Concrete Planters

How 'bout a post that has nothing to do with the baby?  Well, maybe a little to do with  the baby cause she was there (and very helpful). 

We have jasmine growing up the sides of our pergola.  It is a beautiful vine and it smells heavenly when it blooms.  Simply, we love it.  However, we do not love the planters we put it in.  They are cheap, falling apart, allow no room for root growth and are simply ugly.  Don't believe me?  See for yourself...

Not so pretty...  So we set off to make some easy, awesome looking planters out of those big, concrete stepping stones you can get at any hardware or landscaping store.  We opted for the 16" squares because we wanted lots of room for the plants to grow.  Plus we only made the four sided (no bottom), so the root system could eventually work its way into  the ground.

To start, we purchased 16 squares (4 squares per planter times 4 planters)  and some landscaping adhesive.  Once we got then home, we positioned Ella to supervise (babies first project, yay!)...

And we laid out our steps...

applied some adhesive...

And added the next step...

And the next...

And the last one...

And pretty soon, we had 4 planters all set...

Two quick notes:  this stuff sets up pretty fast, but we found it was helpful to hold the steps in place for just a minute to ensure that it was stable and the adhesive we got recommended allowing 5 days before the project was used, so these babies got a few days in the garage before they were installed.

And speaking of installation, my darling husband gets all the credit here.  These suckers are crazy heavy and Ella decided she wanted to eat.  So Seth got the planters into place, removed the old planters, added new dirt, and got the plants all settled in their new home (my husband is pretty awesome).  And the results are fantastic...

The planters look slightly industrial and really complement the pergola (rather than making it look cheap)...

I am super excited about the  new planters, especially because they are so large.  I may be able to nestle in some annuals come spring time.  Anyone else do some last minute fall gardening?