How to Plant Hanging Flower Baskets

Brighten your days by planting colorful hanging flower baskets with a splash of color under your pergolas and porches. Hanging baskets of trailing flowers and foliage give a finished look to any outdoor living area.

Hanging Flower baskets in varying shapes and sizes are available in plastic, pottery and wood, as well as wire. Some have self-watering devices and snap-on hangers that convert clay flower pots into handsome aerial planters. You could of course make your own hanging baskets from plastic pots and coat hanger wire.

A fine example of hanging flower baskets in England

Preparing your Hanging Baskets

While fiber basket liners are handier, sheet moss is more attractive, and will help conserve moisture in your hanging baskets. This is one area that needs your special attention, and one of the reasons why so many flower baskets don't do well. Keeping them well watered and maintaining the moisture is a must.

Cut the moss to the shape of the basket and if you are using strips, make sure that these are overlapping as you line your hanging basket. For extra precautions, place a piece of sacking first and then add the moss.

Drainage is no problem in watertight containers if a bottom layer of gravel and crushed charcoal is used before adding the soil. Good topsoil should be chosen that also includes bone meal and well-rotten farmyard manure. This is a medium that is favored by most flowers used in hanging flower baskets but if you have decided to plant nasturtiums or succulents, then you will need to use a less fertile soil for them to do well. Here it would be better to grow them in a soil that has equal amounts of soils and clean builders' sand.

Plants for your Hanging Flower Baskets

If you are going to place your hanging flower baskets in an area where they will get good light but no sun then you will want to plant your baskets with ivy, ferns, Asparagus Fern, Creeping Fig, Green Plant, Kenilworth Ivy, Philodendron and Zebrina.

If you are placing your hanging flower baskets in a partly-shaded spot you can use Achimenes, Black-Eyed Susan Vine, Browallia, Fuchias, Dwarf Impatiens, Hanging Begonias, Lobelia, Bush Morning Glory, Pick-a-Back Plant, and String-of-Hearts Vine.

For sunny places here you can plants out Alyssum, Balcony and Cascade Petunias, Ivy leaf Geraniums, Nasturtiums, Trailing Lantana, Burro's Tail and Christmas Cheer Sedums.

Of course you don't need to just think about planting flowers in your hanging baskets. You can also think about planting them out with strawberries, Alpine strawberries, herbs, and cherry tomatoes.

Plant small varieties after packing the basket with the moist soil to within an inch of the rim. Knock larger plants from their pots and press the soil firmly around the roots and stem. Make sure that you mix your baskets with both trailing and erect growing plants, as long as they all share the same growing conditions.

Hanging Flower Basket Tips

Wind could kill your plants when first planted out as well as dry out the soil. Therefore, when you have first planted your flower hanging baskets out keep them out of the wind for a couple of days before hanging them up on their wall brackets or suspending them from hooks.

Make sure that your flower hanging baskets are within easy reach of watering, and water frequently to prevent them from drying out. Don't forget that the wind is definitely a factor here. The more windy your location the quicker your baskets will dry out.

The difference between good hanging flower baskets and great hanging flower baskets is making sure that you have a regular feeding program. The soil soon becomes depleted of nutrients as all the plants start growing and therefore bi-monthly feeding with a liquid or soluble fertilizer will promote more buds, vigorous growth and stronger plants. If you are going to plant Sedums they prefer a lower-nitrogen diet.

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