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October 13, 2005
Hanging baskets!
The best type of hanging baskets are ones consisting of a strong wire with attached chains for hanging them up. These are often offered for sale complete with a thick mossy lining which serves the dual purpose of retaining the soil and reducing evaporation as it tends to stay damp, writes Zahrah Nasir
Hanging baskets, brim full to over flowering with colourful flowers and vegetables, countless versions of harmoniously tinkling wind chimes, silent pottery bells, ceramic arrangements of dangling fish, flowers and smiling suns all add interest and colour to gardens, verandas and patios enlivening even the smallest of spaces.
None of these above mentioned items need to be costly, although some of those which are currently offered in the market are pretty pricey items as, with a little imagination, you can quite easily improvise and make your own.
Take hanging baskets for instance. These can be found as quite heavy pots, even heavier when full of soil and plants and which, if not properly secured, can be extremely dangerous as they may possibly fall down and injure someone or crack your beautiful patio floor. I would strongly suggest that you avoid these, no matter how enticing they look. The light weight, plastic versions are much better and much cheaper although they do present a problem in that the soil in them tends to dry out very quickly unless they are located in a shady place, well out of the sun, which then badly restricts the types of plants which can be grown in them.
The best type of hanging basket to go for is one consisting of a strong wire basket with attached chains for hanging them up. These are often offered for sale complete with a thick mossy lining which serves the dual purpose of retaining the soil and reducing evaporation as it tends to stay damp. Also, the roots of the plants which are grown in this type of hanging basket are able to penetrate the mossy lining, rooting into it and helping to ensure that both soil and plants are held firmly in place.
The drawback with these though is the exorbitant price tag, anywhere from Rs 250 up to an astronomical Rs 650 depending on size. The salesperson will try to convince you that the high price is due to the fact that these hanging baskets have been imported from Europe or some other overseas place but they are quite likely to have been locally produced, although the mossy lining could have been brought in.
There is however, an easy solution to the hanging basket price problem and here are a couple which I have found to be particularly efficient. There are dozens of shops with huge signs declaring ‘Anything for Rs 100’ and, whilst much of their stock is absolute junk, they do offer a very strong range of metal baskets in all sorts of shapes and forms, decorated and plain, in which to place fruit, eggs or vegetables.
These, if lined with a reasonably thick layer of coconut fiber, the stuff that roadside coconut venders throw away, or, alternatively, a strong plastic bag with drainage holes pierced in the bottom, make wonderful hanging baskets for those of us on a budget. Simply use strong wire or plastic coated twine to hang them in place.
Other attractive items which can be transformed into artistic hanging baskets are simply that, baskets of which there are a limitless number of appropriate designs to choose from. I would suggest that before converting such baskets into hanging ones you first give them a good coat, inside and out, of waterproof varnish to make them more long lasting.
Plants suitable for hanging baskets include the following:
Flowers – Lobelia, particularly the trailing varieties if you can find them; Nasturtiums of all types; trailing Petunias; dwarf varieties of Sweet Peas which will trail down if you let them; trailing Alyssum; ivy-leafed Geraniums which have a trailing habit; trailing Fuchsias; Begonias; trailing Eschscholtzia which are more widely known as Californian Poppies; Laurentia, Impatiens, Verbena, Pansies, Violas and lots more.
Ornamental leaf plants – Countless varieties of ferns do very well in hanging baskets; Ivy in all of its forms and colour combinations; Begonia Rex and others of the same family; Plecanthrus; Polka dot plants etc.
Fruits and Vegetables – Strawberries; trailing Tomatoes particularly the Cherry Tomato types; dwarf Peas which can be allowed to hang down; dwarf Beans can be very effective if you are able to obtain seed for those with red or pink hued flowers and purple or yellow pods.
Actually, one can grow all sorts of plants in hanging baskets and, in doing so, utterly transform your garden, veranda , patio, turning a previously ‘empty’ area into a profuse arrangement of living, growing plants.
Hanging baskets can be hung on almost anything. Hooks in walls and ceiling beams, on tree branches, lamp posts, outside doors and windows, just about any place you can think of but, please remember to hang them with in reach of your watering can and a place where you won’t bump into them!
Other items to hang around your home and garden include my own particular favourite, wind chimes and, this season, there are hundreds of different chimes available in the Rs 100 shops and in bazaars all over the country. Some of these wind chimes are very strongly made, the tubular chimes being suspended from an ornate metal bell and interspersed by metal butterflies, crescent moons, suns, hearts, flowers, even animals, birds and fish. Also, this particular design does not get so easily tangled up in the breeze as some of the others as the lengthy chimes help to prevent this. They also have a very pleasing, relaxing chime which is what they are all about.
I have noticed people purchasing highly ornamental, extremely colourful wind chimes constructed out of glass, also priced at Rs100 but I advise to avoid these like the plague, even inside the house, as any strong current of air, natural or otherwise, could conceivable cause them to shatter with serious results. The ceramic strings of colourfully painted fish, bright butterflies, flowers and beaming suns are better if hung in a covered, rather sheltered location as they get tangled up very quickly indeed and as they only clank, not chime, and the noise may be offensive to some.
Also, have a root around your home for odd bits of imitation jewellery, broken strings of beads, dangly bits of discarded light shades, colourful pieces of foil etc. and either hang these directly around the place or turn them into something more interesting by suspending them from convenient places in an artistically, aesthetically pleasing arrangement. I’m sure you will come up with some very interesting results. n
Send your gardening questions to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Answers will appear in a future issue of ‘The Review’.
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