Hanging baskets bring instant color, texture to small spaces
Want to add instant color and texture to your deck, balcony, entryway, or other small space around your yard? Consider hanging baskets.
If they’re in the right location and are maintained regularly, container plants will bloom from early spring until the first killing frost in autumn — longer if you load them with perennials and over-winter them indoors.
“Perennials make fantastic partner plants in containers,” says Rebecca Finneran, a horticulture educator with Michigan State University Extension. “Shady containers look great with a fern or hosta right out of your garden, and sunny containers may benefit from re-blooming plants like nepeta or fall-blooming plants such as hyssop.”
And don’t forget the pollinators, Finneran says.
“Great pollinator plants can be worked into containers, too: butterfly bush, globe thistle, swamp milkweed — all great examples,” she says.
Hanging baskets have limited rooting space, so they need extra care once they become full and lush. “Daily watering is often necessary, and fertilizer should be routinely applied to keep the plants blooming well,” Finneran says.
That would mean using a time-release fertilizer when planting, and adding a water-soluble fertilizer about once a week beginning at the height of the growing season.
If that sounds like too much work, consider using drought-resistant plants to reduce watering.
“But the soil mixture and soil depth must be adjusted for the plants you are growing,” says Amy Dabbs, a Clemson University area horticulture agent. “For succulents and cacti, a shallow basket with a well draining, soil-less media mix made for cacti should be used.
“These plants require bright light but not direct sun, as the plants will scorch, especially in the sunny South,” Dabbs says.