"Show off your plants" usually means one of two things: indoor display for the houseplant collection that has expanded past what your existing furniture can accommodate, or outdoor display for the garden you've spent years building. Both deserve the same underlying principle — the display should serve the plants first, the aesthetic second. A beautiful arrangement that puts a sun-loving fiddle-leaf fig three metres from a north-facing window is a slow death sentence; a beautiful arrangement that gives each plant the light, drainage, and air circulation it needs is sustainable for years.
The thirty ideas below are organised loosely from "cheap and immediately doable" through to "weekend project" to "build something properly". Most use materials you can source from a local hardware store or already have. None require advanced carpentry; a few benefit from basic woodworking confidence. The framing throughout: the goal is to make the plants the focal point, not to make the display dominate them.
1. Macramé hangers — the right ones
The macramé hanger is back, and for good reason. It vertically distributes display space, frees up floor surface, and gets vining plants — pothos, string-of-pearls, trailing philodendron — into the dimension where they look best. Buy thick natural-cotton cord rather than the synthetic thin stuff; the heavier cord ages better and supports larger pots.
2. Wall-mounted plank shelves
A single 90cm pine plank with two metal L-brackets mounted at the right height creates an instant display shelf. Cost: under £20. Best for small to mid-size plants that don't need rotation. Multiple parallel shelves at different heights create a wall garden effect on the cheap.
3. Repurposed wooden ladders
An old wooden A-frame ladder, sanded down and either left raw or lightly stained, becomes a multi-level plant stand. Each rung holds a pot or two. The footprint is small; the display surface is significant. Charity-shop ladders work well for this.
4. The library-cart wheeled stand
A small wheeled cart — Ikea's Råskog is the canonical version — turns a corner into a movable plant collection that can be wheeled into the best light or out of the way for cleaning. Two or three tiers, accommodates 10-15 small to medium plants comfortably.
5. Tension-rod shelf in a window
Two tension rods plus glass shelves cut to size creates a full window-occupying tier system for sun-loving plants. Allows multiple shelves of plants in front of a single window — every tier gets light. Cost: under £30 plus the cost of cut glass.
6. Hanging planters on a curtain rod
A second curtain rod mounted above an existing window holds three or four hanging pots in the prime light position without taking up floor space. Particularly good for kitchen herbs above a sink.
7. Stacked terracotta — the layered planter look
Two or three terracotta pots of decreasing size, stacked with the smaller ones tilted, create a tiered planter on a single trunk of compost. Looks Mediterranean and complicated; takes 20 minutes to assemble.
8. Concrete planters cast at home
Cheap, customisable, and weighty enough that wind won't tip them. Mix concrete to instructions, pour into any container as mould (yogurt pots, ice-cream tubs, plastic boxes), insert a smaller container as the inner cavity, let cure 48 hours, demould. The finished pots cost pennies and look better than most shop-bought concrete planters.
9. Dipped or painted terracotta
Plain terracotta pots dipped halfway in a single colour of exterior masonry paint becomes a coordinated set for under £15. The unpainted top breathes properly; the painted bottom looks deliberate. Works for any colour palette.
10. Vintage tea tins and coffee cans
Drilled drainage holes turn old tins into instant planters. Best for kitchen herbs and small succulents. A coordinated set of three or five looks intentional rather than random; mismatched ones look cluttered.
11. The book-stack riser
Old hardcover books, stacked, become height-varying risers under pots. Combines a library aesthetic with display. Pick books you're not going to read again and seal the tops if you want to prevent water damage from accidental overflow.
12. Hanging basket on a wall hook
The classic outdoor lifestyle option works indoors too — wall-mounted hooks with hanging baskets at varied heights create a hanging garden against an interior wall. Works particularly well in a bathroom for humidity-loving plants.
13. Sheet-pan cactus garden
A shallow baking tray or rustic metal tray filled with cactus mix and planted with five or seven small cacti and succulents creates an instant landscape that takes 15 minutes and lasts years.
14. Float plants in glass spheres
Air plants (Tillandsia) in glass globes or geometric terrariums hang from the ceiling or sit on shelves with no soil required. Misting once a week is the entire care routine. Particularly good for spaces where soil isn't practical.
15. Wooden crates stacked into a plant wall
Old wooden wine or fruit crates, sanded and stacked irregularly, create a wall-sized plant display. Each crate holds two or three pots. The structure is sturdy enough for a 2-metre tower with no fixing required if base is wide.
16. The single statement plant on a tall stand
One large plant — a monstera, a bird of paradise, a large fiddle-leaf fig — on a tall wooden stand makes a stronger visual statement than a dozen small ones scattered around. The negative space around the single plant is part of what makes it work.
17. Mason jar herb wall
Mason jars, hose clamps, and a wooden plank become a vertical herb garden for the kitchen wall. Each jar holds a single herb plant; the cluster reads as an installation. Best near natural light.
18. Tabletop trellis for vines
A small wood-and-string trellis behind a vining plant (pothos, philodendron, trailing peperomia) gives it something to climb and structures the display. Vines trained up a trellis look intentional; vines trailing down the side of a shelf look chaotic.
19. Old wooden chair as a plant pedestal
A wooden dining chair, painted or natural, becomes a single-plant pedestal that puts a medium plant at eye level. The chair is the display; the plant is the centrepiece.
20. The hanging glass orb cluster
Three to five clear glass orbs at staggered heights — air plants or trailing succulents inside — create a sculptural element without dominating the room. Works particularly well above a dining table or in a stairwell.
21. Recycled tyre planters for the garden
Outdoor: an old tyre painted in a colour that suits the garden, filled with compost and planted with trailing or compact flowers. Cheap, weatherproof, can be stacked. Particularly good for strawberries.
22. Pallet-wood vertical garden
A wooden pallet propped against a fence, with landscape fabric stapled to create planting pockets, becomes a vertical herb or salad garden in a small space. Particularly good for renters who can't dig beds.
23. Welly-boot planters for the kids' garden
Outgrown welly boots with drainage holes punched in the soles, filled with compost and planted with flowers or strawberries. Lasts a season or two, looks cheerful, costs nothing.
24. Gabion-cage low planter
For a more contemporary outdoor look: a wire mesh gabion cage filled with stones around the perimeter and soil in the centre creates a rustic-industrial raised bed. Good for herbs and Mediterranean perennials.
25. The trough planter from reclaimed metal
Old galvanised metal troughs, sinks, or tubs make excellent outdoor planters — drainage holes drilled in the bottom, a layer of broken pots or gravel for drainage, then compost. Particularly good for salad crops or a mixed flower display.
26. Repurposed teapots and kettles as small planters
Chipped or unwanted teapots become single-plant containers for succulents or small herbs. Particularly photogenic in a kitchen window. Drill a single drainage hole if possible; otherwise water sparingly.
27. Floating shelves with grow lights
For a serious houseplant collection in a low-light space: floating shelves with integrated or clip-on LED grow lights underneath each shelf. The lighting becomes part of the display rather than an awkward addition.
28. The bottle garden / closed terrarium
A large glass jar with a sealed lid, planted with moss, ferns, and small foliage plants, becomes a self-sustaining miniature ecosystem that requires almost no maintenance once established. The original sealed-bottle gardens from the 1960s have run for decades without watering.
29. Wall-mounted moss frames
Preserved moss in a wooden frame creates living-wall art without ongoing watering or care. Best for spaces that don't get direct sunlight (which fades the moss).
30. The collected-pot mismatch — done deliberately
Resist the urge to match every pot. A deliberate mix of terracotta, glazed ceramic, concrete, and metal, in a coordinated colour palette, reads as a curated collection rather than randomness. The trick is the colour palette discipline — three to five colours maximum across the whole collection.
The display principle worth carrying
Across all thirty options, the same underlying logic: the best plant displays do three things at once — they put the plants in the light and conditions they need to thrive, they use vertical space rather than just floor area, and they treat the containers as part of the visual composition rather than just functional vessels. The display that fails on any of those three legs eventually disappoints.
The least visible but most important rule: the plants you're displaying have to be healthy. The most beautiful macramé hanger in the world doesn't compensate for a wilting plant. Spend the time on the plant care first, and the display becomes a frame for something that's already worth looking at.
For the plant-care fundamentals that make any display sustainable, our 10 genius gardening hacks covers the boring-but-load-bearing basics. For larger garden projects, 25 DIY garden projects anyone can make. For the broader DIY canon, 15 creative DIY tricks every homeowner must know. Full archive at the DIY, home and garden topic page.
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