Flowering Plants and Hanging Baskets

Choosing The Right Plants

• Some flowers are naturally more suited to container culture than others. The ideal flowers for hanging baskets will cascade over the edge, cover the basket and bloom non-stop all summer long. The location where you hang your basket will determine the best flowering plants to grow in it. Often two or three different types of flowering plants are combined to create a colorful, unique look. Be sure to choose plants with similar growth requirements. Annuals are ideal for hanging baskets because you do not have to worry about overwintering them. Good choices are impatiens, begonia, fuchsia, petunia, lantana and trailing verbena. Mix and match flowers until you find the combinations you like.

Selecting Suitable Containers

• Hanging baskets come in all shapes and sizes. Some are plastic, some metal and some are simple wire baskets that use a coconut fiber liner to hold the soil in. Whatever container you choose, think about where it will hang and how much heavier it will be once it is filled with wet potting soil. Don't choose too heavy of a container just in case high wind would knock it down, or the weight of the wet potting soil would cause the handle to give way --- use a chain, rope, macramé hanger or other sturdy support to hold the basket in place. Another consideration is adequate drainage. Most container plants prefer moist, well-drained soil. It is possible to drill additional drainage holes in most pots if they don't already have them, but it's best to choose a pot with adequate drainage to start with.

Hanging Basket Plant Care

• Flowers grown in hanging baskets require regular watering, sometimes several times daily, and regular fertilization to perform at their peak. There are things you can do to help prevent the soil in your hanging baskets from drying out. Water-absorbing crystals or potting soil designed for containers are two good options, both designed to slowly release water into the soil as it dries up. This can really make the difference on a hot, dry day, especially if you cannot be home to water. Well-draining soil is also essential so the plants roots do not rot. Most hanging baskets do best if a slow-release fertilizer is mixed into the soil and they then receive a bi-weekly feeding of a liquid fertilizer. Be sure to follow the label directions on the fertilizer and choose one with a high middle number to promote maximum blooming.

Hanging Basket Design

• Once you have decided which flowers to grow, what container to use and filled it with a well-draining potting mix, the next step is figuring out how to design the container for maximum impact. Most container plants are made up of a filler, thriller and spiller. A filler is a plant that fills in all the empty spaces. A thriller is a tall plant placed in the center of the basket. A spiller is the plant that spills over the edges. The ideal design would contain a combination of these plants. Choose flowers in colors that either complement or contrast one another, and that are in scale and proportion to each other.