Paint your patio with flowers
Hanging baskets are a colourful way to mix and match different varieties
Hanging baskets are one of summer’s most colourful delights. They’re fun to make and add an easy blast of colour to the yard.
And don’t worry: Colours are universal, and if they look good to you, they’re going to look good to other people. If you’re still concerned, consult a colour wheel.
PLANNING
While modern container gardening trends emphasize blending foliage and edibles in with your annuals, hanging baskets are and always will be about flower power.
If your colours are near each other on the colour wheel (such as blue and purple), you’re giving your basket a harmonious colour scheme.
Harmonious blends like this soothe the eye. They remind us of nature. And cool harmonies — blues and silvers — can be very relaxing on the patio.
For an adventurous twist, plant colours that are opposite each other on the wheel. Contrasting colour schemes create playful tension.
Contrasts such as yellow and purple can overwhelm in large doses, but used sparingly they will really make your basket pop. And remember, because it contrasts with green, red creates excitement no matter what you plant it with.
When you’re at the garden centre, try arranging your chosen plants on your cart as you would in the basket.
Even if you’re tempted to, don’t choose the ones with the most flowers: Healthy, well-branched plants will produce more colour over the season than a spindly one that starts off blooming.
PLANTING
Select a basket large enough for your plants to grow into, but not one so large that they become waterlogged in soil that won’t dry out.
Try one basket stuffer per two to three inches of the pot’s diameter, so a 12-inch round pot would fit four to six plants.
Choose a well-draining medium to plant in. Avoid black dirt, which turns to mud at the first sign of water. Lots of big fibres and perlite make porous pockets for fine, fibrous roots to expand into so the plant grows rapidly.
Fill your basket to a few inches below the rim. Before planting, arrange your pots in the soil in the pattern you’ll plant in to make sure you love the look.
Tip each plant upside-down and gently squeeze the pot to remove. Never yank the plant out: This damages delicate roots.
CARE AND FEEDING
Flowering baskets are among the easiest kinds of container gardens to grow.
Give them lots of sun and fertilizer and they’ll bloom all summer.