Can someone recommend any good plants for hanging baskets, i would like
a diffrent range some really flowery ones and a very diffrent kinda
ones. I want to sow the seeds asap so was wondering what people
recommend?

On 30/1/06 10:14, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

Can someone recommend any good plants for hanging baskets, i would like
a diffrent range some really flowery ones and a very diffrent kinda
ones. I want to sow the seeds asap so was wondering what people
recommend?

We make up about 500 hanging baskets per year and they often win their
owners prizes. First of all, we use a lot of plants to a basket, so that it
really does look right over the top when flowering! Second, they all get a
start in the greenhouses, so that brings them on well before they go out
around early to mid-May. Third the compost has some slow-released fertiliser
capsules mixed in with it.
One of the big favourites with many people is the Lotus Fire Vine. We have
it in three colours and it's a spectacular plant. Another big favourite is
Bacopa 'Snowflake' and there is a blue Bacopa. We use Bidens, Verbenas,
Nemesias, Nummularia, ivy leafed pelargoniums and the upright kind,
nasturtiums, Fuchsias, Helichrysum petiolatum, Diascias, Polygonum 'Pink
Bubbles', Erigeron (Spanish Dasiy), Miscanthus, Callibrachoa, Impatiens,
Scaveola, Heliotrope, Lamium and of course, good old Lobelia. But if using
the latter, be sure to water often because it dies off faster than you can
blink!
These are just some of the plants I can think of at the moment but I'm
probably forgetting a few. You could do a Google image search for the ones
you're not familiar with. We're potting up plugs now, so you're right to
want to get them started.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

Many thanks for the really helpful response. Shame i dont have a
greenhouse only a cold frame.

On 30/1/06 11:02, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

Many thanks for the really helpful response. Shame i dont have a
greenhouse only a cold frame.

I think you might struggle a bit to get going at this time of year, then!
Our seeds are raised in a propagating house with heated benches etc. so in
that sense it's easy for the nurseryman. Do you have a local nursery that
sells small plants suitable for hanging baskets in e.g. 7cm pots? A lot of
people buy these from us at 75p each to make up their own baskets or plant
up tubs etc. But we do always warn them not to put them out until all
danger of frost is past.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

In article , Sacha
writes
One of the big favourites with many people is the Lotus Fire Vine.

Sacha, is there another name for this as I don't know it?

--
Judith Lea

On 30/1/06 13:36, in article , "Judith
Lea" wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes
One of the big favourites with many people is the Lotus Fire Vine.

Sacha, is there another name for this as I don't know it?

Lotus maculata or Lotus berthelotii.
http://tinyurl.com/7pnem will give you a pic of the latter.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

Sacha, I've looked everywhere for Lotus Fire Vine and only seen 2 shops
sell them for 6 at £7

On 30/1/06 15:04, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

Sacha, I've looked everywhere for Lotus Fire Vine and only seen 2 shops
sell them for 6 at £7


A quick Google shows that the National Trust does 5 for £8.99, which does
rather take my breath away!
http://tinyurl.com/9k3tu

Chilterns do a 6 pack of plugs for £11.25
http://tinyurl.com/a2ykq

Suttons do a pack of 5 pot ready plants for £7.95 and 10 for £11.95.
http://www.suttons-seeds.co.uk/

Now I'm off to get the oxygen cylinder and suggest we put our prices UPPPPP!
(But I know we won't!) Your 6 for £7 sounds like a bargain but Suttons
might be bigger and readier.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

In article , Sacha
writes

Sacha, is there another name for this as I don't know it?

Lotus maculata or Lotus berthelotii.
http://tinyurl.com/7pnem will give you a pic of the latter.

Thank you for this - I took a look and I was impressed - I will
certainly try some this year - can they be kept inside during the Winter
and used again another year or are they one-off plants?

--
Judith Lea

Sorry it was those prices you quoted as i did'nt have them at hand? How
much do you charge? Also how many plugs per basket?

In article ,
Judith Lea wrote:
In article , Sacha
writes

Sacha, is there another name for this as I don't know it?

Lotus maculata or Lotus berthelotii.
http://tinyurl.com/7pnem will give you a pic of the latter.

Thank you for this - I took a look and I was impressed - I will
certainly try some this year - can they be kept inside during the Winter
and used again another year or are they one-off plants?

In theory, perennial, but they dislike our winters intensely. I got
some plants last year, planted them in several different appropriate
locations (inside and out) and none flowered. I don't think that
any will overwinter, but that is partly my loss of interest.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 30/1/06 17:00, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

Sorry it was those prices you quoted as i did'nt have them at hand? How
much do you charge? Also how many plugs per basket?


In a 16" basket, we'd probably put around 20 plants, depending a bit on what
they are. If you're just planting up Lotus in a greenhouse now, 3 or 4
plants would bush up to make a lovely display by summer but in a month's
time, you'd put in 5 or 6, a month later 7 or 8 and so on, to get what you
want it to look like this year.
I'm guessing at what we are charging this year for a 16" basket, planted up
by us but I reckon around £24.00 is probably about right and £20 for people
who bring back their own baskets. But while I can tell you that we charge
75p for a 7cm pot, I have to tell you that we don't do mail order, so I
can't help you with plants, I'm sorry. Because we're not in competition
mail-order-wise with other nurseries, I feel able to comment on pricing etc.
at other places, especially those some distance from us. If we *were*
competing with them, I don't think it would be right to do that.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

On 30/1/06 16:23, in article , "Judith
Lea" wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes

Sacha, is there another name for this as I don't know it?

Lotus maculata or Lotus berthelotii.
http://tinyurl.com/7pnem will give you a pic of the latter.

Thank you for this - I took a look and I was impressed - I will
certainly try some this year - can they be kept inside during the Winter
and used again another year or are they one-off plants?

It's a superb plant and yes, you can over-winter them and keep them going
for years, as long as they're kept frost-free. We have two baskets planted
only with Lotus in the biggest greenhouse and they're about three years old.
They're hung on wires about 8' or so off the ground and they trail nearly
to the floor, as does a Bacopa 'Snowflake' of about the same age. While I
really love the riotous assembly of plants in a mixed basket, there's a lot
to be said for a basket filled with just one plant type in one colour, too.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

Sacha writes
On 30/1/06 10:14, in article
.com, "htmark98"
wrote:

Can someone recommend any good plants for hanging baskets, i would like
a diffrent range some really flowery ones and a very diffrent kinda
ones. I want to sow the seeds asap so was wondering what people
recommend?

We make up about 500 hanging baskets per year and they often win their
owners prizes.

Shouldn't *you* be getting the prize? ;-)

Polygonum 'Pink
Bubbles',

There was some of that in a plant I picked up from an urg meet - now I
have it as a greenhouse weed!


--
Kay

On 30/1/06 18:27, in article , "Kay"
wrote:

Sacha writes
On 30/1/06 10:14, in article
, "htmark98"
wrote:

Can someone recommend any good plants for hanging baskets, i would like
a diffrent range some really flowery ones and a very diffrent kinda
ones. I want to sow the seeds asap so was wondering what people
recommend?

We make up about 500 hanging baskets per year and they often win their
owners prizes.

Shouldn't *you* be getting the prize? ;-)

Well, the customer has to become responsible for it. ;-) One came in on
Sunday and said they had taken second because she hadn't watered her baskets
the night before. She promised us she'd do better this year! What is SO
nice about it is that the customers are so very appreciative. Some even
have total strangers knocking on their doors to ask where their
baskets/troughs/tubs came from - that's very gratifying for those who put
them together.

Polygonum 'Pink
Bubbles',

There was some of that in a plant I picked up from an urg meet - now I
have it as a greenhouse weed!

It does that here but I *LOVE* it! It's so generous, if that's the word -
downright promiscuous could be two others! But I do love the way it pops
up all over the place. 'We' - which does not include me - recently had a
major purge of it in the big double but I'm assured it will return and I do
hope it does.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)