Inexpensive Multi-Tiered Plant Stands

Recycled Racks

• A couple of shoe racks make a perfect multilevel plant stand for small pots of herbs or African violets. Use the flat kind, not the shoe racks that slip inside shoes and store them vertically. Nail two double-tiered racks together using flat metal braces joining them front to back for a two-tier stand with one wide top level and two lower side levels. Alternatively, fasten them in stepped progression like stairs and get four levels, using scrap lumber for legs to support the higher level. If you have bamboo shoe racks, find thick bamboo canes in garden shops or Chinatown decorative shops to use for supports.

Bar Cart

• Repurpose a wheeled beverage cart with two shelves as a movable plant stand for the terrace or balcony. Tuck a few shade-loving plants on the lower shelf's edges and be sure the top shelf garden allows some light to fall below. In the winter, the plant stand wheels inside to become a double-decker seedling nursery under grow lights. In the spring, move the young plants outside a few hours each day to harden them off.

Old Ladder

• The more beat-up an old wooden ladder is, the better it works as a plant stand. Use the steps for very small pots or place boards across the steps and back rungs using them as shelves for larger pots. When recycling an old ladder into a plant stand, set trailing vines on a high level, like the fold-down shelf, for added interest. Plant a twining vine at the base to climb up the sides if the ladder-stand is permanently fixed in place.

Second Chance Chair

• Rescue a wooden dining chair from the trash or your local thrift store. Hunt for a chair with rungs on the bottom and wide arms. Make it look even shabbier with a few coats of pale paint and some crackle glaze. Hook plant holders over the arms and the inside chair's back and set a flowerpot in each one. Nail a cut-down window box to the front and back lower rungs to hold more containers. Set a huge pot, the largest that fits, on the seat. Fill every container with herbs and flowering plants and place the chair in a sunny spot for an instant garden. For more height, nail an old trellis or some bamboo canes to the back of the chair and plant the seat pot with a climbing vine, honeysuckle for hummingbirds and butterflies or beans or tomatoes for summer salads.