Give your old flower pots a new look

After the whole cleaning process, rinse and let the pot dry before finally putting back the plant, then water it. Photo by Ismail Kezaala

Flower pots do a good job of giving flowers and plants a better and outstanding look. However, when they are aged with time and poor handling, they defeat their purpose. However, you do not always have to buy new flower tins simply because the old ones have lost their luster! You can always give them a new look especially if they are not beyond repair.
Flavia Mwebaze shares three ways old flower planters; whether metallic, plastic or clay can be brought back to life.

Wash clean
The first and cheapest way to give your flower planters a fresh look is giving them a good and thorough clean. “Plant tins are usually exposed to conditions like rain water splashes, dust and other stains, especially if they are outdoor and thus, the first thought that should cut through your mind when you look at those aging pots should be giving them a good clean,” says Mwebaze.

However, before you get to work, she emphasises that the plant should first be removed from the pot.

“The mistake most people do is cleaning the pot with the plant inside. This is only ideal for light day-to-day cleaning. However, if you are to scrub that pot really clean, you need to do it without the inconvenience of having the plant inside. And for all the three ways I suggest, it is better you first have the plant out of the way,” she advises.

So, carefully remove the plant from the tin or pot, and in case your plant has been tinned for over a year, it will be better to change the soil too to fresh new soils, preferably, decomposed soils.

After removing the plant from the tin, wash the inside to remove soil, but especially, scrub the outside with either a strong sponge (for clay) a brush or scouring pad for plastics and metals.

After scrubbing, rinse and let the tin dry before carefully putting back the plant and water it.

Paint
You might just want to give your tin a different and new look, so paint is your other option.

The same rules apply when you intend to paint. After cleaning the tin, mix your paint (preferably, super gloss paint) of your choice colour. Paint outside the tin with either plain colors or with different shades and designs. Leave the tin to thoroughly dry (for about three days) and replant.

Using wraps
You can just decide to wrap materials around your flower tins to give them the look they need. Though many ideas may come to mind, Mwebaze shares that stones and ropes are trendy ways to do this.

“Currently, there are small, white, oval stones that are very decorative or other stones can also do.

The other option can be ropes; local or synthetic.

After cleaning your pot, and ensuring your stones are equally clean, get adhesive gum onto the tin and the stone.

Bind the two until they stick before you move on to the next one.

These need time and care, ensuring that the stones blend with each other seamlessly,” she shares.

As for the ropes, apply adhesive onto the tin and carefully rotate the rope around the tin without leaving any spaces.