What "large" actually means when you are buying
The word does more work than it should. A 30 inch tall column and a 72 inch long trough are both large, and they solve completely different problems. Three numbers separate them.
Height is what you want for presence at a doorway, either side of an entrance, or to lift planting into the eyeline. Length is what you want to define an edge, divide a terrace or screen a boundary. Interior volume is what the plant cares about, and it does not track either of the other two: a tall narrow column can hold less soil than a low wide bowl.
Size, fit and what we publish
For every size of every planter here you get the exterior dimensions, the interior opening, and the nursery grow pot it accepts.
Exterior dimensions decide whether the planter fits the space, the doorway, the lift and the delivery route. On the largest pieces the delivery route is the constraint people forget: a 72 inch planter has to get from the curb to its final position, and that path is usually narrower than the space it is going to.
Interior dimensions are always smaller than exterior, and on a large planter the gap is bigger than most people expect. Wall thickness and the rim band can take several inches off the usable opening. If you are matching a root ball, the interior figure is the one that decides whether it goes in.
Grow pot capacity is the practical figure for anyone dropping in pre-grown stock. On a long trough that is often three or four standard nursery pots rather than one mass planting, which changes both the planting cost and the maintenance rotation.
What a large planter does not do
Soil volume is expensive and heavy. A large planter needs a lot of soil, and the 48 inch Montroy cube holds about 54 cubic feet, where a 48 inch trough holds under 15. Once it is watered the filled weight runs into hundreds of pounds, and mixes vary enough that the figure to plan against is the one your soil supplier states on the bag. That is a real cost line and a real handling problem, and it is why part-filling with lightweight filler below the root zone is common practice on the biggest pieces.
Bigger is not better for the plant. A small root ball sitting in a very large volume of soil holds water it cannot use, and staying wet is the most common cause of root failure in containers. Size to the plant you are putting in, not to the space you are filling. If you want scale but the plant is small, the answer is usually a large planter with an insert rather than a large planter filled to the brim.
Large planters are hard to move once planted. Position before planting, not after. On terraces and roofs, decide the location with the load already calculated.
Most of them ship freight, not parcel. That means a curbside delivery on a pallet, an appointment window, and someone available to inspect and sign. It is not a courier dropping a box at the door.
Weight, delivery and freight
Fiberglass is light for its size, which is the main reason it is so widely used for large-format planting. A large fiberglass planter can be positioned by two people where the same piece in concrete would need equipment.
We publish a packaged weight for every size. That is the shipping weight including packaging, and it is the figure to use for delivery planning and lift access. It is not the figure to use for structural load: a planted large planter weighs many times its empty weight. If the installation is on a roof, terrace or podium deck, settle the load question with the building's engineer first. Our rooftop planter weight guide sets out the arithmetic.
These are made to order rather than picked from stock, so allow three to five business days of production before shipping, or five to seven for gloss finishes. Standard sizes ship free by ground within the contiguous United States. Larger units ship by freight at a flat 395 dollars, free on orders over 2,000 dollars. 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.
For any freight delivery, inspect before signing, note any damage on the delivery receipt, and report it in writing within 24 hours. That note on the receipt is what makes a damage claim work. Ground-shipped orders can be returned within 14 days of delivery for Serene Yards store credit, less a 30 percent restocking fee, and original shipping charges are non-refundable. Freight orders are final sale except for damage or defect.
Material and finish
Every planter here is fiberglass composite, in up to twenty Jay Scotts finishes with an automotive-grade, UV-resistant paint system on a non-porous shell, and a three year warranty.
Drainage is drilled free of charge on request, and is not drilled by default because interior and liner-based installations often need the planter sealed. Drilled planters are final sale.
Related collections
If you are lining planters up to screen a boundary or divide a terrace rather than placing them as single pieces, the privacy and screening planters collection filters this range down to the long, tall rectangles that work in a run.
At this scale planters are usually specified rather than bought singly, and commercial and hospitality planters narrows to the models chosen for lobbies, frontage and public spaces. If the position is a roof, terrace or pool surround, rooftop and pool deck planters applies the access and weight filter that decides most large pieces.
