Add some splash with hanging baskets

Make your porch or patio a focal point with a colorful mix of plants

What could be prettier than purple verbena blooms trailing out of a mossy hanging basket? Or a pot of angel-wing begonias cascading out of a macrame hanger?

Let your garden grow up with hanging baskets on the porch or patio. You can mix plants in colorful combinations or go for a single-plant, monochromatic look. Simplicity is often striking. Here are plants and tips for creating the perfect planters.

1 Plant selection

Angel-wing begonias, such as Begonia boliviensis ‘Bonfire’ with its fire-engine-red blooms, will fill a container and drape elegantly. The blooms also attract hummingbirds. They work in the shade or partial sun.

Verbenas like sun and a light, well-draining soil. When they start to straggle, it’s time to deadhead, pinching off the blooms and leggy stems. ‘Blue Princess’ and ‘Homestead Purple’ are good sturdy, relatively disease-free varieties for Houston.

Scaevola Aemula ‘Blue Wonder’ is a droughttolerant plant with beautiful blue, fan-shaped flowers. They don’t need deadheading or daily watering, like most hanging basket flowers.

Petunias fill a hanging basket beautifully, mounding and spilling out of the container. Most varieties look best in fall and spring, but some, including ‘VIP,’ will last through the summer in partial sun, with daily watering. When the stems starting looking leggy, trim them back to encourage a fuller plant.

2 Planting

For best effect, buy a wire basket and line it with moss or a premade basket liner. To give the plants as much volume as you can, choose a large or deep basket.

A pot that drains well is crucial, as is potting soil. Compost tea and fish emulsion also give plants a boost.

Monrovia has a new line of hanging planters called Beauty Queen that are in larger, deeper containers. They hold more soil and require less watering.

3 Care

Check hanging baskets daily; they dry out quickly in the heat. The frequent watering can leach the nutrients out of the potting soil, so apply fertilizer more frequently, as well. Test the soil with your finger, keeping it moist but not soggy.

Apply a balanced soluble fertilizer, such as a 20-20-20. Some gardeners use a diluted formula every two weeks, while others fertilize monthly. Plant performance will dictate your schedule. Slow the applications in winter.

Ladybugs are natural predators for some pests; occasionally, natural pesticides such as neem oil might be required.

4 Pairings

Consider proportion and shape, texture and detail. Vary the heights of plants and include some that cascade out of the container, such as ivy.

Using shades of the same color offers subtle beauty. Create a mood with warm colors (red, orange and yellow) or cool (blue and purple). White and green make an elegant mix.

Here are some combinations to try:

• Pink vinca with a deeper-hued magenta vinca (sun to partial sun)

• White begonias and variegated ivy (partial sun to bright shade)

• Purple verbena and lobelia (sun to partial sun)

• Orange or yellow calendulas and purple leaf sage (sun)

• Gomphrena and purslane (sun).

• Shade container plants include include coleus, ferns, torenia and impatiens.

Getty Images Verbena and blue lobelia fill a wicker hanging basket.

Vinca plants fill a hanging basket.

Getty Images Petunias trail out of hanging baskets for an elegant addition to a Southern porch.

“Instant Container Gardens” / Color Garden Publishing A mix of coleus plants is perfect for a shady spot.

Getty Images Begonia sutherlandii trails out of a hanging basket.

Lucian Perkins / Washington Post Place three to five plants in the top and poke holes in the moss for lower plants.

Norman Winter / MCT Bonfire begonia has fiery red flowers that will cascade out of a container.

Getty Images Place a liner or moss in a hanging basket, then add soil mixed for containers.

Lucian Perkins / Washington Post Build up saturated moss from both sides to create a shell.