Some hang from city lamp posts, others in front of retail stores, and plenty where the restaurants and bars spill out onto the sidewalks. Then, there are the ones we hang around our homes, whether it's from a corner of a balcony or as part of the ornamentation of a deck.
One of the most popular sales items at garden centres in the early summer are arrangements of annuals stuffed into all sorts of hanging baskets. They cascade delightfully over the edges and appear as solid balls of blooms.
Some are wonderful, particularly just after they've been purchased. Others can end up looking really dreadful. Success or failure hinges on care and where you hang them.
Location is everything for a hanging basket.
First, the plants in the arrangement have to be suitable for the sun exposure, otherwise too much or too little light will affect the growth.
Second, being hung on a windy corner is bound to affect the way the basket performs. Either the plants will be rattled and blown beyond their capacity to manage or they will dry out every few hours in the heat. If you must hang one in this sort of location, use tough plants, like succulents or those with woolly leaves and strong stems. And be ready to water them morning and afternoon.
What the container is made of also plays a role.
Plants hanging in plastic pots will resist the drying effects of the wind and sun much better than those in clay pots.
The more decorative hanging baskets often take advantage of the benefits of coir. This rope-like fibre makes excellent liners for wire baskets. The whole arrangement is lightweight, holds the planting mix securely, and resists the effects of wind and sun. A similar arrangement can be created using sphagnum moss as a liner.
Probably the biggest problem for a hanging basket is getting enough water. With the drying effects of the sun and wind working to suck the moisture out of the planting mix, and the mass of plant foliage transpiring moisture at a high rate, everything conspires against the basket.
Watering the basket once or twice a day is one option.
Another problem to watch for is what I call "water creep." If the surface of the planting mix is dry and the edges have shrunk in a bit, any water that you pour on will run off to the edges and run down the sides and out the bottom. Not much will get soaked into the root ball. The only way to avoid this is to water into the centre of the container very slowly, watching the water soak into the root ball, and keep adding more water until you feel the weight of the whole basket increase.
The planting mix can also be part of the problem. If you bought the basket already planted, you're stuck with whatever mixture the grower used. If it contains a lot of peat (quite likely), it will dry quickly and be tough to re-wet. This means slow and careful watering is needed.
If you make your own planting mixture, make sure it has plenty of absorbent materials, like one part each of compost and potting soil, and two parts each of coir (or peat), perlite and vermiculite.
One last trick to keep your baskets moist is to cover the surface of the planting mix with a mulch, like shredded bark.
-- Canwest News Service
