed from the mold and carefully pulled away the garbage bag. As you can see, the edges are not perfect, but that is not an issue as the insert will be under your greenry or flowers and will not be seen.

Next, I turned the mold over and used a hammer to gently tap out the PVC connectors. Once I tapped them loose, I turned the mold back over and gently used a clockwise motion to remove the connectors.

Place the insert in your planter, here you can see how it rests on the sloping sides.

You then just insert your greenry anywhere in the 6 holes ...you can use any combination, or all of them to complete your arrangement.

If you want, you can cover the insert with moss or it could easily be spray painted a dark color to help it blend into the planter.



Now that I have my insert in each planter, it will be very simple to remove the current arrangement and replace whenever I want. If you live in an area where your have really windy weather, you can use a wadded up plastic bag or paper to stuff in each hole with your greenry stem, to make sure it fits securely. (Repost from 2009)

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