Carol

Another cool trend in vertical gardens are flower tower kits. Some people also call them “garden sticks”.

Alternatively, you can build these planting containers from scratch. For instance, you can use a PVC pipe and drill holes around the outside. Then, fill the structure with dirt and insert starter plants through the outer holes.

People like the flower tower planter for growing bushy perennials like impatiens because they conceal the entire container as they grow. As a result, the pot becomes “invisible”, and the plant looks like a bush.

Some people also use it for growing strawberries in a space-challenged yard.

You can actually buy shorter flower towers that are hanging planters. These are great for growing herb gardens, since you can conveniently place them by a kitchen window or even grow them indoors. You can also grow strawberries in these as well, keeping them away from berry eaters.

Building Your Own Tower:

This project is fairly simple, and you can purchase the materials you need from your local home improvement store. The basic idea is that you get a PVC pipe with diameter between 4″ and 6″, cut it to length you want and drill holes around it (about 1 1/4″ – 1 1/2″ diameter) where the plants will grow.

Things to Remember When Building a Flower Tower

1. Stagger the holes that you drill into your pipe so that the roots have enough space to grow. 3″ is a good distance between holes. Of course, this depends on what you are growing and size of your container too.

2. Your tower will either need to have an end cap, be placed in a sturdy flower pot as a base or stuck in the ground. If you decide to use an end cap, you don’t want a bunch of water sitting at the base, so continue to drill holes for your flowers as low as possible on the pipe.

3. Install a drip hose (or smaller pipe with holes in it) down the center of the tower for even watering. I found this out the hard way when I didn’t insert a hose. When you water the planter from the top, water tends to drip out of the upper holes that you have drilled, and less water reaches the lower plants. This is especially true when the plants are new.

4. When you fill your container with soil, don’t fill it completely before inserting your starters. Add it in small sections, planting as you go. You will then be able to pack dirt down to help secure the plants.

Using Wire Fencing to Make Your Own Flower Tower:

Another option is to use wire fencing, line it with landscape fabric and position it in a sturdy flower pot. With the wire fencing, you have the ability to adjust the size of your vertical garden to the width and height you like. The base will need to fit in your flower pot, of course, so this type of flower tower is typically wider and shorter than one build from a PVC pipe. Home Depot has a video explaining how to do it below:

Easy Flower Tower Kits

What I realized when researching this project was that the building materials were not as cheap as I thought. I didn’t have the right size drill bit either. That’s when I started looking into vertical planter kits.

What’s nice about these is that they already have the proper size holes drilled and a center watering hose installed. Furthermore, you can buy them in small sections and stack them on top of each other to create a tall vertical garden. This makes inserting flowers much easier, not to mention setting up the entire structure.

Polanter Vertical Garden Planters

This Polanter vertical flower tower is actually pretty versatile too. You can use it indoors or outside. Plus, you can hang it, or create a tall garden from the ground up.

Each section is about 21 inches tall and can hold 12 plants. There is a detachable end cap at the base of the container, so you don’t have to buy one.

The video below explains how to assemble and hang a Polanter vertical garden. He talks about larger kits you can buy, but the cheapest way I’ve found is to get several single sections through Amazon.com.