My zinc planters: two years later (and my new zinc planters too)

In the summer of 2012, I posted about the new zinc planters I had purchased from Restoration Hardware.

Here is how the planter looked, freshly planted with babywing begonias, ivy, and a Pindo Palm.  I took this picture on a gloriously sunny summer day, and all of our landscaping was fresh and new. Given that we had a mild winter in 2012, the planter and its contents looked great all the way through the winter.

Here is a long view of the pool and the planters, from that same blog post from 2012 (just a reminder that this was taken in the summer!).  As a side note, for more information on the pool color and design process, I wrote a blog post about it here.

Alas, the multiple arctic blasts that we had in Atlanta this winter had a big impact on much of our plantings, in particular the palm trees.  This is how the planter looked yesterday – the palm did not make it. However, I love how the zinc planter has attained a beautiful green-gray patina. I have been pleased with this planter from Restoration Hardware.

I would like a change from the palm, so when we replant in April, I am leaning towards some sort of topiary style tree.  I immediately thought about my favorite townhouse on Wilton Crescent in London when pulling up inspiration pictures. I took this picture last year when I was in London (and included many examples of planters I saw in this post from last year).

London certainly has many inspirational planters, perhaps because so few of the residences have gardens – so the window boxes and planters are the decorative landscape for the city.  Image source.

This is one of my favorite images.  Look how glossy that black door is – and the planters with bay lead topiaries, white flowers, and trailing greenery are the perfect counterbalance to the door. Image source.

I’m not sure if this is in London or Paris but the design of the planters is perfect.

I have collected quite a few topiary tree images in my files, so it is clearly a look that I like.

Since we are going to have to replant the large planters, I decided to go ahead and get some additional planters for the back patio.  The planter designer suggested round zinc planters from Restoration Hardware for this space. This is how the planter looked when it was freshly unpacked.

I took the other planter out of its packaging last weekend, and after only three days (and very heavy rain) it is already getting a nice patina.

When looking for inspiration pictures for the patio planters, I thought of this image. I have lots of boxwoods planted around my garden, but I always like the look of boxwoods in planters, especially with a few white flowers for contrast.

This is a pretty variation on this theme, but with a smaller green bush. I saw this beautiful picture on Pinterest, which lead me to an incredible post by the French Tangerine on the garden and house of one of her friends. 

I was particularly smitten with this citrus tree (maybe kumquat?) from the same post.  I wonder how this would do on my patio?

The cascading greenery in these planters (from the same house) caught my eye.  To see more beautiful images of this house and its incredible landscape, visit the post by the French Tangerine.

This was one of the top pinned images from February (see blog post here). Hydrangeas, fern, and sweet potato vine make a great planter arrangement. From the 2012 Southern Living Idea House by Tracery Interiors and Historical Concepts.  

I occasionally see rosemary topiaries at Scott Antique Market, but never this size. I love the look.  Image source.

I have admired this picture many times, for different reasons, but I have to admit that I never really noticed the planters.  Not only are there two planters flanking the opening, but there appear to be planters in the corners of the outdoor room.  The planters can’t be seen, but I like the flowers that are in them.  Image via Veranda, architecture by McAlpine Tankersley.

I saved this picture originally for the architecture by Ferguson Shamamian, but I am newly appreciating the landscape design and the use of many different planters of all shapes and sizes, with different materials and contents.

I found this pretty image on Pinterest. I like the color scheme of these planters and their contents – purple, green, and cream.

One of my favorite images of a grouping of planters, found on Pinterest.

A wonderful peek into the courtyard of the William Gatewood house in Charleston, taken by the author of In the Studio.  The potted lemon trees on pea gravel are beautiful – I wonder if they have to take them inside during the winter?

These almost don’t look real!  I love the shape and the lush nature of the flowers, although I want to stick to white or purple flowers (no pinks or reds for me, even in landscape).

There is something about planters with hydrangea that I love.  This is from the landscape of an old house in Belgium. Note the topiary trees near the house – I wonder if these are in planters?  Image source

Of course, the ultimate hydrangea in planter picture is from the property of a 19th century Southern Gothic cottage designed by Furlow Gatewood (seen on Veranda here).  There is a book on Furlow Gatewood’s Americus, Georgia house that is being released in April; called One Man’s Folly: the Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood, it can be seen on Amazon here.

I’ll post an update after the planters are done – we need to wait until mid-April when the risk of frost is over.  In the meantime, if you have any other inspirational images of planters or ideas for planter materials, please be sure to send them my way – thingsthatinspire@gmail.com.

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Design Decisions: Zinc Planters

Last month, I wrote about our pool design process, and received quite a few emails about various details of the landscape.  Many of the questions were about the planters that we used, and the thought process behind the plantings that were selected.

Working with my landscape architect and his favorite planter specialist, Russell Gandy of Area Garden and Design Services, we selected the Restoration Hardware Zinc estate planter for the spots on either side of the pool.

We also considered this beautiful lead planter from Authentic Provence, but it simply wasn’t in the budget.  Check out their website – they have the most beautiful French, English, and Italian planters. This one is called the Hampshire planter, and is from their English collection.

 

I wish I had taken a picture of the boxes that the planters arrived in – I had them shipped directly to my house (usually I use a receiver who unpacks and delivers large items), and it was a huge challenge to unpack the planters and get them to the back yard!  I ended up borrowing a dolly from my kids’ school, and wheeled the planters to the back. Here is a picture of one of the planters, freshly unwrapped.  The zinc is dark right out of the box, however it quickly weathered when exposed to the elements.

Here is a picture of the zinc planter after it was planted.  Although it is in the shadow in this picture, you can see that the zinc has already attained a beautiful soft gray patina. 

I gave Russell full artistic freedom to put what he wanted in the pots, and he selected babywing begonias, ivy, and Pindo Palm.  Russell thought that the beautiful arching feather leaves of the palm would provide a nice element to the yard.   One other interesting feature of this type of palm is that it is one of the hardiest of the palms, and can tolerate the winter temperatures of Atlanta.

Here is a long view of the pool with the planters on either side.  The planters are visible from just about every room on the main floor of the house, and I think they add a lovely and unexpected element to the yard.

I was pleased to see these same planters were selected for a project that designer and antique store owner Loi Thai used to grace the front steps of a project he recently completed in Washington DC.  Click here to see the entire post; Loi’s blog is definitely one of my favorites as it is filled with landscape design, antiques, and beautiful interiors.  I love the color that Loi selected for the door, Farrow & Ball's "Blue Gray" #91.

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