Flying saucers fly though office windows.

Within the next few months there will be an upsurge of flying saucers. Attempts will be made to retain some as they are clearly recognised as belonging with others of similar colour and appearance. Most of them will be destroyed. Destruction is probably the best option as there is nothing more unattractive than a beautiful plant standing on a tatty saucer from a defunct tea service.
The upgrade from the tea service saucer is the ‘official’ plant pot saucer available in forms including terracotta colour, green and the naughty see-through. There is a further upgrade from this: the pot cover. This is usually a coloured plastic, ceramic or metal cover that hides the basic flower pot. It has no drain holes and this does away with the need to stand the Azalea on Aunt Millie’s old chinaware. Pot covers have a bit of a drawback in that the plant in its original basic flowerpot may be a little root bound. Watering the plant causes the water to run through the almost soil-free roots and collect in the bottom of the pot cover. Even with plants that are not root bound, overwatering may result. The roots will then be sitting in water which for most plants is undesirable and leads to rotting of the roots.
There is a solution. Your lovely Spathiphyllum can be planted in to a proper plant container. A plant container with some extra soil in will allow the plant’s roots to grow and the foliage to flourish. There is now an enormous range of plant containers or planters available and these are supplied in a range of sizes from a few inches in diameter to several feet wide for trees.

Like the pot cover, the materials that the planters are made from vary. The most common are timber, plastic, ceramic, metal and GRP ( glass fibre ). There is a newer material available now called AC or Advanced Composite fibre. Similar to GRP, this technology combines resins with high-tech woven materials that can be formed into almost any shape. AC is used in the aerospace industry, motorsport, medical scanning equipment and the undersea industry and now of course the plant display industry.

Advanced Composite fibre containers - chrome style finish

The shapes and colours that the new plant containers come in are amazing. Textured finishes to simulate wood, streaked copper, old lead or rusted metal is easily achieved. There is even a finish that looks like chrome plating. The AC containers are much lighter, cheaper and sometimes stronger that the original material and are fully waterproof avoiding staining on floors or carpet that sometimes occurs with a leaky timber or metal planter. Gone are the days when the plants for the office were available in any colour as long as it’s white!