Matching tree planters at a modern commercial building entrance

Commercial Planters

(33 products)

Commercial planters are the large-format containers specified for hotels, restaurants, offices and multi-family developments, where a planter has to survive public traffic and look consistent across a run of twenty. These are the models we carry measuring 36 inches or more in at least one dimension.

Commercial planters, specified at scale

Commercial planters are the large-format containers used in hotels, restaurants, offices, retail centres and multi-family developments, where a planter has to survive public traffic, look consistent across a run of twenty, and still be replaceable in three years when one gets damaged. This collection holds the Jay Scotts models we carry with at least one dimension of 36 inches or more, which is the threshold we use to decide what belongs here.

What makes a planter specifiable at scale

A residential buyer picks one planter. A specifier picks a size, a finish and a quantity, then has to defend all three. The questions that decide a commercial order are rarely about looks.

Repeatability. Every model here is made to order in a single production run, so a set of twelve arrives in one finish batch rather than assembled from stock with different ages. If you add to an installation later, the model and finish codes stay the same.

Consistency across sizes. The rectangular and corner units in this collection share base codes with their siblings, so a 36 inch rectangle and its matching corner unit carry the same height and the same wall profile. That matters when you are wrapping a terrace edge and need the line to read as one run.

Replaceability. Fiberglass planters carry a three year manufacturer warranty from Jay Scotts. In practice a well-drained fiberglass planter in an outdoor commercial setting is not on the replacement cycle that moulded plastic is, and individual units can be replaced without rebuilding the surrounding installation.

Size and fit, published per size

This is the part most planter listings leave out. For every size in this collection we publish the exterior dimensions, the interior opening, and the nursery grow pot it accepts. A specifier can confirm fit before ordering rather than after delivery.

Exterior dimensions tell you whether the planter fits the space, the doorway and the lift. Interior dimensions tell you how much soil it holds and whether the root ball will actually go in. Those two numbers are not the same, and the gap between them is larger than most people expect: wall thickness and the rim band can take several inches off the usable opening on a large unit.

Grow pot capacity is the practical number for anyone dropping in pre-grown stock. Where a planter accepts a standard nursery pot we say which size, and where it accepts more than one we say how many. On a long trough this is often three or four pots rather than a single mass planting, which changes both the cost and the maintenance rotation.

Every size on every product page carries these three figures. If you are sizing a scheme from scratch rather than matching an existing one, the planter size guide walks through choosing dimensions from the plant rather than the space.

Weight, handling and placement

Fiberglass is the lightest premium planter material, which is the main reason it dominates commercial and elevated installations. A large fiberglass unit can be carried and positioned by two people where the equivalent in concrete or cast stone needs equipment.

We publish a packaged weight for every size. That figure is the shipping weight including packaging, not the bare product weight, so it is the number to use for delivery planning and lift access. It is not the number to use for structural load, because a planter full of saturated soil weighs many times its empty weight and soil dominates the total.

For rooftops, terraces and podium decks, the load question has to be settled before the planter is chosen. Our rooftop planter weight guide sets out the arithmetic and the point load method, and it is explicit that the only figure that matters is your building's own rating from its engineer of record. If the installation is elevated, start there. If it is at grade, weight is a handling question rather than a structural one.

Finish and durability

Every planter in this collection is fiberglass composite, finished in one of twenty colours across matte, satin, gloss and metallic. The finish is an automotive-grade, UV-resistant paint system applied to order, which is why the manufacturer's care guidance rules out bleach, power washing and abrasives.

the material is non-porous and the finish is UV-resistant, which is what matters for a planter that stays outside through a winter and a full summer of direct sun. Fiberglass does not crack in freeze-thaw the way porous materials do, and it does not chalk or fade the way untreated plastics do.

Drainage is drilled free of charge on request. It is not drilled by default, because a proportion of commercial installations are interior, use a liner, or sit over a surface where free drainage is not wanted. Drilled planters are final sale, so decide before ordering rather than after.

Delivery, lead time and freight

These are made to order rather than picked from stock, so allow two to ten business days of production before the item ships. On a phased installation that production window is usually the constraint, not transit, and it is worth building into the programme early.

Standard sizes ship free by ground within the contiguous United States. Larger units ship by freight at a flat 495 dollars, and freight is free on orders over 2,000 dollars, which most multi-unit commercial orders clear comfortably. Each product page states which mode applies to each individual size, because the boundary falls between sizes of the same model rather than between models.

Ground orders can be returned within 30 days subject to a 30 percent restocking fee, with return shipping paid by the customer. Freight orders are final sale except where the item arrives defective or damaged. For any freight delivery, inspect before signing, note any damage on the delivery receipt, and report it in writing within two business days. That note on the receipt is what makes a damage claim work.

Related collections

If the installation is on a roof, terrace or pool surround, the rooftop and pool deck planters collection filters this range down to the sizes that ship by ground, which are the ones most often specified where access is constrained.

Specifying a run means specifying a form, and rectangular and trough planters is where the straight-sided lengths and their corner units sit together. For lobby and frontage scale, large outdoor planters covers the pieces that read at building proportions.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

What size planter do I need, and how much bigger than the plant?

Work from the plant, not the space. Allow roughly two inches of extra diameter over the nursery pot for a small plant, and four to six inches for anything above a 10 inch grow pot, with enough depth that the root ball sits with its top level with the soil line rather than proud of it.

For a specified run, size to the largest plant in the scheme and keep one model across the set. Mixed sizes in a single line read as a mistake even when each one is individually correct.

How do I measure a planter?

Measure three things and keep them separate. Exterior dimensions are the overall footprint and height, and they decide whether the planter fits the space, the doorway and the lift. The interior opening is the usable space inside the rim, and it is always smaller than the exterior because of wall thickness and the rim band. Interior depth is measured from the top of the soil line to the inside floor, not from the rim. We publish all three for every size.

What are standard planter sizes?

There is no industry standard, which is exactly why a size label is the wrong thing to specify against. For every size we carry we publish three figures: the exterior dimensions, the interior opening, and the nursery pot the opening accepts. Specify against your space and your plant using those.

In practice large-format commercial work clusters around 36, 48, 60 and 72 inch lengths for rectangles and troughs, but two planters both described as 36 inch can differ by several inches of usable opening once wall thickness and the rim band are accounted for. The label tells you almost nothing; the interior figure tells you whether it works.

What do you put in the bottom of a planter for drainage?

Line the base with permeable landscape fabric, add a lightweight drainage layer of rinsed gravel or lava rock, separate that from the soil with a second layer of fabric, then fill with a well-draining mix and set the root ball 1 to 3 inches below the rim.

The second fabric layer is the part people skip, and it is what stops soil migrating down into the drainage layer and clogging it. On a large planter the layer also cuts soil volume and therefore filled weight, provided the root ball still has adequate depth beneath it.

Is 8 inches deep enough for a planter?

For annuals, herbs, succulents and low grasses, 8 inches of interior depth is workable. For shrubs, small trees and anything expected to stay in place for more than a season, it is not. Those need enough depth for the root ball plus room below it, which in practice means 12 inches at an absolute minimum and more for woody material. Check the interior depth rather than the exterior height, because feet and rim detail can account for several inches of the overall figure.

Do commercial planters need drainage?

Outdoors, almost always. Without drainage, rain and irrigation collect at the base and the roots sit in standing water. We drill drainage holes free of charge on request. It is not done by default, because interior installations, liner-based schemes and planters sitting over finished surfaces often need to stay sealed. Drilled planters are final sale, so decide before ordering.

How big should drainage holes be in a planter?

Jay Scotts drills 1 to 2 inch holes, one every 12 inches of planter space, so a 60 inch planter gets at least four or five. We have them drilled to that specification free of charge on request, which is the safest route: the manufacturer's warranty does not cover damage from drainage holes cut outside their guidelines, so a hole drilled on site can cost more than it saves.

If you do drill your own, follow the same size and spacing and allow for how much rain and irrigation the planter will actually catch.

Can these planters be used indoors?

Yes, and interior work is a large part of what these are specified for. Every model in this collection except the railing-mounted Tiergarden suits indoor or outdoor use, which is why they turn up in hotel lobbies and office atria as often as on terraces.

Indoors the drainage decision inverts. Most interior installations use a liner rather than free drainage, because water reaching a finished floor is the failure mode rather than water sitting in the base. That is why we do not drill by default.

How long do fiberglass planters last?

We do not publish a year figure, because the manufacturer does not state one and an invented number is worth less than the mechanism behind it. Fiberglass is non-porous, so it does not absorb the water that expands on freezing and cracks porous materials.

On a specified scheme the replacement pattern matters more than any single figure. Individual units can be swapped without rebuilding the installation around them, and because these are made to order in a single batch, a replacement ordered later is the same model code and finish rather than an approximation. The relevant cost is not the unit price but how many times the scheme has to be pulled and replanted.

Jay Scotts backs each planter with a three year manufacturer warranty against defects. Price the exclusions in as well: labour, shipping and delivery costs on a claim are not covered, so on a multi-unit installation the replacement unit is free and the work of swapping it is not.

How do I keep a scheme looking consistent over time?

Three things do most of the work. Order the set together, because made-to-order units produced in one batch match each other more closely than stock assembled from different production runs. Keep one model across a run rather than mixing sizes. And record the model code and finish name, so a replacement ordered in two years is specified rather than matched by eye.

The finish helps too: an automotive-grade, UV-resistant paint system, applied to order, so a unit ordered later is sprayed to the same colour reference rather than matched by eye. Clean with dishwashing soap and avoid bleach, power washing, steel wool and abrasives, all of which scratch the surface and are the usual reason a run stops looking uniform.