Recycled Hanging Planters

This project came about like most of my projects: wanting something, not being able to buy it anywhere, and finding a way to make it myself as a result. I live in a fairly small town and it isn't always easy to find things that you are looking for in our stores. There also isn't a lot of compeition between retailers, so if one store doesn't have what you want good luck finding it somewhere else; you may need to go a town over. I'm getting off topic though.

My daughter has been home all week due to the teacher walkout, and those of you with kids know that you have to keep a 5 year old busy or they get creative. My daughter's creativity usually means something is getting ruined or broken. And so we went to store to find some hanging planters for our patio. Quinn loves to plant and garden, so on nice days it's my go to activity. We are in the process of getting our yard and patio ready for spring, but we cannot plant in our garden beds yet. Oklahoma is weird with weather. Today it was 82 degrees, but this weekend it's gonna freeze again. We get all the seasons within the same week. It's because of this unpredictability that I thought we should plant some flowers in hanging planters. We could easily bring those inside when it freezes again and then bring them back out when Oklahoma realizes that it's APRIL!

Here is when I ran into my recurring problem. We couldn't find any hanging planters! Something so simple but still so hard to get. So I started building it in my brain and got a few supplies.

What you'll need:

A couple of empty plastic containers (I used old formula containers)

Parachord or nylon rope

Washi tape (for decoration)

S hooks

Start by cleaning out your container and removing any labels from the outside. I like these old formula containers because the labels come right off without any sticky residue. I have never found an easy way to remove that stickyness leftover from labels. If anyone reading this has a life hack for that, please let me know in the comments!

Next I poked 4 holes in the bottom big enough to run my rope through. One on each side should be good to ensure that your planter hangs evenly. These will also double as drain holes. Feel free to add more for better drainage.


Cut 2 equal lengths of rope and cross them through the bottom your container. Make sure your rope is evenly distributed on all sides. The length of rope depends entirely on how big your container is and how much rope you will need to hang your plant. I cut my rope about 24 inches to make sure I would have enough length to hang them on my patio awning.



Poke a few more holes on the sides near the top so that you can pull the rope through. This will keep the rope out of your plant and also help stabilize your planter some. Tie off all the rope at the top leaving whatever length you will need to hang in you desired space.
I decorated my planters with some washi tape just to make them a little more colorful. I think spray paint would have worked nicely too. There is a lot of potential for decoration here, so get creative!
Finally put in some potting soil and some spring flowers. We got these flowers on a discount rack for 50 cents! Plant whatever you want in there, just make sure it's container friendly.

I got a 2 pack of S rings for $1 to hang these on my patio which worked perfectly for my needs, but get whatever type of hanging thing works for you.

I don't think these could have turned out any more perfect! I love them! Super easy and made mostly with what I had in the house. What I did buy cost me around $5, and I have enough rope left over to make some more!


I will definitely be making more of these! I have plenty of materials left over and a lot of formula containers stashed away. I really enjoy having flowers on my patio, but having pots on the ground is sometimes difficult to do at my house. We have 3 puppies who all enjoy digging the soil out of my pots. But there is no way those pups are going to get these flowers!

Have an opinion? Have a suggestion? Leave it in the comments!