Answers to the most-asked gardening questions about hanging baskets, hot spots in the yard

Marianne Binetti
·3 min read

The second week of May is when nurseries are well stocked for Mother’s Day and gardeners face a multitude of decisions about what to plant and where to plant it. Get thee to a nursery and start solving the riddle of putting the right plant in the right place.

Here are the most asked questions about what to plant where.

Q. I need a hanging basket for a shaded back patio. What do you recommend?

A. Fuchsia baskets are the number one hanging planter for the shade for two reasons. First, your fuchsia will provide movement and entertainment due to the hummingbirds that fuchsias attract. Two, we live in a part of the country where fuchsias thrive — and very few areas in the United States get to say that.

Tip: Hummingbird feeders have been killing off our native hummingbirds due to a tongue fungus and kidney disease. Feeders must be cleaned daily to keep out the dangerous bacteria that grows in the sugar solution used in feeders. If you love hummingbirds, clean the feeder daily with hot soapy water or hang a fuchsia basket instead of using a bird feeder.

Dodging rain drops, a hummingbird approaches a feeder in an east Thurston County backyard. Feeders must be cleaned daily to keep out the dangerous bacteria that grows in the sugar solution and can kill hummingbirds, gardening expert Marianne Binetti says.
Dodging rain drops, a hummingbird approaches a feeder in an east Thurston County backyard. Feeders must be cleaned daily to keep out the dangerous bacteria that grows in the sugar solution and can kill hummingbirds, gardening expert Marianne Binetti says.

Q. What should I plant for summer color in a very hot, west-facing bed next to the house? It is surrounded by a concrete driveway that adds to the heat in this bed.

A. Think heat-loving annuals such as geraniums, petunias and salvias. Tall salvias in the back (the majestic Salvia “Black and Blue,” f you have room as it grows to 5 feet tall) then the upright geraniums in the middle and low spreading petunias in the front.

If you need drought-resistant plants for a hot spot, consider sedum “Autumn Joy” for the back (this is a perennial so it will come back next year), heat-loving lantana in the middle, and a low, creeping ice plant for the border in front.

Q. I have a sunny porch and have tried hanging baskets full of sun-loving ivy geraniums, super petunias and bacopa in past summers. The baskets do well at the beginning of summer than tend to die slowly at the start of August and I end up tossing them by mid August. What am I doing wrong?

A. Sounds like you are not watering often enough as summer warms up and the plants fill the container with roots. Hanging baskets in the sun often need water every day. Water thoroughly until you see water flowing from the drainage holes. Blooming baskets also need fertilizing all summer.

Tip: If you are not very good at remembering to water, chose a basket of Fan Flower (Scavolea) or Angel Wing begonias. Both of these are heat tolerant but they will wilt to remind you to water and are more forgiving of erratic watering schedules than a mixed basket of bloomers that may stop producing blooms the first time they experience thirst.

In Western Washington you should be able to enjoy a hanging basket well into the month of September — but only with daily watering and frequent fertilizing.

Tip: Place a container garden beneath your hanging basket to catch and recycle the drainage water.

See Marianne in person

Marianne Binetti will speak on Edible Gardening at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 25, at Windmill Gardens at their Riverside location, 8217 Riverside Drive E, Sumner. For more information, go to www.windmillgardens.com.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.