DIY Stacked Patriotic Planter with Shirley Bovshow

Make Shirley Bovshow’s Stacked Patriotic Planter:

Select 3 terra cotta pots, each smaller than the last. We chose pots 18”, 15” and 8” in diameter. Make sure they have drain holes in them.
Tape off the inside of the pots with painter’s tape just below the lip of the pot.
Choose whatever colors you want for your special occasion pots. We chose Red, White, and Blue. We used indoor / outdoor acrylic paint. Do two coats of paint, waiting 30 minutes in between each coat. Then set aside to dry completely. This may take up to 2 hours.
Place painters tape in a pin-stripe pattern on the terra cotta pots, just below the lip of the pot. Paint your pin stripe in red or blue. If you choose red, your lettering should be blue. If you choose blue, your lettering should be red.
You can stencil or free hand your Holiday Message. We chose, “God Bless America.”
Let paint dry completely for two hours.
Take your largest pot and place an empty, sturdy plastic pot inverted into the center of the large terra cotta pot. Plastic pots should be tall enough to raise the stacked pots at surface level. They should also be wide enough to allow you to plant 6” plants around the plastic pots.
To make your planter last from the 4th of July to Christmas, choose hearty perennials, like /geraniums. They last from Spring to Frost.
Keep your color choices to a minimum. That way the pot won’t look too busy. If you choose a red plant, accompany that with another red plant of a different texture to vary the look. In our case, we chose Celosias.
Place your "draping" plants (plants that grow long) over the sides of the pots so they don't eventually cover the wording on your pots! And plant as you stack so you can make adjustments should you need to. Place the second pot on top of the inverted plastic container and repeat the process to the top pot!
Here’s the twist! – On the opposite side of the pots, use red and green and a holiday message like “Peace, Love, Joy.” Just spin the planter around for that particular time of year! You’ll have a holiday planter for year round!

Check out Shirley Bovshow’s Garden Designing Expertise at EdenMakers.com, and follow her on Twitter @EdenMaker.