This item looks really great online, but in person it looks and feels poorly constructed. For starters, the barrel came scratched (not the intended marks you see in the photos to make it look like pottery, just scratched) The filter on the top is thin plastic, it will keep out large debris but the holes are large enough to let mosquitos in and out. A big problem when you have standing water. Finally the top section that you should be able to use as a planter in only like 3" deep, I don't know what type of flowers I'm going to plant that can set up a root system in barely 3".