Amazing Thrift Store Finds You Can Repurpose For Your Plants

“Thrift means that you should always have the best you can possibly afford, when the thing has any reference to your physical and mental health, to your growth in efficiency and power.”

– Orison Swett Marden.

A thrift store for a shopper is a candy store of Kitsch, history and fun. For a plant person it is the lost ark of potential plant containers, gardening books and unwanted garden gifts.

Creative Vision

Anything can be repurposed to give your your plants an individual decorative style which reflects your creativity and style.

In the thrift store you will find actual plant containers which were well loved for a fraction of their original cost which is great, however the store is full of potential containers in many areas.

Visualise the plant in the item you are looking at and imagine how you can best integrate that experience to your benefit. Remember, colour, shape and form all work to raise your vibrations so use this to your advantage while shopping in the thrift store.

Here are some ideas to get you creative juices flowing:

Propagation Stations

As I have always said propagating your plants is the best way to go. You will have an extra if something happens to the mother plant, in addition you double the enjoyment of a particular plant.

Glass

Containers to propagate your plants abound in the thrift store whether you will be using soil or water to propagate. The glass section is usually full of vases and deep dishes, these are fantastic for propagating vining plants like pothos, philodendrons, and spider plants.

Candle Holders

The Candle section is a goldmine for pot holders, or small plant stands which can be repurposed for plants. Others will give your plant a height boost when placed in a display.

Many of the holders here are unusual creations from a pottery class, or you may luck out with a find from an established creative with a signature on the bottom. In either case you have scored a useful addition to

Drainage plates

I don’t know about you but I have found that my usual supply of plastic drainage plates from the dollar store and big box stores have become very flimsy.

It now a good time to make the change from plastic to more sustainable and aesthetically pleasing holders. Old candle holders, and deep crystal saucers can make great drainage plates and are also very pretty.

Books

Don’t forget books. Yes, I know some people like reading via Kobo, and ebooks, and that is why many of the books ended up in the thrift stores in the first place. However, plant people love the pages, pictures, anything which gives them the ability to be unplugged from the medium, which as Marshal McLuhan said:

” There’s a wonderful sign hanging in a Toronto junkyard which reads, ‘Help Beautify Junkyards. Throw Something Lovely Away Today.’ This is a very effective way of getting people to notice a lot of things. And so the title is intended to draw attention to the fact that a medium is not something neutral—it does something to people. It takes hold of them. It rubs them off, it massages them and bumps them around, chiropractically, as it were, and the general roughing up that any new society gets from a medium, especially a new medium, is what is intended in that title”

Marshal mcluhan McLuhan, Marshall (1967-03-19) New York Times

There are some plant great books to be had in thrift stores, especially reference books, out of print books. Knowledge is strength and will be able to sift through ones that will be most useful to you.

Hunting for bargains is fun, and the money you save can be used to buy another plant, start your kitchen garden.

For Profit and Not for Profit Thrift Stores

Aside from great bargains, the other reason one shops at a thrift store is to contribute to a good cause. The goods have been donated and the money is used to help the various causes for which the charity is set up.

Not all thrift stores are equal, so if you want to make sure your money is going to benefit the cause which you think it is, check them out. Here is a list to start you off:

Goodwill – registered non-profit in Canada and the U.S.

Value Village – for profit store

Habitat for Humanity – non profit

Mission Store – registered charity

Paws – registered charity

Hospital Thrift stores – usually set up to raise funds for a specific department in a local hospital.

Happy hunting!