River free plant watering

June 20, 2007 2:01 PM

PlantFilter: Can someone suggest a way for me to keep the surface under my house plants dry?

Those standard clear plastic dish things are extremely ugly although they do get the job done, I'm looking for something more attractive. We have our houseplants sitting on a large window sill type area that is wood and I don't want to screw it up with water damage.

posted by zackola to home & garden (7 comments total)

Terracotta saucers are widely available at garden centers, but if kept too wet, water can seep through. Putting the saucer and pot on pot feet will help keep the moisture off your window sill. You can see pot feet in this link.

Ceramic saucers might help, as well as moderate watering. Some pots come with matching saucers. These look nice.
posted by Squeak Attack at 2:08 PM on June 20, 2007

You could put them in nice trays. That's what I do. You could collect interesting trays just for looks or you could use a humidity tray or a self-watering tray.

Another idea would be to raid your local thrift shops and buy some interesting vintage saucers (the kind that go with teacups) and dessert plates to put the pots on.
posted by iconomy at 2:14 PM on June 20, 2007

I definitely recommend looking for flower pots with matching saucers. It might be a bit of an initial investment if you have a lot of flower pots already, but repotting should be pretty easy.
posted by nerdcore at 2:18 PM on June 20, 2007

And if you want to buy plain terra cotta sauchers and paint them yourself you can use this method.
posted by nerdcore at 2:19 PM on June 20, 2007

They may be more than you want to pay, but I've seen copper and steel plant saucers (deep like the plastic ones, but metal) that look really nice. Maybe try Smith and Hawken or another of those more upscale places. You can also get large-ish cork coaster-like things at garden centers that you put under the plant saucer to protect your window sills.
posted by doubtful_guest at 4:02 PM on June 20, 2007

I've got a bunch of African Violets that I potted into ceramic pots with saucers from Target, not expensive but still nice. The saucers are attached to the pots.

They tend to sweat a bit and leave moisture underneath, so I bought some complimenting tile squares at the neighboring Home Depot to place under the saucers on the window sill. When I water them, I watch carefully, then go back in a few minutes to sop up any (rare!) excess water that may have spilled from the saucer.
posted by Robert Angelo at 4:42 PM on June 20, 2007

vintage/interesting plates from a thrift store.
posted by amtho at 7:14 PM on June 20, 2007