Like most things in today's gardening scene, hanging baskets are being reinvented. In fact, the many ways to suspend plants have never been so varied or artful. From up-cycled finds such as birdhouses or trendy metal spheres to moss topiary balls, these space-saving vertical gardens can be as simple or creative as you would like them to be.
More familiar with the hanging white or black plastic containers or the wire-framed baskets lined with sphagnum moss, burlap or cocoa fibre?
Often exposed to the elements from all sides, hanging baskets can be whipped around in high wind or soaked in drenching rain. If the decorative framework of a basket consists of a liner made from pre-formed coir (coconut fibre) plants can dry out quickly.
Usually it's neglect that shortens longevity of plants and destroys a hanging basket's good looks. Regular watering and fertilizing is important with any container design but especially in the case of a hanging basket, which generally has smaller dimensions overall.
Jeanne DuBois, vice-president, growth and development for Ron Paul Greenhouses, has been creating baskets, including custom designs, for many years. She recommends exposure and location should be considered along with aesthetics when planning your basket. Wire frames with coco liners may dry out more quickly but they are also heavier and sturdier than plastic containers.
DuBois says ensuring success with coco fibre begins with enhancing its moisture retention. One method is to layer the coco fibre lining with a sheet of plastic. A garbage bag with drainage holes works fine.
DuBois prefers a good three-way or four-way soil mix to soilless potting medium for her hanging baskets because she believes this maximizes the nutrients available to plants.
She adds some Pro-Mix with perlite and vermiculite to lighten up the soil and improve aeration then adds slow-release pelletized or granular fertilizer.
While the slow release fertilizer will feed plants over a two- to four-month period and stimulate vegetative growth and flower production, DuBois recommends supplementing with bone meal or using a 20-20-20 water-soluble fertilizer or fish fertilizer-based formulation once a week. Regular pruning and deadheading is essential to maintaining new growth as well as good form.
If your arrangement becomes overgrown or plants are overtaken by a vigorous grower, simply give it a haircut. Plants respond extremely well to tough love, DuBois says. Similarly, if feeding has been neglected and plants have become thin and straggly by mid-summer, it is possible to rejuvenate your plants by trimming them back, removing all seed heads, and feeding with a balanced liquid fertilizer.
Of course, the dog days of summer aren't here yet and while we should plan for them, our thoughts for now are mainly occupied with all of the wonderful plant choices this year and the new and exciting ways to display them. DuBois loves the new Stained Glassworks Burgundy Wedding Train coleus. With a full mounding habit and dainty burgundy leaves edged in lime, just pinch or shear back to the shape you want.
Verbena's flowering habit and sturdy stems also make it a good choice for a hanging basket. New for 2015, Verbena EnduraScape is a new trailing variety in shades of light violet-blue, bright red or hot pink highly heat tolerant with excellent powdery mildew resistance, it is also hardy to zone 7 so is tolerant of cool weather in spring and late fall for a long lasting display.
When a friend last Christmas gave me a round sphere with solid steel ribs and a hook on top which she ordered from terrain.com, I thought about designing something with trailing plants but then decided to call Anita Trudel who owns Prairie Succulents (prairiesucculents.com) and asked her to create an arrangement of her choice for this article.
To design the steel sphere, which has a rust patina and is 30 cm wide and tall, Trudel chose to plant up only the bottom half to save on the number of succulent cuttings needed but also to give the sphere a birdhouse effect.
Trudel began by lining the bottom half of the sphere with layers of preserved bright green moss. Next, she filled with soilless potting mix and then inserted succulent cuttings that she first allowed to callus for a few days. Not as easy as it sounds since the space between each of the inflexible steel ribs is only 10 cm and Trudel, ever the perfectionist, arranged and rearranged the cuttings until she had the look she wanted.
The finished piece features a mix of succulents, including hens and chicks and a large Lola echeveria with its distinctive rosette form and pointy tips. Suspended from twine this unique basket of succulents will bask in full sun until it returns indoors in the fall. Trudel recommends watering without saturating as this can compromise the moss lining. Allow the arrangement to dry between waterings. Trudel does not line with plastic as good drainage is essential for succulents.
Trudel also creates moss topiary balls that she fills with succulents. No bigger than 12 cm in diameter, these can be suspended in groups of three or five or more at different lengths for a hanging vertical garden. Trudel buys bags of sphagnum moss, wets it then forms the moss around wire that she shapes into metal spheres. Next she stuffs the spheres with moss, securing everything with stretchy, clear fishing line so the moss stays in place even if it dries out and becomes flaky. Poking holes into the moss, she inserts the callused ends of succulents, securing them with floral or greening pins.
Trudel says it is important to use thicker leaf succulent varieties for the topiaries. Aeonium cuttings, for example, dry out too quickly. Water when needed by immersing the topiary in water.
Our Farm Greenhouses, Portage la Prairie, has assembled in-house both succulent hanging baskets as well as mixed flowering arrangements. There are 6,000 baskets, to be precise, says Shea Doherty, one of the greenhouse managers. Our Farm will be featuring fair trade cone-shaped baskets from Africa that consist of a wire frame with handwoven dried grass and tree bark.
Doherty is excited about a new double yellow gazania with black freckles and variegated foliage. Ordered from Israel, Doherty says the flower looks like a butterfly in the daytime. Another favourite includes Pinup Flame begonia, a 1999 AAS winner that is yellow when it opens and then transitions to a vibrant, fiery yellow.
Judy Stamler is an East St. Paul gardener who takes hanging baskets to whole new heights. Stamler has a petunia tree custom built by John Neumann who owns Neumann's Market, 2659 Henderson Hwy. The petunia tree holds 59 hanging baskets and stands 2.4 metres tall. Stamler uses only soilless mix, to which she adds bonemeal and plants five seedlings per pot for nearly 300 plants in total.
Last year she planted Neon Rose Easy Wave petunia but this year plans to use alyssum, possibly the new Yolo alyssum in white or lavender. By mid to late July, Stamler cuts back all of the plants to about 10 cm and gives them a good shot of fertilizer. Reinvigorated, the plants bloom right up until the first frost.
Stamler waters with a diluted dose of 20-20-20 fertilizer for continual feeding. Fortunately this unique hanging basket tree has its own built-in watering system.
Neumann says it is as simple as clipping a garden hose to the feeder lines.
The flower tower from Urbanscape self-watering planters is similar to Stamler's petunia tree. Standing 1.5 metres tall, it is essentially a self-watering tube with nine-centimetre holes for inserting plants. It holds up to 25 plants and retails for about $389. Water only every two weeks.
Urbanscape also sells a hanging basket that is self-watering. Retailing at $99, the basket holds eight litres of water for a weight of about 29 kgs once soil and plants are added. Refill with water only once a week. Constructed from double-walled polyethylene, owner Peter Klym says the basket can be left outdoors year-round during freeze-up and even if the reservoir is filled with water. For more information visit urbanscapeplanters.com.
colleenizacharias@gmail.com
Notice:
Visit the International Peace Garden Conservatory for a breathtaking opportunity to witness the Queen Victoria Agave in bloom. But hurry, you only have until the end of May! While there, check out the exquisite collection of 6000 other cacti and succulents. For more details visit www.peacegarden.com
RECIPE - JEANNE'S PLANT PICKS
SUN TO PART-SUN HANGING BASKET:
In the centre plant an apricot or yellow Solenia begonia. Surround with Black Cherry Supertunia and alternate with Yellow-eyed Susan vine or Banana Supertunia. If the basket is big enough, use all three.
SHADE LOVING BASKET:
In the centre plant Kong Coleus and surround with Stained Glassworks Burgundy Wedding Train Coleus. Alternate with Trailing Torenia in Silver or Bouquet Gold. Or substitute the Torenia with a Lime potato vine.
