If you want to start growing plants in containers the first thing you have to decide is what type of pot to use. I found this article over at Backyard Gardening which discusses the different types of pot that are available. The author lists the different materials used to make garden pots and goes through the pros and cons of each. Let me know what you think and which type of pot you prefer.

Garden planters can be made of a wide variety of materials, do you know which is best, do you know the pros and cons of each?
Ceramic
Ceramic or clay pots from plain terra cotta to fancy glazed colorful examples, are some of the most widely recognized and used garden containers, probably because they?re old technology. They do have numerous downsides however. They are expensive, and fragile if broken. What is more such pots cannot be left out all year round in places where it gets below freezing, full anyways. Supposedly you can get double fired ones that can take the cold, but I?ve never seen one for sale and they?re supposedly twice as expensive as the already expensive normal ones. Such pots are also porous (the non-glazed ones) and so need to be watered more frequently. The good thing about ceramic, where they really excel, are in style and color. Colorful glazed pots maintain their color better than the other types I will mention, and many colors are available.
Plastic
Plastic pots are the cheapest, and very durable. Some cheap plastic pots do become fragile in cold weather, but good ones don?t. They are nonporous and can easily retain water. Where plastic suffers is in colors and styles. Plastic containers typically are not painted (though they can be), they get colors from the plastic itself being infused. This is both good and bad, but mostly bad. It means that the entire pot is usually going to be one solid color, with no detail of variance. It also means that the colors can and will fade, really quickly, really significantly, when exposed to sun. The only good thing is that there is nothing to flake off (unless it is painted). Plastic can otherwise be left out year round, and can retain water well for those water loving plants.
Read the rest of the article at Backyard Gardening Blog

Image source Gayle Esterly