Hanging Basket tips, buying and planting.
A house without a hanging basket in the summer looks naked. Imagine in your mind the typical English village where the cottages have roses growing around the front door and hanging baskets on either side, yet apparently we have the Americans to thank for introducing Hanging Baskets into this country, I have yet to research and confirm this, for now I prefer to think of the Great British Basket!
There is no excuse for not decorating the outside of the house with summer colour, it’s like Christmas without lights and decorations.
The usual reasons I hear are ‘it is too much trouble’ or ‘they are too expensive’ which, granted, it can be time consuming to make a large overflowing basket and yes some of the large garden centres and certain DIY chains do sell them at vastly inflated prices. The cost would be acceptable if more plants were used in their baskets. I recently saw a small twelve inch round bottomed wicker basket at a large DIY centre for £15.99 reduced from £19.99. The basket contained six plants, none of which were in flower. That is daylight robbery.
I have been producing hanging baskets and planters of all shapes and sizes for many years now and have come across many different plants to use in the baskets that others just seem to shy away from. All of the plants for sale in the basket / patio section of our website are suitable for baskets and planters, as are the Fuchsias, Geraniums, trailing Petunias, Begonias and Million Bells.
Let me give you a few tips:
Choosing your container:
Today the choice is vast. Years ago most people simply used a wire basket and a moss lining. Many people still prefer a traditional moss basket, there is nothing too complicated in choosing the wire basket, most are green in colour, white is also available, and vary in size from twelve inch diameter up to sixteen inch diameter with either a round bottom or flat bottom. My advice is choose the flat bottom basket as it is much easier to plant up, the round bottom baskets roll all over the place unless they are placed in a large pot or hung up when planting.
Next choose the lining, moss is the traditional choice although artifical wool / moss is now used more widely. Personally I do not like the moulded fibre inserts as they are not that easy to plant through and restrict the number of plants that you can put in the basket. If a hanging wire basket is not for you try a half wall basket, again these are readily available in wire, choose a flat bottomed one for the same reasons as above.
An important point to remember with moss baskets is they require a lot of water, not just from above, the moss should be kept moist at all times, I have seen many moss baskets so dry they would literally burst into flames if you put a light near the moss! Invest in a lance attachment for the hose pipe or better still a trickle watering system, if the latter is used then at least two water droppers to each basket are required to give sufficient water.
If a wire basket is not for you I suggest one of the many wicker type baskets that have flooded the market in recent years. They are relatively inexpensive and take fewer plants than the wire basket, they only need watering from the top and dry out less frequently as there is no liner to absorb the water.
For a simple yet effective display, choose one of the cheaper plastic type of hanging planters.
Which Plants to Use and how many
Wire Basket
Taking the most common size basket, the fourteen inch basket, as an example, I use between twenty and twenty four plants, that gives a brilliant display throughout the summer and usually well into October.
I plant two rows of six plants around the side of the basket and fill the top of the basket with approximately a dozen plants. It is a tight squeeze which is why I prefer making my baskets in April using plug plants. The advantage of using plug plants is two-fold, the ease at which they can be pushed through the wire spaces of the basket and should one fail it is easy to replace.
There are two main types of plant, the spreader and the trailer, to complicate matters some plants like Verbena Blue Cascade, both trail and spread, very good for the top of the basket.
To give a nice flowing effect, plant trailers around the sides of the basket, Nemesias are good examples as are Diascias, however, these do have a tendency to turn upwards when they reach a certain length. Nepeta, Creeping Jenny, Blue Verbena and Bacopa white, blue and pink are all good trailers. Lobelia Richardii is much nicer and filling than the standard trailing lobelias. There is no reason why trailing Fuchsias and Ivy Leaf Geraniums cannot be used around the sides of the basket, similarly pendulous Begonias do not have to be saved for the top.
After planting the first row of six around the side, move up a couple of spaces and plant the second row, slightly offset the plants in the second row in order that they fill the spaces below, thus the moss gets covered all round by flowers and foliage.
Finally plant the top. Most people use a Geranium in the top of their baskets, I like to have a group of three centred plants, these can be all Geraniums if so desired but why not be adventurous and use perhaps a non stop tuberous Begonia and Bush Fuchsia. If the basket is not in the full sun all day try a Double Busy Lizzie. Whatever you choose, these centre plants want to be bold and make a statement, the basket will not look right without some substance in the top therefore avoid the flowing plants in the centre.
Around the edge of the top of the basket use the spreaders and trailers again, work out from the centre of the basket to give the flowing effect. If using plants that branch like Pink Verbena or the foliage Helichrysums these will look odd around the sides, best place is the top. Finally nothing adds colour and boldness to a basket more than a good trailing Petunia. Beware of mixing Surfinias with other plants, as, by virtue of their prolific growth they will take over and dwarf the other plants. Surfinias are best planted together as a whole. I prefer the variety of trailing petunia called Superstars, less invasive but gives a brilliant show nontheless.
If all of this sounds like too much work, a good show can still be obtained by lining the basket without any side plants and only planting the top, don’t skimp on the plants though, use at least a dozen and you will be well rewarded.
Wicker Baskets
These come in many shapes and sizes, the most common are the basic round bottomed and cone shaped baskets. The cones also come in square, round and hexagonal and can be made of many different materials. The Jute Horse Grass and hexagonal Silver Bark baskets are particularly eye catching.
Wicker Baskets are a feature all on their own so it is not always advisable to cover the design of the basket with a lot of trailing plants, it defeats the object of having a nice looking basket.
Again the most common size is fourteen inch which will comfortably take nine to twelve plants depending on whether it is round, square or hexagonal.
This year I have used five Double Impatiens, planted north, south, east and west with one in the centre. I have then planted in the four spaces between the outer Impatiens.
Depending on the colour of the Impatiens I have used four of the same plant, for example the purple double flowered Impatiens blends beautifully with white Bacopa (snowflake,) the red flowered Busy Lizzie looks stunning when planted with brigh yellow Creeping Jenny (lysimachia) and the white Busy Lizzies are complimented with eith pink Bacopa or blue cascade Verbena.
Wicker wall baskets can also be a nice feature. Having grown Petunia Cascade (double flowered) I have experimented by planting six in the Brushwood Wall basket, they look stunning. When you consider a pack of six plants can cost anything from £1.85 to £2.99 depending on where you shop, they are great value for money.
Plastic Hanging Planters
The most common size for the hanging planter is ten inch diameter. Colours tend to be terracotta, dark green and white. On average they last a season so don’t spend too much money on them.
These types of planter tend to lend themselves to Surfinias. Wherever you go you will see these planters with masses of Surfinias flowing from them. Agreed they look nice, especially in pairs, let’s be adventurous and try something different.
Admittedly these planters do not look right when using a mixed planting method as we do with moss baskets, the main plant, however, does not have to be a Surfinia, try my favourite white Bacopa snowflake with blue cascade Verbena or half a dozen trailing Fuchsias. Using six of the same plant in a plastic planter will give a great show throughout the summer.
Last year I planted three tumbler tomato plants in this type of planter, it was hung outside the kitchen and rewarded us with a huge crop of cherry tomatoes, dozens of trusses hanging from the planter, an alternative is to use one tumbler tomato plant and mix with a few herbs like thyme, basil, parsley and sage.
I will happily answer any queries or give advice on this topic, simply use the contact form, a reply will usually be sent within twelve hours.
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