Create a Garden Art Birdbath Planter

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This is a good idea for a garden bird bath: turn it into a beautiful planter for your yard. You can plant directly in the bowl, or insert containers.

For more galleries, also see these pictures of flower container ideas.

Cracked Bird Baths Provide Good Drainage

Concrete bird baths are notorious for cracking. This porous material takes in moisture and busts open when temperatures change. They’re also rarely designed to be safe for the birds, but they do make great planters. I’ve gathered a bunch of ideas for you here.

If you see a nice, old bird bath at a yard sale, be sure to snatch it up! If it’s cracked, the seller is often thankful to get rid of them.

Depending on your climate, you may have to put the bird bath away in storage during the cold months to prevent winter damage. Good planting choices include succulents and annuals. You could also create miniature or fairy gardens with tiny plantings or insert a water-tight container and add a small circulating fountain and water garden.

1. Bird Baths With Annual Flowers

This is a perfect example of a bird bath that would not work well for the birds. Most birds cannot swim and need a secure place to stand while splashing water onto themselves for bathing. While too hard for birds to navigate, this deep bowl works perfectly as an planter for annual flowers.

Sedums and other shallow-rooted annuals are perfect for this birdbath (above).

2. Bird Bath Water Garden

Water plants (water hyacinth for this one) and a gazing ball turn this bird bath into a container garden pond. This post has instructions for making your own garden pond including everything you need to know about pumps, plants, and pond fish.

You might want to add a little solar-powered recirculating pump to keep the water clear.

3. Broken Bird Bath Bowl Planter

Some bird baths crack along the sides of the bowl, others break off from their stands. Make lemonade from lemons and use the bowl as a succulent planter.

4. Leaky Bird Bath Planter

This is one of the most beautiful bird bath planters I have ever seen. Barb of Our Fairfield Home and Garden converted this leaky old bird bath into a work of art. See her blog post here for specific details on the plants used.

5. Bird Bath Rock Garden

A few succulents, rocks, and decorative snail fill this bird bath planter. If you want something you can keep out year round, leave out the plants or just add them in small pots that you can remove before winter.

6. Bird Bath Fairy Garden

Here’s another creative by Barb of Our Fairfield Home & Garden. She found the bird bath in the garbage and brought it home for a makeover. See her post here for details on how she did it.

7. Bird Bath On A Pedestal

This one is not planted but it offers a good idea: prop a bird bath up to the height that works in your garden bed. Then plant it with something eye-popping to create a focal point.

8. Miniature Rock Garden

Lynne of Sensible Gardening & Living created this miniature garden when her concrete bird bath developed a crack that could not be repaired. Visit Lynne here to read the details.

9. Hypertufa Bird Bath

I’m not sure of the story behind this one (I saw it on a garden tour) but it looks like the bowl was made from hypertufa and set on an old pedestal. Perhaps it was always intended to become a planter as it’s way too deep for birds. Set in the middle of the ornamental grasses, it makes a great art piece.

How to make hypertufa planters

10. Gazing Ball Planter

Plants such as thyme (warm, dry conditions) work well in these planters.

How to make your own decorative garden ball

11. For The Roses

Sometimes no plants are needed. This bird bath looks fine just as it is. Tuck it under a tree (or climbing rose) to keep it from filling with rain.

12. Words In A Bird Bath

The words on stones just don’t add an artful touch: they also keep the water shallow which is much safer for the birds.

You can get inspirational stones here

13. Succulents and Stones

Stephanie of Garden Therapy gave her entire backyard a makeover, taking her time to create a beautiful outdoor living space. Come see how this bird bath planter fits in.

14. Level Up

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛

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