Planting up a hanging basket to last all Summer - getting the basics right at the start and selecting some plants
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Hanging baskets and containers are an excellent way to brighten up the front or back of the house and you can put your own stamp on it with your own favorite plants and colour combinations and I think it’s nice to try a different combination of colours or plants each year to keep it interesting.
A good quality compost makes a big difference when you’re planting up your basket - I like the seaweed enriched multipurpose compost - a handy tip is to mix some water retaining gel to the compost which releases water back into the compost as it dries out - this, along with some perlite for aeration and drainage and some slow release fertilizer will be the perfect mix for growing your basket plants.
A few plants with a bit of height to consider for the middle of your baskets are Geraniums in reds, whites and shades of pink, Regal Pelargoniums, which are tolerant to partial shade, and available in a similar colours to the geraniums with lovely showy flowers and New Guinea Bizzie Lizzies - which are happy in sun or shade - flower for ages and have large flowers in various shades of lilac, red, pink and orange - these are all somewhat traditional centerpieces - but don’t be afraid to try something - an upright fuchsia or non-stop begonias are all worth considering.
For the edge of the basket, to trail over the side of the basket, again there are loads to choose from - trailing petunias are probably amongst the most popular, it’s hard to beat the hot pink or purple petunias with loads of other colours and varieties to choose from, there are also trailing bacopa, bidens, trailing geraniums, diasica, trailing lobelia, calibrachoa, verbena, nasturtiums or the wet weather tolerant Petchoa a cross between petunias and calibrachoa- and you can choose to go for a riot of mixed colours - blocks of complementary colours - all one colour - even your county colours - go with your heart. If you pinch back some of the growth on the petunias you’ll have nice, bushy compact growth - pinch or cut them back by a couple of inches.
For filling in between, upright bedding plants are ideal- be it petunias or pansies, begonias or bizzie lizzies - again lots to choose from to fill the gap between the centrepiece and the trailing plants at the edge. You want your basket nice and full without it being overcrowded. As a general rule of thumb, when planting your hanging basket, is to use one plant per inch of basket diameter - so 12 plants per 30cm (12") hanging basket or one plant per 2 inches of basket when you have some larger plants like geraniums or fuchsias - so a 12” basket will hold between about 7 to 12 plants. Setting your basket up on an old pot or a bucket is a handy way to keep it stable as you plant it up and wait until you hang it up before giving it a good sup of water just to make lifting it somewhat easier.
