You only get one chance to make a first impression. This is especially true for businesses; whether it’s a pub, hotel, or restaurant, you want to ensure that your visitors get a warm welcome upon arrival. Hanging baskets are the perfect addition to brighten up the exterior of your premises and engage your customers.
If you’ve decided to invest in hanging baskets, but aren’t sure how to care for them, here are our top tips for hanging basket maintenance:
Go big or go home
When it comes to hanging basket care, it’s crucial to ensure the soil stays moist for as long as possible. This helps to slow down the ageing of the plants and keeps them flowering for longer. Choose a basket that’s as large as possible, for your brackets to support, to ensure you provide the best environment possible for the plants’ roots.
Lock in the moisture
In order to preserve the moisture in your hanging baskets, you should always line them with polythene. For those who want to opt for a more traditional, moss-lined basket – you can still put a layer of polythene inside the moss. Remember to punch a few holes in the polythene to allow the water to drain and to use a good-quality compost to nurture the plants. Coir (natural fibre) composts have excellent water retaining characteristics and encourage good root development. Another option is to add supplements to help retain soil water.
Keep them hydrated
All hanging baskets containing live plants will need watering. A large, 18-inch basket will be able to last several days between waterings but smaller baskets will benefit from daily watering. Ideally, hanging baskets should be watered first thing in the morning, it is best to avoid watering in the middle of day when the water is likely to evaporate faster in the warmth of the sun. If your business is going to be closed for a few days, make sure you ask a friend or neighbour to water them for you. Alternatively, give them a thorough water before you leave, and move them to a shadier spot outside if possible.
Nourish them
Controlled release fertilisers are ideal for hanging baskets. Simply incorporate them into the soil as you plant up, and they should last the whole season. Try and use a fertiliser formulated for bedding plants and hanging baskets, with a relatively short release period.
Choose the perfect plants
Single-species baskets are a good choice, as they allow you to achieve a contemporary splash of bright colour. In addition, the plants will have identical watering and feeding requirements, making them easier to care for than mixed baskets. Surfinias. a trailing petunia are perfect for hanging baskets as they come in a wide variety of striking colours for maximum impact and as long as you keep deadheading the old flowers will bloom from mid-Spring to late Summer. You may even consider picking the colours that will compliment your business’s logo.
Trim and deadhead
It’s certainly not a fun task, but the trimming of dead blooms will encourage long term flowering and an extended season. Try and pinch out dead flowers when you water, to keep on top of the job.
If you’re worried about the maintenance involved with a hanging basket, you could consider artificial flowers. They come in a dazzling selection of designs and vibrant colours, and you’ll be amazed at how real the replicas look!
All our commercial hanging baskets come pre-planted and act as the perfect exterior addition for your business. So don’t hang about, why not explore the options?
