What’s wrong with planters?

Yes I do have a bit of a chip on my shoulder regarding planters. On my travels around London, I see many collapsed planters made out of a soft wood or planters containing dead stalks and litter. It’s become a bit of a grim hobby photographing them. A lot of urban greening schemes rely heavily on planters - not surprisingly because they are a fast intervention and easy to install.

But their life span is limited if there is no provision for maintenance and if they aren’t built with materials that last. They are notoriously hard to maintain if planted traditionally with plants that need regular water. The hot weather of 2025 is demonstrating how labour intensive it is to look after planters when there is no rain (the drought of 2022 was also a cautionary tale).

They can be done in a more sustainable way and they do have their place when there isn’t space or money to take up tarmac. We’re trialling using gravel and planting drought tolerant plants to see how they cope with minimal maintenance. Watch this space….