New online service allows you to order custom-built containers at the click of a button

Finding planters for an awkwardly-shaped outside space can be a real headache. Local garden centres only stock a standard size - and you can guarantee it’s not the one you want. If you’ve ever tried finding L-shaped containers, or planters which wrap around drainpipes, you’ll know that off-the-shelf simply isn’t an option. But tracking down someone who’ll make you a bespoke container can be equally tricky.

Until now. Cedar Nursery, based in Surrey, have launched a new online quote service which allows you to specify exactly the size and style of steel and powder-coated container you need. It’s even simpler if you just want troughs, window-boxes or cubes, when an online calculator gives you an instant quote at the click of a button. Complex designs are modelled in 3-D before production so you can check you’ve got it right, and it‘s delivered right to your front door.

With an ever-increasing range of specifications to choose from, this is a development which makes bespoke manufacturing available on a far greater scale than ever before. It means, at last, you have the chance to get really, really fussy about what you want. Here are a few of the things you can specify:

Shape

Try round, rectangular or square; tapered or straight-sided; troughs or cylinders; bowed fronts or cut-outs for steps and drainpipes… the choice is limitless.

Finish

Pick from sheer galvanised steel for uncompromising modernism, or soften the effect with coloured powder-coating in either matt or gloss finish.

Colour

Match your interior or exterior colour schemes with the huge choice of almost 200 different shades. Available with the powder-coated finish only.

Drainage holes

You can even specify where you want any drainage holes drilled: along the sides, back only, or in the base. It’s up to you.

The containers are hand-built in a small factory in the South East to a strong, traditional style in which joints are seamed rather than welded. The original ultra-modern silver galvanised containers are also available in a powder-coated finish, opening up a whole new range of coloured planters and widening the choice even more.

“The galvanised finish is fine for a certain market, like a funky flat or a roof terrace,” says general manager Andy Clark. “But for a traditional property they often don’t fit. With a coloured finish, though, you can compliment your own colour scheme; we’re really excited about this.”

It’s proving to be a massively popular service. Orders so far have come from as far afield as a loft space in New York, roof terraces in Dublin and a shopping centre in Kent which ordered 50 giant tapered containers for its main avenue. Many have used the service for roof gardens, balconies and terraces, where the relatively light galvanised steel doesn’t add too much to the overall weight.

“It’s one of our biggest product ranges,” says Andy. “Due to the bespoke services we offer.“

Further developments are in the pipeline, including more types of finish and manufacturing materials. With this much choice, there’s bound to be something to satisfy even the most discerning connoisseur of good design.