How To Create Superior Hanging Baskets
How To Create Superior Hanging Baskets
Hanging baskets add an extra dimension to gardening, positioned just above eye level; they invite you to lift your gaze skywards. Whether you plant for subtlety or go for a riot of colour, they make for instant appeal.
Hanging baskets are a form of gardening that is available to everyone, even those who have no garden. Fixed to house walls, they are an extension to the home, bringing pleasure every time you walk through the door. They are democratic: delightfully framing the doorway of an elegant town house, they are equally at home at the entrance to a country cottage. They can be fixed near a kitchen window if you want to grow herbs, for instance. They can also be suspended on either side of a patio door and enjoyed from inside when it is too wet or cold to venture outdoors. They are also the ideal way for a city dweller to experience something of the thrill of growing things.
Deciding What You Want
A wealth of plants can be grown in baskets, not just the traditional lobelias, pelargoniums and fuchsias, splendid though these are. While they are generally associated with summer, you can plant baskets for spring, autumn or even winter interest, because many plants flower at these cooler times of year, even if the choice may not be as great.
Hanging baskets are also extremely versatile as the can be enjoyed in many ways. Most people think of them as vehicles for vibrant summer flowers, but they can be used not just for flower plantings, but also for plants with variegated or coloured leaves, herbs, and even fruit and vegetables. In a conservatory (sunroom), use them for trailing rainforest plants, such as cacti, ferns and orchids.
Making an impact
As with many other types of container, hanging baskets offer boundless opportunities to experiment. You can try out all kinds of colour combinations and be subtle as you like or as ritzy as you dare. You can use an arbitrary mix of flowers that will certainly be cheerful if not elegant or you can adopt a more sophisticated approach and plan the effect from the outset. Hot vibrant colours, such as red, orange and yellow, will always make an impact, while soft blues, pinks, cream and white are more soothing. Purples are ambivalent, adding drama to an already brilliant planting but sounding deeper notes in a gentler pastel scheme.
Deciding on style
Some of the best hanging baskets are to be found in municipal schemes and adorning the streets of towns, where they are often paid for by the shopkeeper. The baskets are usually planted for summer interest and often contain bright, eye-catching colours. You can, of course, copy these at home, but there is no reason you cannot add a personal touch. An informal mixture of plants suits a cottage garden, for instance, whereas an elegant, white painted, stuccoed house needs a more tightly controlled look, perhaps involving no more than two colours. If you favour a very minimalist style, try a few hanging rat?s-tail cacti with perhaps a spiky aloe for height. For a funky look, try using one of the more compact grasses, such as festuca glauca.
Watering and Feeding Your Hanging Basket
Whatever compost you choose, you can cut down on watering by adding water-retaining gels. Some need pre-soaking; others can be added directly to the compost. Most new composts contain some plant food, but this is usually exhausted after 6 weeks.
To keep the plants flowering well, you should give a high-potash plant food. Tomato fertilizers are suitable, but you can also buy special hanging basket formulas. Pelleted fertilizers are easy to handle and feed the plant as they break down in the compost. One application will last for a whole season, but check, as individual products vary. Liquid feeds are sold as powders to be dissolved in water, as liquids to be diluted or as ready-mixed products. They are usually watered into the compost as a root drench at intervals, depending on the product.
Some can be sprayed directly on to the foliage as a foliar feed, and these are especially good for giving your plants an instant boost if they have suffered a setback, such as an unexpected cold spell or pest attack, but a certain amount of the product is inevitably lost.
Thinking Ahead
Hanging baskets have to be planned for in advance. Although it is possible to buy plants in flower for instant impact, this is an expensive option and the flowers are likely to be short lived if they have been forced out of season. As a general rule, you need to plant up your baskets 6-10 weeks before the main season of interest. Spring flowering bulbs, for instance, are sold in autumn and winter and should be planted at that time.
Buying Plants
The best advice when buying plants is to go to a reputable garden centre or nursery. Bedding plants are sold in strips, but larger plants such as ivies, pelargoniums and fuchsias are usually potted individually. ?Plugs?, basically young plantlets with well-developed root systems, are often sold via mail order by seed merchants; Busy Lizzies, Fuchsias, Pelargoniums and Begonias are often marketed this way.
If possible check the plant before purchase to make sure that it is not harbouring any pests or diseases. Bedding plants should have fresh, bright green foliage, with no hint of yellowing, and should be compact, not straggly. Potted plants should have a good root system.
If you can, slide the plant from the pot. The roots should fill the pot nicely without being tightly coiled. Select plants that have plenty of healthy buds that are not yet open. Bulbs are sold when dormant (usually in autumn and winter). Buy them from a reputable garden centre or nursery and look for firm, plump bulbs that show no signs of withering or fungal disease.
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