Plastic Strawberry Pot by Bloem Living

Does the terracotta strawberry jar need to be improved upon? I wasn't so sure when Bloem Living contacted me asking if I wanted to review any of their colorful and elegant planters, window boxes, watering cans, and hanging baskets. After looking over their containers I decided on the Shortcake Planter since my terracotta strawberry planter had long ago succumbed to falling off a shelf and breaking. I chose the purple Shortcake jar which measures 6.5 X 8.25 inches and is made from recycled plastic.

It was late in the garden season when the planter arrived and I thought about maybe planting it with succulents like the ones I had seen at Menards and an independent garden center in Chicago.

Herbs I planted in my Shortcake Planter

Sage
Parsley
Oregano
Nasturtium
Mexican Tarragon
Helichrysum italicum

As luck would have it, we were having an herb container garden workshop at the community garden and I scored a few herb starts to plant in my planter. I took my Shortcake Planter to the garden on the day of our workshop, and it was well-received by some members of the community garden and the garden workshop attendees. Drawn to the cute size and colorful profile, a few people even asked if they could have it, or if it was a door prize for our event.

Unfortunately for them, the planter had to come back home with me so I could continue to test it out. So I sat it on the back porch with the rest of my potted plants and pretty much forgot about it all summer as I spent time a lot of time away from home. Every few days when I would return I would check on the planter and see if it had dried out in the late summer heat or maybe been knocked over by the winds.

On one occasion the planter did dry out, but after placing a saucer underneath it, the herbs growing in it pretty much survived on rainwater the rest of the summer with no attention from me.

So, does the terracotta strawberry pot need an update for the modern gardener? If you are the kind of color that yearns to add splashes of color to your container garden; the answer is yes. Bloem makes a wide-range of planters besides the Shortcake Planter in a vibrant array of colors that you cannot help but feel like smiling when you come across them. There is no mention on the website about how well these plastic planters hold up to UV rays, but I did not notice any color fading in my Shortcake Planter even after it sat in full sun for the summer. Nor was there any breaking or cracking as is usually what happens with cheap plastic planters. And of course, there was no threat of it falling over and breaking like a traditional strawberry pot made from terracotta.

Besides the obvious, what would you plant in a strawberry pot?