Baskets and Blooms - best plants, best prices. Direct from the grower

Our hanging baskets are great value but we know that many of you enjoy planting up your own hanging baskets.....that's why we sell so many basket plants. If you want a special colour theme or have an unusual shape or style of basket in mind then you'll need to do the job yourself.

Not so long ago all baskets were of the mossed kind and normally with side-planting, very attractive but involving some skill and a source of Sphagnum moss. Quite simply mossed baskets are more work - thankfully there are easy alternatives. If you have old wire hanging baskets you can get liners made of various materials and you can chose whether to go for side planting or not. The great, new selection of good trailing basket plants has made side planting uneccessary these days.

Now that side planting has become a thing of the past the way has been opened up for all kinds of baskets that are made of more natural looking materials than wire. Sea grass, vines, willow, even fern and grass is used to make decorative baskets that are attractive rather something needing to be hidden.

Side planting.
If you want to maintain the tradition of side planting a wire basket you'll find it's not difficult, especfially with a fibre type of liner. Simply fill the basket to the level of the first layer of side plants and insert them. Them top up to the top, or next layer and add more plants. This photo will show you the idea:

It's important to avoid overplanting the sides, if you do there will be no space for the roots of the top plants. Make sure the roots of your side plants are well into the compost and not tangled up in the fibre of the liner.

Any trailing plant can be used for side planting but lobelia is the most popular choice. You can get red, white and blue trailing as well as the excellent Lobelia richardii which is a perennial type found in our basket plants range.

Top planting.
Traditionally a tall plant was placed centrally with lower plants all around - that's OK but the upright plant may get entangled in the chains and if too vigourous may over power the other plants. We tend to use a mix of baskets plants for top planting all of them with roughly equal vigour. The end result is perfect this way and we would recommend you do the same.