I had many compliments on these planters last summer.  I filled them with tall spikes and a variety of flowers, including trailing ones that spilled over the sides and looked lovely.  In the winter, I put a potted evergreen plant in each one.  Our planters are white, and I had them on either side of the garage.  From a distance, they look like wood planters.  The planters feature a water reservoir in the bottom, but I preferred to have the water drain out so my husband drilled drainage holes in the bottom.  The plastic is very sturdy and washable.  The one problem I had is that we sometimes have high winds here, and they would actually blow over.  Nothing broke or cracked, however.  This spring, I am going to try filling the bottom with something like pea gravel to make them less top heavy and likely to blow over.