Hypertufa Planter

Gardening magazines and catalogs often feature stone or concrete troughs brimming with flowers or planted as alpine gardens. Many of the pieces pictured in magazines are antiques, but others are reproductions that merely look weathered and worn. With all the interest in them, antique versions have become hard to find, and even reproductions are expensive.

With hypertufa, you can create inexpensive, long-lasting planters that resemble aged stone sinks or troughs. Or, if your taste runs more toward contemporary shapes, you can easily create more streamlined pieces. Hypertufa is a versatile material, and the simple construction methods are fun to use.

You have to plan ahead for this project. It takes several weeks for hypertufa to cure and several more to wash out the alkaline residue enough to use the planter.