There are many virtues of hanging planters – from creating spots of color on a southern veranda to keeping tomatoes away from worms. On this week’s episode of Home Made Simple on the Oprah Winfrey Network, I use them in a way that might not come immediately to mind….redirecting traffic. This home had a great overhang that wrapped around the sides and back of the house. The problem was that since it was at ground level the kids, dogs and eventually the parents would just cut through and enter the backyard at whatever point was convenient – thus leaving trampled flower beds, compacted dirt, worn grass and no real entry or exit point to the porch. So, how do you keep people from walking though areas without building railings or taking up precious floor space or light….yes, hanging planters! But these just couldn’t be your standard hanging terra cotta pots – the space between the porch posts were 5′ wide and I needed to block enough of that space to make people walk to the actual entrance. The answer, using hardware store rain gutters and turning them into two-tiered hanging planters. They create a living green barrier that keeps people from cutting through, but still leave the floor space uninterrupted (a blessing when it comes to sweeping or hosing things off), plus they don’t block any light while the hanging plants warmup the entire area. The big bonus, they’re easy to make and very inexpensive. For the list of materials and my easy step-by-step instructions, please visit: www.pgeveryday.com/article/rain-gutter-planters