Hanging Baskets
I love hanging baskets! Particularly ones overflowing with petunias. I love it when little towns have baskets of petunias from every light pole.
These people must like petunias as much as I do, if I had railings they’d probably look like this as well.
We have a long porch, it goes across the entire front of our house, which is 44 feet long. We have space for 4 hanging baskets, in between the porch posts. Each year I buy grow or buy some petunias and plant them in my baskets and wait a few months for them to spill over and become lush. It seems like about the time they get really pretty, frost is just around the corner.
This year I had planned on growing tumbling tom tomatoes in my hanging baskets, I’ve seen photos of them overflowing the basket will lovely tiny red tomatoes. My tumbling toms look nothing like the photos I’ve seen, they’re kind of leggy and not pretty at all, perhaps they’re not really tumbling toms since I got them from a seed swap.
Luckily when I was at the farmer’s market last week there was an older Amish gentleman selling these lovely hanging baskets. I asked him how much and he said, “$15 each, or if you buy 3 or more I’ll give them to you for $10, how many do you want?”. I said I’d like 4, he said “Well, I’ll give them all to you for $35 then”.
What a deal for these lovely baskets! I brought them home and transplanted them to my baskets and they’re instantly lush and beautiful on my front porch. Aren’t they lovely?
I ended up with 2 that are the same, they’re big petunias, purple and purple and white ones. I got one basket of purple and white superbells and a basket of petunias and trailing blue bacopa.
What about you, what’s your favorite hanging basket flower?
Do you love hanging baskets?
Filed under Flowers, New Plants | Comments (9)
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I’ve never had my own hanging baskets, but one of my neighbors as a child had a hanging basket with what I’ve since learned was Jasminum polyanthum. Its a vining plant with fragrant star-shaped flowers that bloom in spring. Trailing vines always catch my eye, and this white one is really beautiful.
Mangochild´s last blog ..Teaching Food Systems
to Mangochild's comment
Petunias also – no contest! And I love them mixed with some alyssum, though eventually the petunias do crowd the alyssum out! Love your baskets!
to Sherri's comment
I love petunias. This year I planted regular petunias in a half wine barrel. I should have planted the trailing variety. Mine were tall and in full bloom, but I had to cut them back because they were too tall and starting to fall over. The stems were breaking on the plants that fell over. I’ve always grown the trailing variety so it surprised me to see them grow straight up.
I usually put trailing petunias in my hanging baskets. This year I’m trying ivy geraniums. I think next year I’ll go back to trailing petunias. I’m still not a fan of ivy geraniums in my hanging baskets.
I can’t believe how inexpensive you bought those baskets for. Around here, we would have to pay about $39.00 each basket! Congrats on the beautiful find!
Renee´s last blog ..The Good, Bad and Very Ugly
to Renee's comment
That’s what you would pay for baskets like that around here as well at most retail stores. I just got these very inexpensively because it was the end of the season and I bought directly from the supplier.
While I was talking to the guy he said he starts over 6000 hanging baskets, and I think he sells them to local greenhouses that in turn sell them for $30-40. That’s why I got such a great deal!
to Susy's comment
Susy, were your Tumbling Toms from Wintersown’s SASE? Mine are, and they would never fit into a hanging basket! They are 4-5′ tall and not “tumbling” at all. They seem to be growing the same as any regular cherry tomato, and I had to plant them out with half their stems buried because they were getting so tall in their containers.
Your hanging flower baskets are lovely, and the price you got them for….wow.
to Annie’s Granny's comment
They are from wintersown. Next year I might buy proper seeds, or I just may keep hanging baskets full of petunias. The hummingbirds do love them!
to Susy's comment
I do love a well done hanging basket of trailing flowers and petunias are definitely a great choice. I really do not have a good places to hang baskets – so my annual plantings are confined to the ground in big pots – but I still choose trailing petunias to give it a lush and colorful feel.
to KitsapFG's comment
I prefer petunias, but I don’t know what the secret is to keeping them from getting too leggy and spindly looking instead of lush and full.
pam´s last blog ..Weekend Cat Blogging #211
to pam's comment
I’ve heard petunias are heavy feeders, so frequent doses of fertilizer keeps them blooming all summer long. If you have the old-fashioned kind they need deadheaded to stay lush all summer.
I give mine a dose of organic fertilizer in the potting soil I make and then I give them an occasional dose of sea magic to keep them blooming all summer.
to Susy's comment