Don't shy away from the fact that this planter is plastic. It's NOT FLIMSY plastic at all, the walls are very thick, heavy duty...about 1" thick. They were heavier than I was expecting, but I consider that a bonus. The finish isn't quite what I was expecting. I thought it would have an extremely uniform and flat look, but instead it appears to have random swirl marks. I assume that the intent is to give it a look of finished concrete or ceramic. It works fine for my situation, but might not be what other folks are expecting.