Beautiful
BASKETS Smarten up your front garden with hanging baskets that will burst with blooms from spring until the end of summer lanting 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
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62 YOUR PERFECT GARDEN
pick), tomato (‘Tumbler’ and ‘Hundreds and Thousands’ are both excellent) and blackberry (try ‘Black Cascade’). Once you’ve planted it up you can ensure your basket looks good for months by deadheading and watering regularly: never let it dry out. And, once a week, add liquid tomato food to the watering can. Take these simple steps and your hanging display will be a mass of flowers all summer long. Line baskets with recycled plastic or coconut fibre
