Decorating For Spring With Flowers

Spring is such a happy time with flowers bursting out all around that I always want to get into the act and replant the large terra cotta pot for my front porch.  However, last week as I looked under the laundry room sink and saw the long-abandoned Easter baskets from my daughters' youth, I had a new idea.  Why not use those baskets as my planters?

Because my locally-owned nursery seems to be closed, I headed down to a local big-box hardware store with a garden department.  I knew I wanted to line the baskets with something that would let water drain, but keep the soil in.  My idea was to get sphagnum moss, but I found something even more interesting:  a coco fiber liner intended for hanging planters.  With that in my basket I headed for the bloom aisles. 

Recalling all the beautiful planters I've seen in Sunset Magazine, I wanted something a little taller for the center of each basket with smaller flowers around it.  There were lots of good candidates:  primroses (Primula), cyclamen, French marigolds (Tagetes patula), pansies (Viola wittrockiana), ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus) and Kalanchoes (Kalanchoe Calandiva)--but you could use anything that suits your fancy.  Just be sure to choose flowers that have similar requirements in terms of water and light.  I happened to choose a couple of the Kalanchoes and lots of pansies, and ended up with 4" pots of Kalanchoe because that's all they had, but you only need buy the 6-pack size.  They will fill in beautifully in no time at all. 

The coco liner was easy to tear into pieces to fit each basket.  Then the plants went in.  I added some compost from my backyard pile to a commercial potting mix and filled in around the plants.  The finished baskets are so cute on my front porch.   With quite a few pansies leftover I saw some very small baskets at the craft store for only 99 cents.  Who could resist?  So you'll see by the pictures, I now have porch baskets and table baskets and am eager for guests to arrive to enjoy my festive decor.   Happy spring!

photos by Marian Chmieleski

IMG 4312

IMG 4313

IMG 4317

IMG 4326

Read more