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Plastic baskets of red geraniums -- a mainstay of summer, right? Well, they don’t have to be. You can create the same kind of moss-lined baskets at home that you see dripping with flowers in the home and garden magazines.
Start with a wire basket, available at many garden centers and through mail order. Don’t go smaller than 14 inches in diameter. Line the bottom and sides of the basket with sheets of green moss (available at garden centers and craft stores). You should put down a thick enough layer that it covers the inside of the basket completely, but not so thick that it takes up room that the plants will need.
Cut a piece of plastic from a garbage bag or any other source you can find. Place the plastic liner inside the basket, over the moss. This liner will help keep the plants from drying out too quickly. Pierce three or four drainage holes into the liner’s bottom.
To get the lush, full effect of a basket dripping with flowers, you’re going to plant the sides the basket. Start with four-inch pots of trailing annuals, such as sweet alyssum, lobelia, or verbena. Remove the plants from the pots gently. Wrap a plant in a small sheet of plastic, rolling it so it is shaped like a cone – roots at the wide end of the cone and leaves at the point of the cone. Now, pierce a whole in the liner, in the side of the basket near the bottom. Working from inside the basket, carefully thread the pointed end of the cone through the hole you’ve pierced. Pull it through gently until the leafy part of the plant is on the outside of the basket. Then gently pull the plastic cone away from the plant.
Continue this procedure all the way around the basket, planting either one or two rows of small trailing plants. If you’re planting two rows, complete the first row and then add enough soil to cover the roots.
Once the sides of the basket are planted, you can plant the top. Use a mixture of upright plants, bushy plants, and trailing plants to make a pleasing arrangement. Suggestions include dwarf marigolds, verbena, impatiens, geraniums, fuchsias and pansies. Don’t forget foliage plants – creeping Jenny is a trailing plant with golden leaves, asparagus fern provides a feathery texture for contrast, and ivy comes in many shapes and sizes.
If you decided not to plant the sides of the basket, you can encourage trailing plants to spill over the edges by planting them at a slight angle, tipped toward the basket’s edge.
Hang the basket in its spot and water it thoroughly, adding some liquid fertilizer to the water. When baskets are wet, they can be quite heavy, so be sure your hardware is firmly attached to a wall or rafter. Since the basket is really overplanted, you’ll have to feed and water it more frequently than usual.
Variations of the hanging basket include the half basket and the hayrack. Each of these has a flat side that is mounted on a wall. They can be lined with moss and planted in the same manner as a basket.
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