If you are like me, you clean out your annual hanging baskets and store them for the winter. Or perhaps even recycle them so they don’t take up room in your potting shed. This winter, I have a new idea. Well, a new-to-me idea. Let’s take those hanging baskets and winterize them!
If you have the typical black plastic baskets that are pre-planted in the Spring, you might want to jazz them up a little with some gold or silver paint. My basket is ornamental, so no need to do that.
Once the basket is cleaned and has fresh potting soil in it, it is ready for planting. Time to find some perennial plants to rejuvenate the baskets. I like to go with the “thriller, spiller, filler” method of design for pots and find a tall plant – perhaps a medium-sized grass – and surround it with shorter perennials like heuchera. The grass I picked was an Australian hair grass which grows to about 10-12 inches and then droops open in the center. Perfect for my basket. Around the edges, I found some creeping jenny which served as my spiller.
For my filler, and since I was planting a basket for the holiday season, I chose a deep burgundy heuchera called ‘Forever Red.’ In fact, it is a plant I had in the garden last year and when I divided it in the spring, I pulled off a few “babies” and put them in a “nursery” where I could take special care of them all summer. By the end of September, I had a nice sized heuchera that was looking for a home and found one in the hanging basket.
These were three perennials that look nice together and came from my garden, so no cost. A few pinecones here and there with a nice red tartan bow, and voila! A lovely hanging basket that will last until after the holidays. You could also add a few Christmas embellishments like decorative picks or ornaments (make sure they will be okay outside) or add some cut evergreen branches to tuck in here and there.
When Christmas and New Years are over, I can pull off the bow and remove the pinecones and picks and the basket will still look good for the winter. Maybe a few pansies tucked in here and there for some color, and that basket will last until Spring.
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