I have been experimenting with hanging baskets this year, not words I ever thought I would say.... I started with the Spring hanging basket, a joy of snowdrops and tulips. I last updated on this basket in April and much has changed since then.
The annual seeds I planted into this basket are now flowering very well. I sowed a meadow mix into the basket, rather too thickly I think, but it is coping nonetheless.
The basket has moved into the back garden. I wanted the meadow mix to be closer to the bees.
It has become a joy of cornflowers,
and the clover has now started to flower too. It has worked so much better than I could have hoped for and I will do this again. Next time though, I will sow more thinly. As ever, every year of gardening is a learning year and I build on the mistakes I have made to make incremental improvements.
There was another reason why the basket moved, this was to make room for basket number two. I had referred in my original post to the fact I had two baskets and I had other plans for this basket.
This basket is a mix of pelagoniums, and a cutting from the Malvastrum lateritian I bought from the Belvoir Flower and Garden Festival back in 2018, a wonderful perennial that drapes well and I thought perfect for a hanging basket.
The peach of the Malvastrum and the red of the pelagoniums work together well. You can also see some marigold seedlings coming up too.
I also planted some climbers into this basket, the Mina lobata, the Spanish flag plant is winding its way skywards. (It is impossible to think of this plant and not start humming Hakuna Matata). I am enjoying watching it climb and I am hoping that it will also dangle, time, as they say, will tell.
