In New York, the creep of spring has been, as it always is, taunting and completely unreliable. But the bursting cherry blossoms and magnolias triggered my interest in the best outdoor planters on the market—ones that are beautifully glazed, Florentine, sturdy, classic—but nothing so strictly terra-cotta you could snag it at the grocery checkout. Bergs Potter takes the cake for me, closely followed by the majolica-like planters at Williams-Sonoma and a few stylish designs from Ferm Living and Pottery Barn. These planters lean home decor over plastic planters, making them weather-resistant, durable pieces even on a wind-whipped balcony or hurricane-sacked home garden. My yardstick is quite simply: Can it yield a happy basil plant? Then it’s worth the money.
Below, the arbiters of a healthy pesto—I mean patio—brimming with happy outdoor plants.
AD’s Top Picks
Best Terra-cotta Pot
Delphi Ø22 Tall Planter & Saucer
Read more
Best Majolica Planter
Williams-Sonoma Positano Planter Collection
Read more
Best Flower Pot
Ferm Living Kurinu Planter
Read more
Best Terra-cotta Pot
Delphi Ø22 Tall Planter & Saucer
While this isn’t the Bergs Potter I have at home—I have the Lily and my ranunculus loves it—Bergs Potter’s designs possess a clean sophistication that can give life to the yellowing pathos hanging limply from its too-small pot. The success of this pot is in its ability to bring New Mexico to your outdoor space, no matter the actual climate. The concrete planter can be displayed alongside its three similarly durable counterparts, so you can create a succulent-friendly quatro inside or outside.
Best Majolica Planter
Williams-Sonoma Positano Planter Collection
Garden hack: Use ornate ceramic planters to take the heat off landscaping. Who could find themselves offended by the unmowed grass when a relic of the Italian Riviera beams so brightly from the entryway? Nota bene: This piece lacks a drainage hole (the price you pay for beauty). Made from white clay and hand-painted in Italy, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a look-alike
Best Flower Pot
Ferm Living Kurinu Planter
Ferm Living’s Kurinu planter is just six inches all around, making it one of the smallest options on this list. Its petite stature makes it the perfect vessel for propagating or planting starter seeds. The stocky, square shape is inspired by the traditional Japanese kurinuki technique, where artisans would hollow out a block of clay. The tiny feet add a sense of play to an otherwise robust silhouette. The honey colorway is headed for my windowsill (and very nearly matches my favorite teapot).
Best Planter Box
For the city dwellers among us who can’t secure a true garden bed, a quick Google of “planter boxes” proves extremely discouraging. Most everything on the market looks terribly reminiscent of the outdoor malls that plague the valleys of Southern California. Thankfully, Ferm Living did its clever Copenhagen work on creating decor-friendly container gardening, reimagining the traditional design with understated colors to soften the quality of a metal planter and rounded details on both the handles and the legs to create some visual interest beyond: rectangle.
Best Large Planter
Pottery Barn Florence Planter
If the search for a large outdoor planter exhausts you—just get a terra-cotta planter. They’re timeless, weather-resistant, and you can rely on their quality and longevity. This one in particular, with its simple rope detail and beveled edge, looks so deliciously suited to the French countryside, like it’s made to be teeming with wild thyme and tarragon. At 38 inches across, you have ample room to start your home garden.
Best Luxury Planter
Pebble Small Grey Planter by Indigenus
Indigenus is one of few companies taking on “luxury planters”—their high-quality catalog focuses on bringing the amorphous forms of nature into their stoneware. Hard materials like clay and marble take on the look of droplets or “pebbles,” teasing the juxtaposition between the material and its silhouette.
Best Vintage-Style Planter
Sienna Cement Outdoor Planters
As any reader of AD knows, spaces need height. That means your home garden, too. These Romanesque designs from Pottery Barn create dimension and could fool anyone into thinking they’re true vintage pieces on account of their pre-distressed ficonstone (short for a mixture of fiberglass, cement, sand, and crushed stone; very weather-resistant).
Comments are closed.