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Hanging Basket Review 2020

The weather is dull, cold, and grey so I have a cuppa, let's have a look back at the hanging baskets, with what worked and what did not.

I had to but all my plants online this year from my local garden center this meant I had a few more petunias than I would normally have. 

In baskets, there was Petunia Hot Pink, Purple, and Fanfare Red. The Pink and Purple did pretty well however the Red Fanfare was a total failure. I am not sure why, they just died.





For the three-tier planter, two are Petunia Shockwave Denim and Deep Purple and Petunia Frenzy Pink. These did well to start with but then went downhill pretty fast. The bottom tier did nothing at all just sat there with a few flowers. The other two did ok but nothing I would get excited about.




The wall baskets 

This is the white one its Diascia White Blush, these were I am being very honest here, a disappointment this year which was gutting. I think I need to look into deadheading the Diascia as they ended up being brown sticks.





I am a fan of orange and yellow baskets Lantana Camara Red Flame and Calibrachoa Cabaret Pure Yellow. These two were absolute stars this summer and looked wonderful the whole season.







This one is a white and purple one Scevola Fancy Blue and Calibrachoa Cabaret White. Scevola is not one I have used before but I will do it again as it was superb this summer it flowered beautifully and looked stunning.






The last is one I have done a few times Bidens Goldstike with Bacopa in white. These did ok but the Bacopa went over pretty fast and looked a mess for the last couple of weeks. The Bidens did well as long as I kept on top of the deadheading.




It was a mixed bag this year and lots to think about for next year when hopefully I will be able to go and chose my plants. Deadheading is so crucial to many of the hanging basket plants and something I again need to research.

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