Planters and tree containers

Planters that make the streetscape greener

A planter does more than hold a plant. It brings greenery to places where planting in open ground is impossible, it marks off a terrace or a walking route, it keeps cars out of a pedestrian zone, and it breaks up the hardness of a paved square. Increasingly it takes on one more role: water buffering and cooling.

We supply planters and troughs to local authorities, developers, hospitality, shopping centres, schools and companies, from a few planters on a terrace to the full greening of a rebuilt street.

What they are used for

Greening paved space

On squares, car parks and roofs where the substructure rules out open ground, a container is the only way to get trees and shrubs in place. The larger the volume, the more the plant can cope with and the less often it needs watering.

Marking out and guiding

A row of heavy planters keeps vehicles out of a zone without looking like a barrier. Where genuine impact protection is needed, you are better off with a planter of sufficient weight or an anchored version, and we will say so.

Terraces and hospitality

Planters mark out a terrace and give it a sense of enclosure. Here appearance counts, along with the question of whether they need to be moved in the off season.

Climate and water

Planters with a water reservoir or a connection to run-off water contribute to de-paving and water buffering. That requirement turns up in tenders more and more often.

Material

• Hot-dip galvanised and powder-coated steel: crisp, in any RAL colour, strong and repairable. The choice for a contemporary streetscape.
• Corten steel: forms a stable rust layer with a warm, earthy colour. Needs no maintenance, but stains the surface beneath it in the first years.
• Concrete: heavy, indestructible and immediately impact resistant. Moving it afterwards is no longer an option.
• Composite and recycled plastic: light, maintenance free and useful on roofs or raised decks where weight counts.
• Timber: warm and soft in appearance, but with the shortest service life in permanently damp conditions.

One thing matters in every case: a proper internal finish. A planter without a liner or coating on the inside stands permanently in wet soil and will noticeably not last as long.

What belongs under the plant

This is where planters fail in practice. A planter without drainage drowns the roots after the first wet week; a planter without enough substrate volume dries out within two days in July.

We fit a drainage layer and drainage openings as standard, and we advise on volume based on what goes in. For trees and larger shrubs that is considerably more than most catalogue sizes suggest. Where maintenance has to stay limited, we look at a version with a water reservoir, so a water bowser does not have to call by every week.

Maintenance and management

Work out in advance who waters and how often. It is the most important question in the whole project: a beautifully greened square where everything stands brown in August is a loss. Larger volumes, water reservoirs and drought-tolerant planting reduce that burden considerably.

Beyond that: check the coating and repair it where it is damaged, and check the drainage yearly for blockages.

What determines the price?

Planters have no fixed price per unit. The cost follows from the material and finish, the dimensions and the volume, bespoke work such as a custom size, a colour from your house style or a milled logo, the internal finish and the drainage, any water reservoir, the quantity - over a series the cost per unit drops noticeably -, transport, which weighs heavily for concrete and large sizes, and installation.

Send us the quantity, the size you want and what goes in, and you will get a quotation with those items shown separately, together with our advice on volume.

Putting your location to us

Send us the plan or a few photographs, with what you want to plant and who will maintain it. We will propose a version that still looks good three years from now.