Beautiful BASKETS

Smarten up your front garden with hanging baskets that will burst with blooms from spring until the end of summer

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Planting up a hanging basket is an easy, enjoyable job for a spring day. In a few weeks' time it will transform into a boule of tumbling foliage and flowers, and then remain a mass of cheering colour throughout summer. Adding foliage plants such as compact carex, silver-leaved artemisia or purple sage, and incorporating flowers in striking colours like burgundy or orange are two simple updates. Single blooms are also good - they not only look more contemporary but will provide for wildlife, too.

For those who like to keep things simple, there are lots of plants that look good in a basket on their own. Trailing begonias (such as Devotion) or Lotus berthelotii provide a touch of the exotic. Or try a procumbent (groundcover) rose such as the red-flowered Suffolk, which attracts bees and hoverflies.

Finally, if you love growing your own - particularly important for many given the events of 2020 - there are edible crops that thrive in hanging baskets. Seek out trailing rosemary, mint and thyme, as well as dwarf and trailing forms of strawberry (Just Add Cream is a good pick), tomato ('Tumbler' and 'Hundreds and Thousands' are both excellent) and blackberry (try 'Black Cascade').