By Bernard
Cambridgeshire,
United Kingdom 
We have just bought a stone urn as a planter and I'm wondering about drainage. The urn has a hole in the bottom for this purpose, but I feel that the water draining from the pot is going to spoil the decorative base. I'm tempted to line the urn with plastic to prevent drainage and I wonder (if I don't over-water the plant) whether it will suffer as a consequence. I imagine the drainage is to prevent the plant becoming waterlogged, but if I ensure that this doesn't happen are there any other perils that lack of drainage might cause?
26 Apr, 2010
Answers
I agree with Bamboo about not blocking the hole. However,I would not worry about the base as I do think that 'weathering' is part of the charm of garden containers the patina on my urns has taken years and I think improves them by adding to their charm.
26 Apr, 2010
Thanks for your prompt replies - drainage it must be.
27 Apr, 2010
I wouldn't block the hole up, Bernard - I have a couple of pots outside with no drainage, and I filled the bottoms up with shale and shingle, and then put the compost in, and that's fine, so long as it doesn't keep raining - I often have to lay the pots on their sides, tipped up slightly at the bottom, to allow them to drain when they're waterlogged. If I could find replacements that weren't galvanized, and were 2 feet tall and 8 inches across with drainage, I'd buy them in a heartbeat - its a pain having to keep an eye on them all winter to see if they're waterlogged or not, not to mention after summer storms. If you miss the fact they're waterlogged, the soil inside quickly becomes noxious and slimy, resulting in plant death.
26 Apr, 2010