Plants in a hanging basket placed in a tree. UF/IFAS PHOTO

Gardening doesn’t have to be confined to ground level plantings; hanging baskets can serve to move your eyes upward and to extend color and texture throughout your landscape. In addition, hanging baskets are ideal for gardeners who live in apartments or condos with limited gardening spaces. With fall approaching, it’s an ideal time to renew your landscape by replacing spent hot weather annuals with cool-season flowering plants. I’ll help guide you through the process of creating hanging baskets that will be fun to design and provide lasting beauty in your landscape.

You can find everything you need to create a hanging basket at big box stores or garden centers. I recommend that you use a wire basket rather than a plastic pot; wire baskets come in a variety of sizes and will accommodate more weight and are sturdier than plastic pots. Once you choose the size wire basket you want, you need to pick out a liner (usually coco-fiber or sphagnum moss) that will fit the basket with about one inch showing above the top rim of the basket).

Now the fun part – choosing the plants you want in your hanging basket! I always use vining plants on the sides of my hanging pots to soften the edges of the pot and to provide “movement” to your design. Blooming vining plants like blue daze, lantana or million bells (calibrachoa) add graceful color to your pot, while vining plants known for their foliage such as spider plant, ivy or sweet potato vine provide interesting texture. I even use succulents as trailing plants; elephant bush and “Coppertone” stonecrop are two of my favorite vining succulents which add texture to your hanging pot.

If you’re creating your hanging pot, now you should incorporate cool weather flowering plants such as alyssum, dianthus, geraniums, nemesia, pentas and petunias. Plants with interesting foliage such as coleus and many varieties of ferns can be used to fill in your hanging basket and add textural contrasts. I also like to use single “specimen” plants for hanging pots; I have pots with “Pink Panther,” Ric Rac cactus and hoyas hanging on the western edge of my lanai where they receive bright indirect light, and pots of staghorn ferns hanging from wrought iron plant holders under palms in my garden.

To prepare your hanging pot, fit the liner in the basket (with about one inch of the liner extending beyond the top edge of the pot) and fill to the halfway point with potting mixture; water well. Start assembling your pot with the trailing plants on the sides; cut a hole in the liner and make sure that you insert the roots of your plant firmly in the soil. Then add more soil to the pot, placing soil up the sides of the pot but leaving a one- or two-inch depression in the center of the pot. Start with the center and place your blooming plants in the pot, adding more soil as necessary. Water well and add more soil if needed; I also like to add a layer of mulch to give a finished look to the pot as well as help maintain moisture.

Providing sufficient moisture to your hanging pot is a critical consideration; during the hot summer months you may find that you need to water two or three times daily. As our weather cools, once a day watering will probably be adequate. Just make sure you check your pots daily to monitor their water needs. You will also need to plan to prune the plants in your hanging pot if they become leggy; don’t be afraid to trim your plants to maintain your design – they will recover quickly! A water soluble fertilizer is ideal to keep your plants blooming; just add fertilizer every two to three weeks to maintain healthy, vibrant plants.

If you plan to mount your hanging pots, make sure that your bracket is sturdy enough to support your pot and that it is securely mounted to the wall. I use wrought iron shepherd’s hooks in my garden to support some of my hanging pots; this allows me to move the pots around and to remove them in the event of storms. You can even mount brackets on a sturdy fence to support your hanging pots!

Creating hanging pots is a wonderful way to expand your garden and to experiment with different combinations of blooming and vining plants. You can highlight single specimens or mix different colors and textures to create a diverse design. Expressing your creativity and having fun are the most important components of developing interesting hanging pots!

Cathy Dunn is a Lee County Master Gardener Volunteer, Garden Club of Cape Coral Member and President of the James E. Hendry Hibiscus Chapter Visit www.gardenclubofcapecoral.com. Like us on our Facebook page.