If you want a hanging basket display that will last all year round and spruce up your garden, front door, or patio then follow our professional tips and tricks that you may not know…
If you’ve ever wondered how to get those huge, fancy, colourful hanging displays that you see on high streets and outside pub gardens then wonder no more! Once you establish a brilliant basket, you can maintain an impressive variety all year round. Here are our three best pieces of advice from the professionals on how to achieve the perfect hanging planter.
Tip #1
Choose a good mixture of flowering plants so that you’ll always have something in bloom no matter what month it is. Take a look at our flowering guide below to learn what to plant together.
Just like when planting in your garden, you have to choose the right plants for the right spot. Not only do you need to pay attention to whether your basket will hang in sun or shade, also note if it will be subject to drying winds, heavy rains, or excessive heat. Then choose trailing plants for the sides and bottom of the container, and more upright varieties for the middle of the container. Bolder colours will draw the eye more from the street, while more subdued choices allow the basket to add to the gardenscape, instead of becoming a focal point.
Tip #2
Don’t be afraid to pack a lot of plants in together. You need to cram as much as you can fit if you want that full, bushy look. Hanging baskets have a short amount of time to get to their full intended size, so you may need more plants than you usually would use. This is also why these baskets need more water and fertilizer – there is a lot of root competition in there! Because of their size and compact nature, you will find they need a lot more maintenance than an ordinary outdoor plant. Using a high-quality potting mix is vital to successful hanging baskets. Choose a lightweight mix that commercial growers in your area recommend, and then add water-holding polymer crystals (many potting soils come with them already in the mix.) Whatever you do, don’t buy generic or budget potting soil as this will dry out far too quickly in the summer heat and your flowers won’t survive. Hanging baskets get watered so often, they tend to leach all the nutrients out of the soil much faster than regular containers. Add a slow-release granular fertilizer to the potting mix when you plant, then use a liquid fertilizer at half strength once a week, such as Miracle Grow for Flowers. Use both, your plants will thank you with lush growth and many blooms!
Tip #3
Choose your pot wisely. This is a lot more important than just style choice. If you want simple cascading pots, choose regular hanging pots. If you want those amazing living flower globes that hang from the streets in those awe inspiring European hamlets, then you want a container that is either wire with a fibre liner, or a pot with holes throughout its body made specifically for this purpose. This allows you to place plants all through the sides and bottom of the container, which gives that full living globe look. The picture below shows how to cut holes in the fibre liner and place plants all around the container. There are also several commercial planter systems for growing full “flower globes”, such as the Flower Pouch.