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A hanging basket story

June 8, 2010 by Andrea Bellamy 4 Comments

Proven Winners new releases

A couple of weeks back, I received my yearly trial pack of Proven Winners annuals: a giant box filled with six new introductions. Here they are, clockwise from top left: Superbena® Royale Chambray (Verbena hybrid), Golddust™ (Mecardonia hybrid), Lucia™ Lavender Blush (Lobelia hybrid), Supertunia® Pretty Much Picasso™ (Petunia hybrid), Slightly Strawberry™ (Anisodontea hybrid), Superbells® Blackberry Punch (Calibrachoa hybrid).

As I’ve mentioned before, I especially like receiving these boxes of plants because of the surprise factor. Often they aren’t plants I’d seek out in a nursery, but once I find a home for them in my garden, I quickly see their value. That’s been the case with the whole Proven Winners trial program; before I was “forced” (poor me) to find homes for them in my garden, I didn’t see the value in annuals. Now I like them – in moderation – for the instant punch of colour and easy care they offer.

This year’s box of plants arrived once my garden was pretty full up, so I decided to put all my eggs in one (hanging) basket.

hanging basket: before

This is the first time I’ve made a moss hanging basket from scratch (as opposed to planting into a plastic or wooden hanging basket container). Moss hanging baskets are usually made using a wire frame lined with peat moss, coir, or an artificial liner.

hanging basket: during

I used a Supamoss liner, which was clearly too small for my jumbo frame, but with a little added moss, it managed to hold in the soil. I don’t have more detailed photos of the process because, wow, was it messy. In a nutshell, starting near the bottom, I poked holes through the liner, inserted the plants, and topped up with soil. I worked my way upward, poking, planting, and filling, until I reached the top. Then I stuck a ‘Tumbler’ tomato in the centre, because apparently I can’t plant anything without it containing an edible.

I wasn’t thrilled with the look of the faux liner (especially with the gap at the top), so I covered the entire thing with moss. And damn, it looks fine.

hanging basket: after

Ta da! Can’t wait to see how it fills in.

Have you made a hanging basket this year? Share your photos on my new Facebook page!

Related posts:

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Filed Under: Annuals, How To Tagged With: hanging basket, proven winners

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Laura says

    June 9, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    I’m having that same problem this year. One of my baskets has zucchini growing in it. Why not!? I love the look of the moss planters, the faux liners… not so much. One of my baskets has a burlap insert. The look of it isn’t as nice as moss, but way better than the green liners. Plus its reusable!

  2. Andrea Bellamy says

    June 10, 2010 at 9:59 am

    Laura – you’re brilliant! I never thought of using burlap. That would look totally charming. I think you could even throw it on the compost pile when it was too far gone to be reused. And you could pick up burlap bags at the coffee shop for free. (Oh, I’m scheming now! May have to plant up another basket just to try this.)

  3. Frances says

    June 10, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Hi Andrea, I am in awe of your basket already, the plants look great and it was a good idea to put them all together. I am interested in the basket and liner, having looked long and hard at the liners with holes already in them in the Kinsman catalog. So you had to add moss anyway, so much for the fake liners. The burlap idea is excellent and will be tried here for sure. :-)
    Frances

  4. Alan says

    July 11, 2010 at 1:37 am

    I was thrill to see someone actually give a step by step pictorial, Wonderful.
    Thank You.

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