Perfect Hanging Baskets, Tubs and Summer Planters

Hanging baskets, tubs and summer planters are the perfect spot to display an array of stunning summer flowers. Petunias, fuchsias, and marigolds all look amazing in baskets and pots, and with the hot summer weather we should be experiencing, it might not be long before your precious plants are looking a little worse for wear.

To help you make your hanging baskets and planters last all summer, we have some handy tips for you. These tips also work well for perennials, in planters and baskets, or in the beds.

Deadheading Your Tubs

Deadheading flowers is a task that most keen gardeners seem to enjoy. Summer evenings are the perfect time to wander around the garden with a pair of snips, admiring your handiwork and snipping off dead blooms.

It’s important to deadhead flowering perennials and bedding plants. This encourages them to produce more flowers. This is because the plant channels all of its energy back into the flowers instead of growing seed heads. By leaving the flowers to die on the stems, the plant assumes their job is done–and doesn’t bother flowering again.
With smaller bedding plants, you can pinch the flower head at the top of the stem and remove it. Thicker stems will need cutting. Remove the dead flowers below the dead bloom or just above the next healthy leaves. Keep an eye out for any small buds that have not yet opened. The last thing you want to be doing is to cut off immature buds as well as dead flowers.

If you have a large garden, deadheading can become a time-consuming job, so make a point of doing it daily–at a time that’s convenient for you. So your garden looks lovely and you don’t end up with lots of dead flowers spoiling your view.