Staggered Planter Equals Instant Curb Appeal

Planters near an entrance way are a great way to add pizzazz to a front door. But add some house numbers and a staggered planter and you will get some instant curb appeal to boot.

I enjoy having plants on my front step and love to change them out with the seasons.

This pretty planter idea can be changed up easily as you wish, and the numbers on the bottom planter also tells visitors that they have the right address when they visit!

Add Curb Appeal with a Staggered Planter

This DIY Staggered Planter with House numbers is easy to do.  Well, there was one tricky part for me – attaching the numbers – but my choice of pot accounted for that.

To make the planter you will need these supplies:

• 3 large planters of the same shape in three different sizes.  I chose 12″, 10″ and 8″ diameters because my entry space was small.  Larger sizes will give you more planting room when the project is finished. My pots are plastic.
• 2 pieces of metal rod.  I used old solid BBQ skewers.  Rebar would be a better choice for larger pots
• Potting soil
• Packing Peanuts
• Self Adhesive Water resistant stick on letters.  I used 2″ size but they come in all sorts of sizes at Office Depot.
• Plants for planting

You can use anything you would like for plants but I chose the following

• Variegated English Ivy
• Solid English Ivy
• Celosia
• Bromeliad
• Caladiums
• Impatiens

First, I added about 2 or 3 inches of packing peanuts in the bottom of the pots.  I did this because it means I can use less soil.

Also, this is a tall planter and I wanted it to be lighter when I moved it around.  See my article on using packing peanuts here.

I filled the bottom pot with soil and then placed the next size on top of it. 

Next, I took one piece of metal rod and tucked it down into the back of the pot to anchor them in the pot below

I made sure that the pot was positioned as far back as it would sit on the soil below.

The top pot was done the same way.  So far this was very quick and easy.  The fun part was next – planting!

All of this took me perhaps 15 minutes and was simple as could be.  Little did I know that these little things would just about be the death of me and my husband!

Four simple numbers.  Peel and stick.  Easy right?  Not on your life!!  Those darn things too two very intelligent adults at least an hour to do.

The reason was that my pots were not round.  They came to a point in the front, so the numbers could not be placed on a straight row. 

Every time we tried it that way, it looked odd when we stood back and inspected it. 

The top rim of each pot seemed to dip down, so we got the idea of making the numbers do the same in the center and eventually got it pretty good.  Not perfect for two perfectionists but not bad either! 

Here is the planter:

 My caladiums are just a little too tall for my liking, but I am going to trim them down a bit as the new growth appears and cut off the tallest plants. 

My suggestions for your project if you want to make one like this is to use larger pots if you have the space (more planting room).

Also use round pots so the numbers are easier to attach so that they look right when read.

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