Planting up winter hanging baskets

If you have never dared to plant up your own hanging baskets and planters, now is a great time to try, as the winter ones are simpler to do than the summer ones!

At the most basic end, two different packs of pansies and violas will fill a couple of baskets for very little money – one plant in the centre, then a mix of four or five around the edge.

Take it up a step with a normal pansy or viola in the centre, surrounded by a couple of trailing Ivy and two or three of the fantastic trailing ‘Cool Wave’ pansies.

You can add more interest by using an evergreen plant as the centrepiece – at Bridge Farm Plants we use young conifers, shrubs, grasses, herbs and heathers – which can all be planted out into the garden afterwards.

If you want to give yourself something to look forward to in the spring, add in a handful of dwarf daffodils or other low-growing bulbs under the planting!

At this time of year we are lightly trimming most of the plants we use to encourage them to bush out, for more flowers and better displays, as we do with our summer baskets.

If you leave doing your baskets till later in the season you are likely to need more plants as they will not grow much in the colder weather.

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For healthy plants and helpful advice head to Bridge Farm Plants at Corn Craft, Monks Eleigh.
Open 10am-4pm Weds-Sun.
www.bridgefarmplants.co.uk

Order pre-planted hanging baskets for home delivery or collection at Bridge Farm Plants through supplier nursery Katie’s Garden Plant Centre