H is for Hanging Baskets

Come Mother's Day they are everywhere! Hanging baskets full of petunias, geraniums, calibrachoa, fuschia. Who could resist them? My mom receives two each year - one from my brother and one from me. We never consult each other but still manage to each bring her different colors or plants each year. These baskets thrive on her back porch, bursting with color and visited by curious hummingbirds.

When I became a mom my children also started giving me a hanging basket for Mother's Day. Each year I was full of hope. But those poor plants usually only lasted a month or so before drooping away. I tried everything from choosing different plants to hanging them in different spots to experimenting with different watering schedules. Nothing worked.

Finally one year I declared that no one was allowed to ever buy me a hanging basket again. I was tired of having my heart broken year after year. Instead I haul out two houseplants - a spider plant and an asparagus fern - and hang them on either side of my front door.

That doesn't mean I'm not tempted by the siren call of the hanging baskets I see...everywhere. But, to misquote Dirty Harry, "A gardener's got to know their limitations."