[mrs bouquet]

I have an exposed trellis, and have got some very large (catering size)  tins, which I would like to make some holes in and  hang with "S" hooks on the trellis.    I don't plan to completely fill them with soil because of the weight.   What could I use to help this.     I shall nt leave them out in winter.  Perhaps, I shall just do succulents.  A friend said "Plastic Ivy"      I suppose that would work, it is a distance from the house, and the water would not drip through onto lovely white pebbles below.   
I really, need your ideas or critisicms and thoughts.    thanks,  Mrs Bouquet

[wighty]

The local council one year planted all the pots on the lamp-post with silk/plastic flowers.  We would often find them on the floor outside the shop after a windy night.  I used to take them home and stick them in a basket down the far end of the garden on the trellis.  Looked lovely and bright from the house, it was only as you got nearer you could tell they were fake so I should think the plastic ivy would look just as good.

[Yorkie]

How sturdy is the trellis?  Despite your plans not to overfill the tins with compost (soil is heavier), I'd still have concerns about their weight when wet and/or the forces that would be applied to the trellis in windy weather.

[mrs bouquet]

It is one of the quite thick trellis.    I wouldn't like to lose the trellis.     Today I thought, a planter with Sweet Peas going up (or similar).           Then I remembered the Escalonia  which was in front of the trellis and tied in.   The shrub died, so the trellis was exposed.   I have noticed that the Shrub is now starting to grow back !
But that stops me having a planter there.      but thanks for your answers.   It just might be something unreal, whilst waiting for the Shrub to grow -  I am no gardening snob.    Mrs B