Philadelphia flower show

Implement a few tricks from professional gardeners into your little patch of green this spring.

RODALE NEWS, PHILADELPHIA, PA—For anyone looking for an early start to spring, a visit to last week's Philadelphia International Flower Show was the perfect remedy. Displays showcased everything from flower-covered elephants to New Zealand wildlife. But there was also a lot of focus on your backyard. If you couldn't make it, don't worry; Rodale.com was there. Here are a few takeaways that you can apply to your own yard and garden.

#1: Recycled containers. The show's decorative flower displays showed that virtually anything can be used to showcase a beautiful garden, no matter how industrial or recycled. Philadelphia-based Moda Botanica converted six shipping containers into an award-winning floral display case filled with Spanish moss, Japanese dahlias, baby's breath, moth orchids, and eucharis—and they aren't the first to recognize the versatility of these seemingly ugly boxes. The U.S. imports far more goods than it exports, and all these leftover shipping containers, which once sat idly by in shipyards, are finding new life as greenhouses, stores, and even homes. You can reuse and recycle all sorts of materials in your own garden to create anything from pots for seedlings to stakes and trellises for mature plants.