A flower garden, dangling like a colorful jeweled earring from the eave of your home. Yes, a hanging floral bouquet, the Hanging Basket--filled full to the brim with flowers and plants from the season, whether that is spring, summer or fall.

A design concept is important for you to consider when building your own hanging basket. You will need to choose a style or theme. For example, perhaps you want all of the same kinds of plants or flowers, such as all impatiens, all petunias, all verbenas or all trailing vinca. Some might choose to have a single color scheme, while others might choose complimentary colors or contrasting colors. A hanging basket with all flowers can be fun, or a mixed basket with flowers and foliage plants can be even more interesting.

A hanging basket makes a wonderful statement when it contains both upright and trailing plants. Make sure, however, that the plants that you choose for the upright feature will remain within the scale of the container that you have chosen. If you like a tall grass, such as Juncus, it is not a problem, but make sure that the container and your hanging mechanism will incorporate its ultimate height.

Did we mention containers? There are many choices of containers, too. Wire baskets lined with moss, wooden containers, plastic pots with built in hangers, clay or glazed pots hanging with woven ropes – your ultimate choice will depend on the look that you are creating. We have an excellent selection of containers for you to choose from.

Ok, you’ve decided upon your theme, have an idea of the plants that you want and have chosen the container. Excellent. Next you need to prepare your potting mix. Select a high quality potting mix such as Kelloggs Potting Soil and mix in a controlled-release fertilizer such as NutriPak or Osmocote. Also, remember that moisture retention is frequently a problem with hanging baskets (and all containers for that matter), so mix in a soil polymer like Soil Moist that will hold on to the moisture between watering.

If you have chosen to create a succulent hanging basket, you will need Gardner & Bloome cactus mix and probably won’t need the slow-release fertilizer or the moisture polymer.

Planting is the next step. Fill your container about 2/3 to 3/4 full with the potting mixture. Carefully remove your new plants from their nursery containers and place them in the container. Don’t hesitate to move them around until you are thrilled with the arrangement. Keep in mind which ones are upright growers, and place them in the center. Trailing flowers/plants should be near the edge, of course.

Once the plants are arranged to your satisfaction, fill in between each plant with your potting mixture and water well. Remember that, even if you did use the moisture retention polymer, containers dry out far more quickly that plants in the ground. You will need to water several times a week or even more frequently in hot weather.

What’s next, you wonder? Watching your own creative design grow to maturity.

Take your time to look through our gallery of flowering and foliage plants. Then of course, come into the garden center for a closer look. We’ll be delighted to help you become a great Hanging Floral Bouquet designer!

Great Plants for Hanging Baskets:

First and foremost, in addition to the beauty, the flower of any salvia attracts hummingbirds, bees and butterflies into your garden. Salvia flower colors span an enormous range from shades of blue to purple, shades of red to orange, shades of pink to white, buff to tan, and many combinations of these.

Salvia foliage is as diverse as the flower color spectrum in color, shape, size and texture. Small needle-like leaves, oval leaves, large arrowhead-shaped leaves are just a few of the foliage shapes. Colors range from bright glossy green to gray green to red and to silvery white. Foliage texture can be smooth or rough and hairy. And to add to the many foliage attributes, many of the salvias are highly aromatic or fragrant. This is due to the oily-like glands on the foliage and the stems. These structures, not really visible to the naked eye, help salvias conserve water and make them more drought tolerant.

Did you also know that Sage = Salvia? That's right. Many of us are quite familiar with sage as an herb for cooking. The sage for cooking is Salvia officinalis — easily grown in your flower gardens, or if you prefer, in an herb garden. In medieval times, sage was used as a medicinal remedy and was cultivated specifically for that purpose. The leaves were used as an antispasmotic, as an astringent, for cold symptoms and for digestive upsets. Of course, we recommend that you simply grow Salvia officinalis for garden beauty and cooking!

There are salvias that are annuals (live just one season/year) and are best used planted en masse; most of the salvias are perennials whose growth habit and woody stems more resemble a medium size shrub. The basic flower structure is the same for all salvias, although their size, shape and color will vary. Also, the way the flowers are borne on the stems (inflorescence) adds variety to your salvia choice.

Plant your salvias in full sun. Mix Red Star Mix & Mulch about 50:50 into your native soil. Water the new planting regularly while getting established. Afterwards, follow the watering needs for your salvia(s) of choice. There can be watering variation depending upon the species that you have chosen. If you aren’t sure, just ask one of us; we would love to help. 

We have many different salvias available, and now is the best time for you to be planting this wonderful flowering plant.