Abercorn Planted Tubs & Baskets

Tubs & Baskets

Having colourful planted tubs and baskets around the garden is a very easy way of brigtening up an area which otherwise would be stark or less interesting. A concrete paved patio can come to life in all the seasons with splashes of colour provided by annual plants in full bloom.

Depending on the time of year different groups of plants are best selected to suit the season.

Winter / Spring Flowering

Ideally, these are best planted late autumn using a selection of plants as they become available. Once established, these will flower throughout winter and spring. Pansies are always popular but these can be enhanced by underplanting with spring flowering bulbs such as Miniture Daffodils, Crocus and Tulips. Add a centre piece plant which gives the tub more height and structure such as a dwarf conifer of a small shrub.

Very popular at the moment are Cyclamen which come in shades of pink and white flowers. Small Alpines and hardy herbs are often used, again to ad a different texture and leaf colour into the mix.

Summer Flowering

There are many more varieties of plants availbale during April, May & June of which you can mix both Bush and Trailing plants to give a mass of colour all summer long. Apart from the obvoious Geraniums, Fuchsia, and Begonias, there are hundreds of different and unusual plants both for their flowers and striking foliage.

Larger more structural plants are again planted in the centre allowing the trailing ones to cascade down the side of the pot

Plants shown below are a small selection of Trailiers

Trailing Antirhinum, Impatiens, Lobelia, Helichrysum,

Convolvulus , Lysimachia, Nemisia, Petunia

Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets come in many forms from the traditional wire basket, plastic hanging pots or woven grass or willow baskets.

As with the pots and tubs, many varieties of plants can be used to create a wonderful effect. The main difference in particular is with the wire baskets which need some form of liner to prevent the soil coming out. The liner can be of man made fibre, plastic sheeting or my favorite, Real Moss.

With wire baskets you can also 'underplant' which means planting additional plans through the wire mesh part way down the container. Once this has been done, the basket can be planted with a similar mix of plants that may have been used in a tub or pot.