Hanging baskets blossom for millennials
THEY are sometimes seen as relics of a gentler age, bringing a touch of greenery to town centres and pub doorways.
But now it seems hanging baskets are coming back into fashion with a younger generation, who are posting their efforts on Instagram.
Wyevale Garden Centres has reported sales doubling between 2012 and 2019, with a survey of customers showing that almost 40 per cent of homes now have hanging baskets.
While petunias remain the most popular choice to grow in them, they are also being used for a wider range of plants favoured by millennials, including chilli peppers, tomatoes and cacti. The Royal Horticultural Society has also reported soaring sales of ferns, ivy and succulents for hanging baskets.
Mainly cheap and plastic in the past, baskets now come in materials such as oak and wrought metal.
Guy Barter, of the RHS, said: ‘Hanging baskets have had an image problem in the past and been seen as fuddy-duddy or the kind of thing you see on a town centre pub trying to be noticed. But they are becoming much more popular and are easy to look after.’
The trend is blossoming on Instagram, which has thousands of images of indoor hanging baskets.
Wyevale Garden Centres puts the rise in sales of hanging baskets and pre-planted pots down to urban gardeners for whom ‘space is at a premium’.
Large displays are proving most popular. Patrick Wall, of the garden centre chain, said: ‘Nowadays the bigger the basket the better. Fuller baskets with plants that trail as long as possible are in highest demand.’