Take one vintage cooking pot with handle. Add small rocks in the bottom of the pot for drainage, or optionally drill five-spaced small holes. Add rich, organic potting soil. Select interesting plants such as a dramatic pink-spiked foxglove, and lacy "spring to fall" blooming alyssum. Add dark green reindeer moss around the plants to cover your soil and soften your container look. In no time, you have a spring blooming vintage container design.

That is the beauty of vintage container design. Re-purposed and planted with vibrant flowering plants, now this cooking pot has been magically transformed into something so much more. Train your eye to look for potential containers that might be a little of out of the ordinary, and you certainly will be rewarded with eye-catching results.

Please share some of your unusual containers you have had fun planting. Please comment on what stands out for you in a good container design.

I love finding great vintage containers with a past. They have a history, the intrigue of previous owners, time-worn patina, and usually multiple imperfections. All of which create an incredible charm and uniqueness.

One of my favorite pieces in my garden is this tiny charming cherub statuary, diligently overseeing her thriving succulent planting of echeveria and string of pearls. She might also hold a candle glowing with a soft romantic light, or some sweetly-scented dried lavender. I have a lot of cherubs in my garden, for a touch of femininity, and maybe to evoke a certain mystique.

This sweet little cherub was once a fecund green, now muted and disappearing in places. She was broken at one time, and someone cared enough to mend her. I purchased her back east, so she has journeyed far. She definitely has a past, and now she has a present and an ongoing future.

Don't overlook these types of vintage container treasures as they can add oodles to your garden charm with their simplicity and sheer survival. Best places to find these vintage container treasures, is often where it is most reasonable. Seek out your local flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, alley dumpsters (no kidding), barn sales, and favorite garden antique shops.

Please comment if you have a vintage container treasure that makes a statement in your garden? You believe that one person's discard, can be another persons' treasure?