On the practical side, too, they has much to offer. Garden Planters lift up your plants from ground-level and provides a seat from which to do your weeding, your spraying, your transplanting and maintenance work, taking away the hazards of doing your garden work while kneeling or nearly standing on your head; and planter containers offers an exhibition place for miniature plants where they can be more easily seen, worked with, and studied in the fullest comfort. For those troubled with moles and mice, the planter offers a degree of protection from these pests, particularly from moles. In our own place we once lost all but three tulips of nine dozen planted one year, to moles who were followed by mice. Since we built our garden planter alongside the house, our tulips have enjoyed security. They like the well-drained bed even better than the other place beside the terrace, which we now devote to narcissus bulbs, having found that rodents leave them alone.

Cast stone planters are best built rather low, of seat-height alongside a terrace, or even of a lesser height, so that they do not become too obtrusive. Masonry is the most permanent material for a planter, but seat walls of redwood planks or other durable, preservative-coated woods may be adapted; built with the heavy wood frame exposed or concealed on the terrace side, as you wish. Tarring the inside of the wood will help to preserve it, making it resist moisture and bacteria better. Be sure to allow the tar plenty of time to dry and get rid of its noxious gases before filling the planter with soil and planting.