Expert advice How to plant hanging baskets

Here's how to brighten up your bare wall or fences this spring and summer, writes LARA OWEN

- 

OFTEN overlooked, hanging baskets are a perfect way to add some colour and height to your garden.

Whether it’s to dress up a bare wall, add some charm to a porch or detail to a balcony, there are endless ways to plant a hanging basket.

But keeping them alive and thriving is easier said than done. So, here’s how to plant a hanging basket that will keep turning heads all season long.

WHAT PLANTS TO CHOOSE

In general, you'll want to opt for vigorous, trailing plants, that will spill beautifully over the edge of your basket and bloom from late spring well into autumn.

"There is so much choice, so it can be very confusing,” says floral team leader at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Russell Watkins.

“Most summer bedding that typically gets used in hanging baskets tends by nature to be long flowering. Surfinia petunias, trailing fuchsias, isotoma axillaris, pelargoniums, bidens, and nemesia are all really good options.”

Petunias and fuchsias are great options for your foundation, then incorporating pops of colour from lobelia, calibrachoa or bacopa can compliment the flowers.

If your hanging basket is on a balcony or in reach, mixing in herbs like trailing rosemary or thyme can also add a nice fragrant touch.

HOW TO CREATE A LUSH-LOOKING BASKET

When planting a hanging basket, the more truly is the merrier. Cramming more plants than you'd expect into one basket creates that lovely lush and full look.

“Using a lot of plants, feeding regularly and watering daily are the golden rules,” says Russell.