Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter

Using flowering potted bulbs and vintage ironstone, create a beautiful Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter to decorate your home for spring.

Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter:

Don’t you love when beautiful and wonderful ideas form somewhat magically? I had no intention of creating this Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter project, but then all the pieces serendipitously fell into place. It was meant to be!

Last year, around this time I picked up some potted flowering bulbs at Lowe’s. They came in 4-inch plastic pots and each pot had 3-4 bulbs. (Options included tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses*.) I turned them into a beautiful spring centerpiece HERE and then used them again to create this garden-inspired spring tablescape HERE. Once they were done blooming, I planted them out in my landscaping.

*Update: I wanted to make a quick note that the crocus never bloomed for me. I’m not sure why, but I wanted to let you know. I would avoid using crocus for this project. As you will see in this post, the other varieties performed beautifully.

To my delight, a week ago I noticed the bulbs that I planted last year were coming up out of the ground. I was obsessed. (And if you follow me on Instagram, you got to see my delight firsthand.) I love that I was able to enjoy these flowers for several weeks indoors last year and now they will be blooming in my garden for years to come.

Once I saw them sprouting, I was reminded to head back to Lowe’s to pick up some more potted bulbs for another project this year. I didn’t have plans for them but knew I’d figure something out.

Flash forward to a few days ago when I visited one of my favorite local antique stores and found not one but three beautiful vintage ironstone pieces. (You can get a list of all my favorite Pittsburgh antique stores HERE.) I got two compotes and one terrine. Even at that moment, it didn’t hit me, but as soon as I got home, I knew what I had to do. These vintage ironstone pieces needed to become Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planters.

And that’s exactly what I did.

These are the results:

Aren’t they beautiful!? I couldn’t be more thrilled with how they came out.

As I’m writing and sharing this post, my flowers have not bloomed. However, once they do, I will snap some more photographs and update this post so you can see them in all their glory. *UPDATE* They’ve bloomed! New photos have been added to allow you to see them in their full glory. If you want to get an idea as to how they might look, check out this post HERE. As I mentioned above, I did a similar project last year using terra cotta pots. I used them to decorate a spring table when they were blooming. The results were lovely.

The process for putting together these planters is really simple. However, I did write down a quick tutorial for you and shared links to some of the products that I used.

Let’s get to it!

How To Create Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter:

You will need:

• ironstone vessel (or any bowl, planter, compote)
• flowering bulb plants (I found mine at Lowe’s)
• potting soil
• plastic wrap or plastic bag
• sphagnum moss and/or reindeer moss
• bark and twigs (mine were from my yard)

Begin by lining your vessel with plastic wrap. To be honest, I’m not sure this step is necessary, but I wanted to protect my ironstone from possible staining from the soil. If there is no need to protect the finish of the interior of your vessel, you can skip this step.

Next, add soil to your vessel, and then pot your bulbs. While the bulbs are pretty hardy, avoid breaking the roots.

Fill in around the bulbs as needed with additional soil.

Cover the top of the soil with various moss. I used sphagnum moss, sheet moss, and reindeer moss.

Add additional natural decor to the top of your planter like a small piece of bark, dry twigs, pebbles, etc.

Finally, give your bulbs a good initial watering and water again in the days ahead as needed. If your container has no drainage holes like mine, be careful to not overwater.

Voila! Your Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter is complete!

And don’t forget the final step. Once your bulbs are done flowering, plant them outside so you can enjoy them again, year after year.

As you can see, I’ve placed my ironstone planters all around my house to snap a few photos. They look lovely as a centerpiece, styled on your coffee table, or placed on a bookcase shelf. You could even create smaller versions with a single flowering bulb for your nightstand or powder room. The options are only limited by your styling creativity.

Like this Idea and want more unique indoor planters? Try these:

• Strawberry Planter
• How to Make A Terrarium
• Mounted Staghorn Fern
• Potted Bulb Centerpiece
• Beach Bum Terrarium

I hope you love this beautiful Ironstone Flowering Bulb Planter project as much as I do. If you recreate this look, I would love to see your design. Share it on Instagram and be sure to tag @inspiredbycharm so I don’t miss it.

Happy planting!