Its easy to make this pretty Summer Hanging Basket in one of our news styles of twig hanging baskets and hanging planters.

The photos below are designed to be pretty self explanatory - however we also added some note and hints

Start of by unwrapping your hanging basket and by taking off the chains, so it is easy to plant.

Then fill your hanging basket to about 1/2 way with a good potting mix.

You will see that some of the plants we are going to add have larger root balls.  You need to leave space so don't over fill your basket.  You will have plenty of time to add more soil.  

Then add a good slow release fertilizer - like Miracle Grow or Osmocote.

Mix the fertilizer into the soil and now you are ready to plant.

We are taking the largest plant, a Helichrysum, and placing this in the centre of our basket.

Being such a big plant it is much easier to place and plant when you have taken the chains off the hanging basket.

Then its time to add our other plants - so we are starting with the petunias, then we will add dycondra silver falls.

The silver leaves and pink flowers will make for a striking combination.

Once all the plants are in, firm then down with your hands - then it is time to add some more soil to your hanging basket.

Add more soil - but not too much !

Ideally you want to leave a lip of at least 1/2 an inch from the top of our hanging basket.  This can take a bit of guess work to achieve, as the soil will settle down after its first few watering and you may need to top it up again.

Creating a lip or space between the top of the hanging basket liner and your soil, so it forms a well is "well" worth the effort. 

Why you may ask - the answer is that the soil will form a hard crust between watering, much like when baking pastries, the water if your basket is full to the top of soil will run right off and down the side of the basket giving the appearance that the basket is well watered.  This is not the case, as the hard crust has diverted the water over the side and not allowed much to penetrate down below.

Creating a well - allows the water to sit on top of your basket, to soften the crust of the soil and then to penetrate below, reaching the roots of the plants.

We like to then add a rigid chain - this makes life easy when it comes to hanging your basket.

The rigid chain make a really great gift idea for the garden who seems to have everything.

Click here to learn more on our Rigid Chain.

Now its time to water.

Water the basket gently and position it somewhere sheltered and not to hot or sunny for the first few days.  This gives the plants time to adjust and settle in.

Once the plants have "perked up" you can move your hanging basket to its new home in your garden or yard..

A       C B C       A               A Petunia Quanity 2 B Helichrysum Petiolare Quanity 1 C Dycondra Silver Falls Quanity 2   Watch How-To Video

Hanging Basket Ideas & Recipes Exposure: Full Sun Pot Size: 14 inch Pot Style Shown: Twig Hanging Basket This Design can be applied to : Hanging Planters Wall Baskets Window Boxes Color Scheme: Modern Silver with a twist of pink for fun A great basket for impact - the silver really draw attention and the pinks soften making for a real contrast. Also consider White Petunia set against the silver foliage a very classic combination with a modern twist. Red petunia with the silver foliage - very striking and sensual.  We got a lot of comments and compliments over this combination. Trimming The Helichrysum can get a little bushy, so trim back from time to time.