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Hypertufa – Fall in love with these ancient-looking stone planters.
These garden planters are called hypertufa. Aged-stone-looking garden planters can be made with hypertufa which is a mixture of Portland cement, vermiculite, (or perlite) and peat moss.
This mixture cures into a stone-like material that is heavy and durable but lighter than cement. You can create your own faux cement garden planters in any shape you want.
The surface of hypertufa has an aged appearance due to the peat inside the mix which deteriorates over time leaving the surface dimpled which simulates the passage of time. Moss or lichens grow upon the surface adding to the aged appearance.
Have you heard about the Draped Cement Pots or Draped Hypertufa?
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Oh the Possibilities! Draped Hypertufa Pots
Revisit: The Draped Hypertufa Planter
Video – Making The Draped Hypertufa Pot
Video- Part Two: Draped Hypertufa Planter
Video: Final Result of My Draped Hypertufa Planters
My Draped Hypertufa Planted Up
More Possibilities – Draped Hanging Pots
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These unusual planters can be stained or painted any color since any latex paint works, so the sky is the limit. Holes can be drilled in them easily since they are just thin “concrete.”
Here on this site you will find a detailed explanation of how to make your own. It is like being a child and playing in the mud.
I have my recipes and videos too!  Click here to be directed to the page for the video connection. You can make a beautiful ancient-looking container yourself !
Be sure and visit on My Facebook Page to share all of your creations.
Remember you can plant hypertufa pots any way you like. You are NOT limited to succulents or cactus. You can make a lovely shade dish or trough for your shade garden.
And I will show you how to make moss grow on it!
How about a hypertufa planter but without the cement?
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I call this “Almost” Hypertufa. It’s a Styrofoam planter.
It’s made from any discarded Styrofoam box! And you can do it in a few hours and be ready to plant the next day. Doesn’t it look like hypertufa?
I have a full page with instructions on how to do this easily. And since there doesn’t have to be any cement, you can plant it right away. Or apply a layer of hypertufa slurry or mortar to make it seem as if it is the real thing……a real hypertufa garden planter.
Don’t Throw Away That Old Styrofoam Box!
Making A Styrofoam Planter – It’s Almost Hypertufa
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I certainly don’t want to rain on the hypertufa parade! I made hypertufa pots for about 3 years, but didn’t know the precautions to take with the ingredients. Please read this article and get the proper protection gear and mix your ingredients as suggested and have fun…because you will!!!! And you will create beautiful and original garden containers. I’m ready to give it a shot again!!!
Thanks, Judy, for all this detailed information. We all should follow all the safety rules when working with the cement products. And also the peat and vermiculite.
How do I sign up for your email
Annie, there should be a slide-in box on the bottom right as you look around the site. I will check to confirm it is still working. Thanks.
I have made mushrooms, pots, houses, and some garden art.
It sounds like you are really into it. Great! I love hearing that. Wish I could make a house. That sounds really nice.
Sorry, I see there have been lots of comments. Don’t know what I was looking at.
Don’t worry. Easily overlooked.
Awesome site. I can’t believe there have been no comments since last summer. I haven’t tried anything yet but can’t wait to try. We are landscaping our front yard and I hope to use hypertufa planters, etc. Thanks for this site.
Glad you found my site. I think some large hypertufa planters would be great in your landscape. And a real eyecatcher for people going by. Most of mine are out back.
I so enjoy learning anything new regarding containers for plants, indoor or out.
Your hypertufa planters are really nice.
I was wondering if the fabric content or a treatment on the fabric (absorption) would be a big factor in the way the cement reacts.
Hi and thanks for visiting. I think that the draped planters do best with an absorbant fabric such as towels and fleece blankets. The fabric needs to be absorbent to take on the water and cement and harden effectively. The best ones I have seen are made from old towels.
I love the draped planter idea!! I’m currently on maternity leave and getting cabin fever and gardening is my only outside time, until baby needs feeding. I’m loving everything I’m seeing on your site, gives me so many ideas. Thanks!!
So happy for you, Kate. Congrats on the new baby. I hope you get a chance to make some. Do small ones since that fabric coated cement is so heavy when wet. I remember how my back hurt after my babies were born. You sure don’t need to hurt yourself.
Quisiera saber los materiales en español
Mi mejor receta: 1 parte de cemento portland 1.5 parte turba 1.5 parte perlita o vermiculita ( I think this is correct.) From this site: http://translate.reference.com
I go through Bellbrook on occasion going to and from work. Have you found a local store around there that sell smaller bags of Portland cement than the 98 pounders? They are back breakers! I’ve tried to find broken bags and ask them for a discount and try to have five gallon buckets with lids on the ready just in case I stumble across a potential buy but I don’t get out and shop as much as I used to. 🙁
Hi Joan, I have seen the Portland at Lowe’s in a 10lb bag. It is in the cement aisle, but at the end on a shelf where they have the colorants and sealers etc. It is a small bag about the size of a box of cereal. It is not in the bags lined up all along the floor on pallets. It was a shelf about face level. ( At my Lowe’s here in Centerville, it is on the opposite end of the aisle from the 94 lb bags up toward the registers. ( Don’t know if all stores are laid out the same.) Hope that helps.
I am 65 years old and LOVE finding new things to do. My grandkids say I’ll live forever because it’ll take me that long to do all the projects I have in mind! I’ve done concrete leaves and made some concrete mushrooms and really enjoyed working with concrete. I had my garden club ladies over to make concrete leaves at my house a couple years ago and they LOVED doing them. I’m trying to contaminate another grandma by getting her addicted to “messy projects” along with me. Hypertufa is my next “messy” and, so far, she says the idea is “intriguing”. She hasn’t agreed to get together and do it, but at least she’s intrigued! I just may have to start without her! Your videos are so helpful! Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Thanks, Sarah. Appreciate your comments. I love doing the planters and I have done a few leaves. I plan to do the mushrooms this year too. Among a lot of other weird different things. I only have one grandson and he can help me some. You sound like a kindred spirit to me!
Hi Kim,
I haven’t done a Hypertufa anything yet but I plan on starting in two weeks. Running away to the coast next week. I’m starting to put supplies together and was wondering about the plastics you use. Some are clear and some are colored. They look easier to work with then other plastics I’ve seen and was curious on what it is.
I’ve very much enjoyed your videos and website information.
Thank you for taking the time to help others learn how to create these wonderful unique items. I already have a lot of succulents, just need somewhere to plant them.
Thanks again,
Nancy
So glad you commented and I appreciate being able to offer the info. As for the plastic I use, it just the lightest/cheapest drop-cloth plastic used when you paint –for large pieces, tiny ones can be just “glad wrap. Those colorful pieces are the $1 plastic holiday tablecloths from the Dollar Store ( or even less on clearance after a holiday). These are very light plastic so it can pick up basket-weave or ridges in the mold you would be using. And it can be used over and over until it is too torn/ragged. Good luck and make some pretty ones!
Hallo Kim !
Very interesting !! Just a question….as you may expect the materials used may not be that easy to find here (apart from the cement !)…I see companies here advertising “expanded Perlite” for gardening use. Will that be fine to use in the hypertufa mix ????
I am in South Africa
Hello Francois! I looked up the “expanded perlite” and it appears to be the same or very similar to my horticultural perlite. It is a gritty. coarse, very light, even a little bit dusty material. Photos appear to show the same stuff. Just be cautious and use a mask when dipping it, just as you would the Portland cement. My perlite is in a bale/bag about 2 cubic feet. Light enough for me to lift easy. You should be good with that. I find the best price at a garden supply store for supplies for greenhouses and big growers/farmers. Good luck.
I cannot wait to try making these with my 4-H Club. My Mom had a cement planter with large pieces of glass on the outside. Have you done anything like?
Hi Kim! I love this post. I’m not much of a gardener, but maybe I can learn a few things from you!
Thanks for stopping by and reading. I think we will all be better with help from each other. Your site is amazing!
Your stuff is lovely. I also made cement pots but only use cement and water with a little Sikalite- that’s to make the cement harder. I found some materials does not work for and the best is old towels.
Thanks so much. I will have to look into Sikalite and try that. I have found that a fleece blanket (cut into smaller sections) works best for me. And towels too, they add their own texture!
Hi, love the pots and draped pots. Can you tell me what the purpose of the peat is?
Thanks for your comments. When making hypertufa, we are making a “lighter” version of a cement pot. So the filler is the peat which slowly degrades and leaves the textured holes and “spongelike” look for the hypertufa planter. You can use coir, and I have heard some use black soil which is a great percentage peat anyway. As for the draped pots, its singular strength is the Portland cement so in this case, it is just for a little bit a texture. I think it made the pot look like tree bark, eh?
Hello….I was wondering if you have ever made small houses from the hypertufa? I’ve been searching the web but have not found anything of how to build the house. Thank you.
Sorry, Marty. I have not made any of the small fairy houses. I see a lot of pictures thru Pinterest and around the web, but no directions. Someone may chime in and let us know? Maybe that is something I should try?
I love all of your work. Thank you for your assist on GW. I will begin my hypertufa pond next weekend. I hope I can ask you some other questions just so that I feel a little more confident doing my pond project. I will have my hubby or daughter take pictures as I go and would love to share them with you. Please let me know if that’s ok. I will keep looking at more of your pictures and videos. Your work with hypertufa inspires me. Thank you. Esther, aka LatinaSoul on GW.
Thanks, Esther. I would love to see pictures of your pond. There is a Facebook Page under this same name. Feel free to share there and we can get a lot of opinions and help. I think the pond will be wonderful.
Pond? are you making a pond out of Hypertufa? I am loving these
ideas
It appears she is, but I haven’t heard anything about how it turned out. Let us know, Esther!
You are not the only one making hypetufa . There is a face book called hypertufa. I have been making these pots and a couple of drapes on pails. I can’t wait to watch your video.
Shirley
Love that someone else is making them too! Love to see pictures of yours. Post them on the Facebook Page?
How wonderful you are to share all this information. Your hypertufa and your plant choices are just great. I have wanted to do this and still may after our summer heat has gone downs some. Living in Texas. our weather is a little different than yours.
This is my all-time best website to view. Since I’m 75 and not in good health, anything I try will have to be small, but I so hope to do something. Oh, how I wish I lived close enough to know you. What a super person you must be. I will be watching your website on my pain days and imagining what it would be like to be in your garden. Thank you so much for the time you have spent sharing what you have learned.
Dorothy, how sweet of you! You may like doing some little ones. I have some that I have made from yogurt containers, and I call them my cupcake tufas. Just room for a little hen or two, or maybe some tiny urchin. I may not have posted pictures on the website, but maybe there are some on the Facebook Page of the same name. And I sure bet we could share some garden stories, too! Hope you keep comfortable, and without too much pain.
Great website, I’m addicted to hypertufa and your videos are a great help and inspiration. This past summer I made 4 pots with great success but I had to use my own formula 3 parts Portland 1 part peat and 1 part perlite. Its a little heavier of a mixture it works for me. tomorrow I plan on using a plastic jack o lantern as a mold and use my dremel saw to cut it when cured. I will try your draping hypertufa pots. I do have some problems with color, since im too cheap to buy concrete color I tried fabric dye, black turns light grey, Yellow or brown no effect.
Mistake paint from home depot is so so, if the color is really loud like flouresent orange. also made some rock borders. I dug shapes in the ground lined it with plastic and added the hypertufa, I think they look like the real thing.
thanks for this site, sometimes I feel like im the only one doing this,
Thanks, Ron. I know what you mean about being the only one doing this. I don’t see many people doing this, but I can’t help myself. I just love the look and I always want to try something new or different. Tried the paint thing, but mostly I just apply to the outside if I decide I want different color. Jack O Lantern sounds interesting!