🌸 Fabulous Hanging Baskets!
Use your vertical spaces to create an eye-popping explosion of colour and delight with some hanging baskets that will flower from Spring until the end of Summer.
🪴 Getting Started
Planting up a hanging basket is easy, enjoyable and straightforward. First, select a basket or baskets that are suitable for the size of the area, on a balcony, patio wall or front door. You will also need a coir or sphagnum liner, some good potting compost mixed with vermiculite or perlite to help retain moisture, and a mixture of slow-release fertiliser with water-retaining crystals.
🧺 Preparing the Basket
Balancing the basket on a bucket will keep it stable during planting. Fill the basket to the top pressing down firmly. Water well then allow the soil to settle before topping up with more soil if needed.
☀️ Placement and Positioning
Consider the position the basket will hang, sun or shade, as this will affect the choice of suitable plants, also ensure the basket is not hung too high making it difficult to reach for watering and deadheading flowers, plus the full glorious impact of the display will not be visible.
🌿 The Pillar, Filler, and Spiller Method
The basic guidelines in filling the basket are Pillar (tall central plant for height), Filler (smaller plants around the central plant) and Spiller (plants that spread and trail over the sides of the basket).
🌼 Choosing Your Plants
Now, time to get creative with the plants and ultimate spectacle! – Make hole carefully in the soil starting with the tallest central plant, working your way out to the sides. Ideal ‘Pillars’ are: Fuschias, Salvias, Begonias (Dragon wings), and Perlagoliums, surrounded by ‘Fillers’ such as: Petunias, Dianthus, Verbenas, bedding Begonias and Alyssum. ‘Spillers’ that will cascade over the sides of the basket include small-leaved varietes of Ivy, Cup Flower (Nierebergia caerulea), Calibrachea, Bacopa, Diasca, trailing Perlagoliums, Nasturtiums or Portulaca Vygie (Portulaca grandiflora).
💧 Watering Tips
Hanging baskets get very thirsty during the hot seasons so remember to water them frequently to keep your amazing display vibrant!
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Village Gardens is widely recognised as one of Cape Town’s best landscaping and garden design firms. Based in the Southern Suburbs, they pair creative vision with environmental sensitivity—specialising in water-wise, indigenous, edible and wildlife-friendly gardens.