If you have only recently taken up the gardening habit, you might have noticed other gardeners using the terms ‘planters’ and ‘pots’ seemingly interchangeably. However, they don’t strictly refer to the same thing — and you can benefit immensely from knowing what distinguishes a planter box from a pot.
What Do Planters and Pots Have in Common?
Only really one thing: they are both containers in which plants are intended to be grown. However, whether you should opt for a planter or instead a pot will depend on how you want to grow a plant.
A pot is typically a round container just small enough to hold a single plant — without either the plant itself looking comically small or the pot taking up much more space than necessary.
Conversely, you can expect a planter box to dwarf a pot in size — as the former is designed for housing multiple plants rather than just one. Also, while plant pots are often quickly recognisable from their roundness, planters tend to come in irregular shapes.
How Do Planters and Pots Differ in Usage?
As a general rule, if you want to display a plant indoors or temporarily outdoors, a pot will serve you well. However, if you are eager to add plants as permanent fixtures to an open-air space, a planter box could prove appreciably more convenient than an array of individual pots for keeping that greenery in place.
One simple reason why is that the planter — as a result of its larger size as well as holding more than one plant — is almost certainly going to be heavier than a single pot containing only one plant. This means that, in the former instance, the foliage is likelier to stay upright — such as in windy weather.
Planters don’t have to be reserved just for the garden, either. We at Birdies Garden Products offer attractive and resilient planter boxes that can be used on patios and decks as well as — like pots — indoors.
Wherever you live in New Zealand, rest assured that we are capable of delivering a planter box to your NZ home. We offer nationwide delivery of our products, which you can buy via our website.