Large Outdoor Planters

Large outdoor planters are the pieces that set the scale of a space rather than decorate it. This collection holds the 41 planters we carry that measure at least 30 inches in one dimension, which is the threshold where a planter stops being an accessory and starts being architecture. They run from 30 inch cubes up to a 100 inch trough.

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.

We publish all three for every size, so you can compare a 48 inch column against a 48 inch trough on the numbers rather than on the photograph.

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 kerb 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

Scale brings problems that smaller planters do not have, and they are worth knowing before ordering rather than after.

Soil volume is expensive and heavy. A large planter needs a lot of soil, and saturated soil weighs roughly 80 pounds per cubic foot. A 48 inch planter can take well over 30 cubic feet. That is a real cost line and a real handling problem, and it is why part-filling with a drainage layer 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 kerbside 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 the lightest premium material at this scale, which is the main reason it dominates 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 two to ten business days of production before shipping. Standard sizes ship free by ground within the contiguous United States. Larger units ship by freight at a flat 495 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 two business days. That note on the receipt is what makes a damage claim work. 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.

Material and finish

Every planter here is fiberglass composite in one of twenty finishes across matte, satin, gloss and metallic. The colour runs through the shell rather than sitting on it as a coat, so a scratch does not expose a different material underneath. The material is frost-proof and UV-stable, and it does not crack in freeze-thaw the way porous materials do. In an outdoor setting, kept well drained, expect ten to fifteen years or more. Jay Scotts covers them with a three year manufacturer 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.