Hanging Baskets & Planters | Egan Gardens of Salem, Oregon

We grow really nice combination pots and hanging baskets. I know no one gets in a promotional medium like this and states, "We specialize in mediocrity," but, seriously, we put together beautiful color combinations, good interplays of texture, and nicely balanced shapes.

They are designed, not thrown together out of leftovers. One time while I was making planters a well-meaning salesman enthusiastically told me how he'd seen planters being made at a much larger greenhouse a few days earlier. "They got a whole assembly line set up with six guys with flats of plants by each of them, all things that were getting overgrown in the packs. And they just turned on the conveyer and each one put a plant in the pot as it went by and the last person filled in the soil. It went really fast and they sure used up a lot of plants they would have had to dump otherwise. You should try doing it that way." Holding my facial muscles tightly in check to prevent my lip from curling up in a sneer, I thanked him for his information and told him that we did things differently here.

Three main types of mixed baskets are available most of the spring and summer: a symmetrical mix in a 14-inch pulp basket, a wild mix where no two plants are the same (but all the colors coordinate, of course) in a 14-inch cedar basket, and a varied but symmetrical blend, usually along one color theme, in a 16-inch wire and cocofiber basket.

You'll also find a nice assortment of one-plant-type baskets: Fuchsias in 14" cedar baskets, Ivy Geraniums, Calibrachoas (also known as 'Million Bells' - pictured - whose flowers resemble small Petunias), trailing Petunias, and others as they occur to us to try. Most of them are grown in pulp pots. I don't like plastic hanging pots; pulp grows a better plant. I'll tell you more about that sometime.

Our standard planter is a 12-inch x 10-inch pot. I do break down and use plastic there, since many people object to the brown, rough-textured pulp pots. (But it looks natural! It's earthy!) I do most of the ones you'll find in our retail area. Tess the Planter Queen comes out evenings after her real job and helps make more. Besides the standard size, we do special planters in nice terracotta and ceramic pots, cedar windowboxes, anything that looks pretty. You can bring your own pots to us and we'll plant them for you -- just give us a week or two lead time, depending on the time of year.

Your Own Planter Recipe

I sometimes see people taking notes of what's in our planters so they can reproduce them themselves at home. I love that -- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the old saying goes. I'll help you out if you'd like by giving you a recipe for one of my favorite combinations, a Salmon and Smokey Blue Planter.

Ingredients:

1 Americana 'Salmon' Geranium - Patriot Salmon would do nicely, too
1 'Bluebird' Nemesia
1 Symphony Lemon Osteospermum (African Daisy)
1 MiniFamous Peach Calibrachoa
1 more 'Bluebird' Nemesia
1 Flying Colors Apricot Diascia
1 Snowstorm Bacopa
1 14- to 15-inch pot, preferably more than 8-inches deep
Good quality potting soil
Proven Winners time-release fertilizer

Directions: Fill pot with soil to a depth where the top of the root balls will be at a level ½ inch below the rim of pot when placed on top of soil. Sprinkle with Osmocote as if you were seasoning a roast with salt and pepper. (Vegetarians: As if you were sprinkling sesame seeds on top of roasted eggplant.) Remove plants from pots -- make sure they are well watered first. Place the Geranium in center of pot. Place remaining plants, in order listed, around the pot. Notice that this arrangement alternates upright plants with trailing or semi-trailing plants, and warm colors with cool colors. It's OK to have the plants right up against the edge of the pot -- they'll root back toward the center from there. Tilt the edge plants outward a bit. That way the pot looks fuller sooner and the plants get started growing away from each other rather than tangling in each other. Fill in gaps between plants with soil, being careful not to pile soil up around the bases of the stems, and not packing or pressing down on the soil. Water it all gently and thoroughly, going around all plants and letting the water settle the soil between them. Fertilize once a week with a soluble 20-10-20 fertilizer, or a strong, fast-acting organic fertilizer like fish emulsion or bat guano.

Enjoy!