Secrets of Victoria's hanging baskets - Victoria, British Columbia flower baskets

Sunset, June, 1995 by Steven R. Lorton

The fine art of basket planting in British Columbia's capital city

Every summer day, boatloads of travelers arrive at the Inner Harbour of Victoria, British Columbia. As soon as the visitors hit the street, they invariably glance up, stop cold, and gasp in delight at the baskets hanging from the lampposts.

Victoria has gained horticultural fame with the spectacular hanging baskets the city has been creating for more than three-quarters of a century. The baskets never fail to please resident Victorians, travelers, and visiting British monarchs alike. What's Victoria's secret? We asked, and with typical Canadian generosity, Victoria's horticulturists were quite willing to share the secrets of their aerial magic.

Surprisingly, these baskets are not difficult to make. All the materials are readily available at hardware stores, and the plants (listed on page 71) or suitable substitutes are sold by many nurseries. Victoria's city horticulturists choose plants for vibrant color and continuous bloom.

MATERIALS

* Sturdy wire basket: 10 inches deep, 16 inches in diameter, 8-gauge (or heavier) galvanized wire

* Sphagnum moss (about 1 cubic foot)

* Potting mix: 4 parts sterile loam, 3 parts peat moss, 2 1/2 parts perlite. Optional: you may want to add 8 ounces of a controlled-release, complete fertilizer (14-14-14) per cubic foot of mix

* Strip of metal: 2 inches wide, 4 feet long, to form a collar around the top of the basket

* Metal pan: 3 to 4 inches deep, 13 inches in diameter, to fit under the basket

PLANTS

6 marigolds: 3 'Lulu', 3 'Gold Gem' 3 variegated nepeta 3 ivy geraniums 'Shirley Claret' 3 schizanthus 'Angel Wings' 6 lobelia: 3 'Blue Fountain', 3 'Sapphire Pendula' 1 Lychnis coeli-rosa (Rose-of-heaven) 3 petunias 'Rose Madness'

ASSEMBLY STEPS

First soak the sphagnum moss in a bucket of water overnight. Remove the moss and squeeze out the excess water. Build the basket in three layers, working from the bottom up, as shown at left.

A strip of metal forms a collar around the top of the basket to hold potting mix in place.

Beneath the basket, a metal pan serves as a catch basin for runoff water (a deep pie pan or oil-changing pan works well for this purpose). To attach the pan, drill three or four holes in the lip of the pan at equal intervals and use steel wire to attach the pan flush to the bottom of the basket.

Use sturdy wire hangers to suspend the basket, then water it thoroughly. For the first two weeks, keep the basket out of direct afternoon sun. Once plants become established, you can move the basket into full sun.

WATER DAILY, FEED REGULARLY

Water the basket daily. Feed plants twice a month with a complete liquid fertilizer. Snip off faded blossoms. You want the plants to become full, even rangy, but if a shoot grows too far out of bounds, snip it back.

RELATED ARTICLE: VICTORIA'S 3-LAYER PLANTING SCHEME

BOTTOM LAYER. Insert moss 1 inch thick in the bottom and halfway up the sides of the basket, to just below the middle of the basket. Pack the moss tightly since it will hold the potting soil. Fill in the bottom layer with soil, then plant three nepeta, spaced equidistantly, by gently pushing them through the side of the basket so that the roots extend into the center atop the soil. Repeat the process with three marigolds, placing each of them between two nepeta.

MIDDLE LAYER. Add the next layer of moss and soil; press the soil firmly into place but do not pack it. Then add three ivy geraniums, placing them from the inside so their multiple runners will spread out between the wires. Add three schizanthus, three lobelia, and three marigolds as shown in the center drawing. Add more soil, and continue building up the sides with sphagnum moss until you reach the rim of the basket.

TOP LAYER. Bend the metal strip into a circle and push it down 1 inch between the moss and the soil. Fill the collar with soil, and shape the soil so that it forms a shallow bowl in the center. Plant a single Lychnis coeli-rosa in the center of the basket and surround it with three petunias and three lobelia (stagger plants so that they aren't directly over those in the layer below).