Ten years ago my husband bought me a gorgeous birdbath and water fountain combo which I absolutely LOVED. The bowl portion of the bird bath is done in a large seashell shape and the top had floating ball with water fountain. When it was new, it looked gorgeous but over the years, it’s fallen apart.
A nasty storm destroyed the water fountain portion about two years ago, so we’ve only been using it as a regular birdbath. Hubby was going to haul it to the dump last month as it’s in pretty awful shape, but I saw some potential. I decided to turn the birdbath into a flower planter for my garden.
Here’s how you can turn your own birdbath into a flower planter.
Give it a good cleaning. If it has any cracks, you’ll find to fill them with outdoor calking. If the exterior is looking nasty, you can purchase outdoor “textured pebble finish” spray paint and repaint the exterior.
Since it will be turned into a flower planter, you’ll need to drill some water drainage holes into the bottom. We used a 1/2″ drill bit and drilled several drainage holes into the bottom. We then added 3″ of river rocks into the base and filled the rest of it up with planting soil and dirt.
You’re now ready to plant your flowers inside. For mine, we went with all one type – purple & yellow pansies. You can plant just about any type of flowers or plants inside it. Once your plants are in, make sure you give them a good watering and some fertilizer to help get them going.
Along with my pansies, I added a hand-painted conch shell to add some flair, since I decorate in a coastal and beach theme. On the top where my water fountain used to run, I added an old frog who’s sitting while fishing. It cover’s up the hole where the motor was housed for the water features. With that said, I’m currently looking for something more beachy, like a ceramic mermaid to sit on the top.
Well, there you have it! My current DIY gardening project. So, if you have an old birdbath sitting around, don’t be afraid to turn it into a nice flower planter for your garden!
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I think you did a great job. I don’t mind the frog since this is a planter with flowers in it, but a mermaid would look good too.
Last year I planted a bunch of succulents in my old birdbath. I was cracked enough that it didn’t hold water but not so cracked that it wasn’t beautiful.!
It turned out so beautiful! Those are my favorite pansies.
I think this is a great idea. I have done just the opposite – I have used a planter to make a birdbath. Or, more specifically, the bowl that goes under the planter so the water doesn’t leak out everywhere. I don’t have the budget for buying a “real” bird bath, so I am re-purposing what I do have available to me. There are planters/flower pots all over this yard. In the old potting shed, I also found a cake pan and turned that into a bird bath. The tufted titmice love the planter bowl birdbath and the blue jays love the cake pan bird bath. My bird population is increasing and I enjoy it very much.
Thanks for the great idea!
I always like to repurpose things like this too. Our birdbath is one of resin ones, so hopefully we wont have to use ours. I do see a TON of the birdhouse tops like yours at flea market and yard sales when we go. Most dont even want to fool with them because they are rather heavy. I am going to have to keep this in mind to maybe pick one up!
I did this with a plastic birdbath that was damaged in a storm. I spray painted it a bright color, cover the hole in the center with screen and filled it up with plants that would hang down. That birdbath had many more years of life.