Hanging basket do's and don'ts.

[Smart Red]

Here we are nearing the end of July and I still have three hanging baskets in flower. This might be a record for me -- famous for letting baskets and containers wilt and dry out -- but what do I do now? Do I cut unruly growth back to a tidier form and let the baskets re-flower or do I just let the growth run rampant as an untidy but flowering mess? Thistlebloom? Larissa? Anyone?

Even my three-tiered hummingbird container is still doing well (despite being knocked over by cats and blown over by stormy winds twice).

I guess that without a veggie garden to tend, I've been able to spend more time on the flowers. I even started three (small) new flower beds this spring.


1.) an extension of the hosta bed North of the wood shop -- a work in progress for sure

2.) a sunny bed in front of the shop where
only weeds had dared grow for years

3.) a cheery little circle of flowers and garden ornaments that once was the children's garden

I've also added some sunny perennials to the South side of the hosta bed where the sun touches just a bit too much for happy hostas to inhabit, a "water-fall" of blue flowers draining from an overturned pot beside our address in front, and nine new container plantings

-- two geranium, two mixed planters, two dark red "Maverick" petunia pots) that amazingly are still looking cheerful and attractive

and three begonia urns.

Even the half-dozen hanging fuchsias in the butterfly garden are looking healthy and flowering profusely for me.

So despite the disaster I call my veggie garden I still have a thumb green enough to grow something.

 

[Nyboy]

I think your baskets look great , thick and healthy.

 

[Carol Dee]

WOW @Smart Red everything looks so nice. I also tend to wilt hanging baskets into a stressed mess. Happy to see you still have been able to get out and exercise your green thumb. That is a good looking orange marmalade cat you do not have.

 

[so lucky]

My container gardens usually poop out about mid-July, too. My purple petunia is getting straggly. I think I will cut it back and make sure it stays in a shady area for a while. This scorching sun is hard on container plantings.

 

[ninnymary]

Those hanging baskets still look pretty good. When my baskets start looking scraggly, I trim them back, fertilize, and water. They come back but perhaps not looking as great as they did in the spring. Our September and October months are our indian summers. It's hotter than usual then.

Mary

 

[Nyboy]

large urns I planted in spring are disappointing. have to get photo not much flowering very little draping

 

[canesisters]

What did you plant in the urns? I looked at all the gorgeous petunia baskets this year and decided to try them one more time... yup - that's what I remember - spindly, faded, smelly baskets.

 

[Smart Red]

The three grey urns in the shady turn-around have begonias in them. I've tried planting begonias in the ground only to have the chipmunks dig them up, the chickens scratch them out, or the cats (I don't have) and dogs run through them and break the tender stems. So it was toss the begonias (not happening) or pot them up.

The two black urns beside the workshop door are "Maverick" geraniums I started from seed this spring and are doing great in the sun there. Also pretty safe from the Great Danes and other animals running in and out the door -- a risky place for the plants in the ground.

 

[thistlebloom]

Your containers look good Red. I wouldn't cut them back, there may not be enough season left to really get them back up to that fullness.
A little grooming out of the dried leaves and stems will give it a fresh look again.

The key to lush containers all season long is lots of fertilizer. The planted floral containers that are so beautiful when we buy them have been fertilized with every watering, as well as having pelleted fertilizer added to the soil before they're planted.
There are a lot of roots in those pots and they can use up the available nutrients fast.

I fertilize with a liquid fertilizer high in phosphorous every time I water containers, which is about every other day for the big pots, but when it's hot the smaller plastic hanging pots need it every day, until it overflows the top rim. Just as long as there is free drainage you almost can't over water.

 

[Nyboy]

Not happy wave petunias