Brighten up
PRETTY PLANTS TO BUY NOW FOR YOUR SUMMER PLOT
NOW is the time to get a head start on your summer colour so your plot will be bright and beautiful this year. I’m often asked what are the best plants for hanging baskets, pots and containers, and rather than different types I make my choices on how they perform.
So my favourites are those that flower for the longest periods, starting at the end of spring and only fading away at the beginning of autumn. I’m not too fussy about colour combinations – instead I love having fun mixing everything up to make relaxed and exuberant displays.
Plug plants are available now and if you have a greenhouse or a sunny windowsill, you can grow these little plants on so that by the time risk of frost has passed you will have garden-ready specimens.
Keep an eye on the forecast though – a lovely clear sunny day with no cloud cover can lead to a night time chill right up to and including the month of May.
Growing your own is a less expensive way to buy your summer bedding, and if you haven’t grown from seed, plug plants are the next step along the way as you can nurture these small seedlings or cuttings into sturdier specimens.
They come in modular trays or individual plug pots and need to be repotted into a bigger pot, around 7cm in diameter, so they have room to grow.
It’s best to handle them gently by their leaves because the stem, as with seedlings, is easily damaged. Fill the pot with multi-purpose compost, make a hole with a pencil or dibber in the centre of the compost and insert the plug plant and gently firm in. Water in gently with a fine rosette to minimise disturbance and place them in a bright, sunny position.
Over the next few weeks the plants will start to increase in size and after four or five weeks you can start a liquid feed every two weeks.
If they start to outgrow the pot, you can pot up to the next size so that by the end of May/beginning of June you will have decent sized plants. It’s also possible to plant up pots and hanging baskets with these little plants if you have somewhere suitable to store them before they go outdoors. While leaving adequate space for the plug plants to expand, pots and hanging baskets look best when they are densely planted.
The following score high on my flower-ometer – all are tender so need protection until the danger of frost has passed.
Begonia “Illumination Apricot” – begonias do well in the sun but handily, they also tolerate partial shade. This is a bushy trailing variety with lots of large apricot flowers and is perfect for hanging baskets and window boxes as the abundant golden blooms will cascade freely from June to October. Illumination begonias are also available in white, scarlet, red, and pink.
Petunia Surfinia – petunias are the mainstay of hanging basket planting schemes with good reason as they are well suited to the British climate. Surfinia petunias are vigorous trailing varieties and their large trumpet-shaped blooms come in a wide variety of sunny colours. “Pink Vein” is one of the best known with blush pink flowers. For something a little different, Surfinia ‘Lime’ has white flowers flush with a fresh limey green.
Osteospermums, also known as African daisies, will raise a smile with their cheerful daisy blooms. There’s a big range, from simple flowers in white and pastels, to very zingy hot colours and clashing purple and orange combos. Their flowers last a long time too.