A Trip To The Salvation Army

by | Sep 15, 2016 | 2 comments

I have talked about this before but wanted to visit the subject again. Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping for houseplant pots and accessories at my local independent garden center and hopefully, you do as well. Yet, I also love to see what I can find at the local resale shops, such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, and other stores that may be helping others with the profits from my purchases.

So, that being said, I visited the Salvation Army store yesterday with a friend and look what I found.

I love the hanging owl planter that my friend gave me and she also bought it at a resale shop. Thanks, Jean!

Find glass coasters and shallow dishes

I also found many shallow glass dishes that I use for saucers for my houseplants. Clay saucers look nice but if you don’t buy the ones with the glazed interiors, you run the risk of ruining whatever you set the plant on. It is so disappointing to move a plant and find a moldy black ring on your table. I speak from experience. The saucers with the glazed interiors are pricey, especially if you have a large number of plants as I do. The four matching saucers were (with my friend’s “senior” discount) about $1 apiece. I think that is well worth it. There will be no disappointing mold rings from these glass saucers.

Pot sitting in a glass saucer

Pot sitting in a glass saucer

Don’t hide the container

I don’t use these under every plant, but I especially like to use them if the pot is colorful or decorative so those things show through. The clay saucers may cover the color or decoration on the pot. Quite often you can find a colored glass saucer to match the container or plant. I’ve found pink, green, white, and amber-colored glass. I’ve also found a few square glass trays which are usually never available at the garden centers, yet there are square containers. The pictures below are saucers I’ve been using under my plants. Ashtrays are the best and there are many of them out there. What a great way to reuse a beautiful piece of glass that was used for something not so beautiful. So….next time you need a new container or saucer for your houseplant, don’t forget to look at the resale shops. You never know what you may find.

Both container and the ashtray were found at the resale shop

Both container and the ashtray were found at the resale shop

An Avon glass piece from resale shop

An Avon glass piece from a resale shop

Antique green glass saucer under my Euphorbia

Antique green glass saucer under my Euphorbia

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2 Comments

  1. Barbara

    When you have pot like the ones above without drainage, do you put in another pot with rock etc. below, or do you plant directly in the pot? Btw I love your blog

    Reply
    • thehouseplantguru.com

      If I have a pot without a drainage hole, I drill one with a diamond tip drill bit. I don’t use drainage material as it shortens the soil column.

      Reply

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