Bountiful Blooms: A Guide to Keeping your Hanging Baskets Blooming All Summer Long

Without a doubt, nothing adds a pop of color and freshness to a landscape more than a vibrant hanging basket.  Whether your style is petunias, impatiens, fuchsias, or a combination of beautiful blooms, a hanging basket is the perfect finishing touch on your outdoor aesthetic.  Even better yet, with a little bit of love and care, your basket will flourish throughout the entire summer!

Here is a quick guide for ensuring that your hanging basket has abundant blooms all season:

1.  Water regularly – Hot summer days will make your beautiful basket very thirsty.  Try to water your outdoor plants every day, around the same time of day.  The ideal time for watering is in the morning so that the plants can withstand the day’s heat, but if you see a plant still begging for water in the afternoon do not wait until the next morning to give it a drink!
2. Remove dead blooms – When watering your hanging basket, take a moment to check for blooms that are spent or fading.  Removing this encourages new and more bountiful blooms to grow!  The best way to clean dead blooms from your hanging basket is to pinch or clip the bloom out below the calyx.  Plucking only the wilted petals from the plant will not promote the growth of new blooms.
3. Use Bloom Boost – Due to the copious amounts of rain we have had this season, the slow-release fertilizer in most hanging baskets begins to wash out.  To replace the nutrients lost, use Bloom Booster Flower Food, every one to two weeks.  This will ensure that your plant has the nutrients necessary to produce bright, beautiful blooms all summer!

These three simple steps will help you give your hanging basket the tender loving care it needs to have bountiful blooms that brighten your outdoor space all season.  If you are lucky, you may even have a some local critters that want to enjoy your beautiful flowers too!