Bring spring colours closer to you
Hanging baskets are notorious for drying out quickly because they are generally they are more exposed to wind and the elements.
Vertical gardening with hanging baskets continues to be one of the most popular ways to add some personal style and colour around the home.
Make your own hanging baskets of colour and unusual plants to lift the eye in the landscape or to bring your favourites closer to you.
Using water-wise plants and principles will help that you don’t have to water them every day.
If you can’t find an instant take-home hanging basket, why not plant up your own?
It’s super easy.
Hanging baskets are notorious for drying out quickly because generally they are more exposed to wind and the elements.
Select plants that don’t need a lot of water such as succulents or petunias and more.
If you are using a colourful basket or a coir lined wire basket it is important that you only use potting soil as a planting medium.
Anything else will compact and your plants will suffer.
The idea is that when you water, that the water drains immediately so that the soil is wet but that the plant’s roots are not sitting in water.
Feed weekly with a water soluble plant food such as the organic Nitrosol or stimulate flowering with our favourite Multifeed Flowergro.
Water Retention granules can be added to the soil medium to help with some moisture retention. This is especially handy when planting up impatiens or begonias that don’t like to dry out.
It is also handy to use when you have baskets in an area where you can’t get to water easily or when you are watering less to conserve water.
• Plant ideas for hanging up
A hanging basket is nothing more than a plant in a container only that it is not standing on the ground.
This means that the selection is only limited by your imagination.
The main thing to consider is that when its hanging you rarely see it from above and mostly from the side or below.
Select plants that trail or cascade over the edge for the best visual.
Top picks for planting up your own hanging basket:
• Petunia cascades or dwarf calibrachoa petunias.
• Rock roses and other trailing succulents.
• Euphorbia diamond frost and geraniums as a combo.
• Dragon wing begonias.
• Lotus – parrots beck.
• Othonna capensis.
• Information supplied by Eckards Garden Pavillion
