Colour In The Sky!

Hanging baskets are the purest joy of spring gardening.

- Anna Celliers

If we dissect the contents of the magnificent spring hanging baskets photographed by our editor, Tanya, in London a while ago, we will find a limited selection of champion plants used repeatedly to great success. All of them are freely available in our country, and some of the pretty hybrids used, like pelargoniums and bacopas, actually have South African origins.

Since it is already September and early spring has arrived, why not try your hand at planting some hanging baskets of your own? You needn’t have started your baskets ages ago for this spring look – it is quite possible to get the look in a very short time.

6 spring classics for baskets

Pelargoniums

Having kept our ears on the ground, we know that there are new and early flowering ranges of pelargoniums like ‘Marcada’ and ‘Tacari’ for instance. These interspecific pelargoniums are very floriferous, self-cleaning, have a high resistance to weather conditions, and need less water than other peltatums. They have compact growth habits so keep a neat shape, and carry their large and showy flowers above the plant’s canopy. The semi-trailing ‘Marcada’ range flowers are either red, pink or magenta, while the showy flowers of ‘Tacari’ are available in a large range of colours including two-tone shades.

Petunias