Many growers find that selling bedding plants is a profitable way to start the season at farmers’ market. Mixed containers and hanging baskets are an even better way to attract attention and boost sales.

My partner, Brian Henry, and I have a long history of container and hanging basket creation, making more than 700 every spring at the greenhouse business where we work. This year, we plan to have containers at farmers’ market in time for Mother’s Day. Sometimes we sell more for Mother’s Day the weekend before, so we suggest being ready the first of May. Most of the crops we mention have approximately a 6-week finish time, so starting them the first or second week of March would work well. Now is the time to order plugs if you want to give mixed containers a try.

Requirements
To grow containers successfully, you need a heated place to grow them, containers, a good watering wand with a soft flow nozzle, a well-drained soil-less potting mix, a slow release fertilizer and a liquid fertilizer AND the right plants. We will briefly go through each of these requirements and then spend more time on the plants.

Hanging baskets are easiest to plan space for because they don’t use floor space. It is relatively easy to hang a long rod made of top fence rail screwed together with self-tapping screws. Hang it from the purlins at the appropriate height with small chain link lengths. Support the hanging basket rail about every six feet down the entire length. Now you have made space to grow where there was no space before. It is easy to experiment with hanging baskets in this way before you commit yourself to the larger container. You can also grow your containers as hanging baskets and then put them in a larger container when you have ground space to do so.

We very much like moss baskets to plant in. They give the finished product a more upscale look. We also think they help keep the plants healthier by keeping the roots cooler through evaporative cooling. We order our baskets pre-wrapped with a water reservoir. Moss baskets are more expensive than plastic, so you just need to choose one you think your market will prefer. We like the 12” baskets from Topiary Art Works & Greenhouses LLC. (phone, 620-584-2366, fax 620-584-2227, email: topiary@sktc.net, PO Box 574/ Clearwater KS 67026) Plastic baskets are readily available from greenhouse suppliers. Depending on the type of container used, a 12-inch basket might sell from $15 to $30.

If you are using a certain brand of soilless mix or potting soil that you are comfortable with, continue to use that. There are many mixes available and they all differ somewhat. It is best to stick with one because you get to know how soon it dries out and how it feels and reacts in general. A 3 cubic foot bag of potting mix will fill nine 12” hanging baskets.

We empty the soil bag into a large plastic tub, moisten it slightly and scoop it into the hanging basket. Then we add a slow release fertilizer and mix it into the media.

We plant plugs directly into the hanging baskets because this gives them a chance to grow together and intertwine in an attractive way. The incorporated fertilizer is the insurance fertilizer. We will also fertilize once a week with a 200 ppm N liquid fertilizer (20-10-20).

Make sure the plugs you plant are moist and plant them a little high. Plant 20 pots or so and then water them all in. We water on the ground before we hang them up. Water gently. Fill the container and let it drain two or three times. Check to be sure your plugs have not sunken down too much. They should be at soil level now.
Early on, the baskets will not need much water because the plants are so small. When the top inch or two is dry, water until water comes out the bottom. Take your baskets down occasionally to check for plant health. Keep in mind that when the plants grow and days are sunny and hot, you may need to water every day, sometimes more than once.

For a 10-inch basket, three plants are sufficient; for a 12-inch basket, you need four plants. Consider color, texture and proportion in your compositions. Combine plants with the same sun/shade/water needs. You also need to consider the vigor and growth form of the plants. For a 10-inch basket, just space the plants equally from the edge of the pot and from each other. For a 12-inch basket, put the tallest plant in the middle, and arrange the other three around the edge. You do not want your basket to be too flat or too erect with no softening influences. Combine mounders and trailers in a 10-inch basket and add one erect plant to the 12-inch basket. There are many recipe books that mention plants by name. Proven Winners has a colorful booklet available free for growers. You can request it by email from sandy@provenwinners.com or call 877-865-5818, fax 815-895-1873. The booklet contains recipes for containers that are wildly diverse; you can pick and choose for your particular customer base. Proven Winners also has a website with photos of many containers; it’s at www.pwcertified.com.

Another great resource for beginning container growers are the combination trays offered by Germania Seed Company. Each tray contains 15 cuttings of seven different varieties of vegetative crops. For example, there is a “Fast Grower Basket” which contains a pre-designed selection of Calibrachoa, Scaevola, Verbena and Bracteantha. Germania says these are in limited supply and when they are gone there will be no more. Call Germania and ask about their combination and sampler trays. (800-380-4721, fax 800-410-4721, or www.germaniaseed.com) Harris Seeds and Park Seed also offer a large variety of plugs for containers.

The plants
Following is a list of our favorite plants and their growth habits. We know which plants are aggressive and which plants are not because we have watched the thugs and the shrinking violets in action. Most of these are sold as Proven Winners or Proven Selections; the names are copyrighted and the plants are patented, so you cannot take cuttings of your cuttings. These plants are outstanding and deserve to be used.

Trailing
Vinca vine: The ordinary variegated one and the green one are fine. We like the green and yellow ones such as ‘Illumination’ and ’Wojo’s Gem’.

Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldilocks’: The bright chartreuse makes a great color foil for the other basket elements.

Calibrachoa comes in many different growth forms. For trailers, we like ‘Million Bells Trailing Blue’, ‘Minifamous Red’ and ‘Minifamous Caribbean Sunset’. Check with your supplier, as there are many Calibrachoa and more are available every year.

Lotus berthelotii ‘Amazon Sunset’: This plant has unbeatable silver needle-like leaves. It will also produce dark orange beak-like flowers when nights are below 50° F.

Sutera ‘Giant Snowflake’: Also known as Bacopa, Giant Snowflake has the largest flowers. This plant grows very rapidly and is appealing with geraniums. Flowering seems to drop off in the heat, but the green leaves are always attractive. The foliage stinks, but no one seems to notice as they exclaim over the tiny flowers. This plant is happy with part shade. Do not let it dry out!

Torenia ‘Summer Wave Blue’: This plant needs part shade. It produces many branches of blue snapdragon-like flowers all season.

Verbena ‘Babylon Pink’, ‘Babylon Red’, Tukana ‘Denim Blue’, Tukana ‘Scarlet’, and Temari ‘Bright Pink’: These are just a few of our favorites. They look best early in the season and require severe cutting back after the initial massive flowering to maintain balance in the container.

Mounding
Asparagus sprengeri: Asparagus fern is always popular and quick growing.

Brachyscome ‘Toucan Tango’: This is not a very tall mound and it will drape as it ages, but the color of the violet blue daisy flowers is so beguiling that it is hard to resist. This plant needs deadheading to keep it vigorous or it will decline in the summer heat. It does well in a moss basket. It does not grow very large so you must be careful not to overwhelm it with more vigorous plants.

Calibrachoa Million Bells ‘Terra Cotta’, and the supposedly new and improved form, ‘Crackling Fire’: These will grow up and then arch out very attractively and are actually perfect in a hanging basket all by themselves.

Diascia ‘Coral Belle’: This is a totally beautiful dark peachy color and is covered with flowers. It will drape as it grows but it also needs to be cut back to re-induce vigor as the summer heat comes on. It will bloom all summer if cut back occasionally. This is also a very good blender; it will reach out tendrils among all the other plants. You must watch out for botrytis in this plant, because the stems grow together so thickly. Good air circulation is very important in the greenhouse, but once outside there is usually no problem.

Lantana ‘New Gold’: One of our favorites for a full sun skirt of constant gold, growing12-18 inches wide. It is a bit slow in spring if temperatures are not high. But it looks good all summer until frost takes it out.

Lobelia ‘Laguna Dark Blue’: This is one of the most beautiful plants in the universe! If you like lobelia, this is a super lobelia. It grows like a hedge at first and seems unready to bloom until finally it becomes a glorious lightning bolt of blue. It then begins to drape over the edge. It seems to bloom all summer and is very happy in a moss basket. This is one of my favorites. It takes longer to bloom than most of the other recommended plants, about a 10-week finish time.

Scaevola ‘New Wonder’: This is also a blue flower, known as fan flower. It is soft lavender blue. Scaevola must be pinched to produce more branching but once it takes off it is stunning. It needs heat, so it looks great all summer. It is an Australian native so it does not need any Phosphorus. We have found that in a mixed fertilized container it does not seem to suffer from P toxicity. Do not over water.

Petunia ‘Supertunia’: These are all great plants. Keep in mind that Velvet means the flower is purple and Purple means the flower is magenta. The Surfinias are often fragrant, the Supertunia Minis are also lovely. Petunias need pinching, deadheading and periodic cutting back to look good.

Helichrysum petiolare: Licorice plant is a great source for beautiful soft gray leaves.

Nemesia ‘Sunsatia Lemon’: this is an instant seller. The color is bright and clear and customers are instantly drawn to it. It will need cutting back in summer and will do best in cooler weather.

Upright
Bracteantha bracteata ‘Sundaze Golden Yellow’: The new generation of strawflowers is wonderful. They bloom until frost and require only deadheading. They grow very quickly so you must stay on top of their watering needs.

Calibrachoa ‘Million Bell Cherry Pink’: This is an upright then cascading calibrachoa. It is very popular by itself in a hanging basket. It does require a pinch to look its best and it really likes fertilizer.

Lantana: There are so many kinds of lantana and they all enjoy the heat. For the pink side we like Patriot ‘Desert Sunset’ and ‘Hot Country’; for the orange/red combos we like Patriot ‘Firewagon’. There seem to be more and more of these every year also.

Pelargonium, known also as Geranium: There are probably thousands of choices, and we have not tried many of them so I hesitate to recommend one. They require a little more production time, at least 8 weeks, whereas most of the above Proven Winners and Proven Selections require only 6 weeks at 55 F nights.

Here are a few of our favorite combinations:
One of the very easiest most elegant and most popular of hanging baskets features a vegetative geranium, Sutera ‘Giant Snowflake’, a vinca vine and a calibrachoa in a complimentary color. The only problem with this combination is that the geranium really does need to be started earlier than the rest of the plants. The geraniums could be grown in 4” pots before being potted up with the rest of the basket ingredients.
Another of my favorites is an 18” basket containing a coral or pink upright geranium, a cascading geranium, Lobelia ‘Laguna Deep Blue’, Nemesia ‘Coral Belle’ and Brachyscome ‘Toucan Tango’
If you prefer to start everything at the same time, it is certainly possible using just vegetative plugs. Any color coordinated combination of verbena, petunia and helichrysum will look good. Lantana looks good by itself, as does Scaevola. A mixed basket of all drooping Calibrachoa also looks good. Scaevola ‘New Wonder’ and Lantana ‘New Gold’ is a dynamite combination but it will not be ready for Mother’s Day. It is a great summer offering though.

Jozie Schimke is the co-owner of Earth Flowers, a cut flower and landscape design business in Lawrence, KS. She is also the circulation manager at Growing for Market.