Friday, February 17, 2012

Artificial Hanging Baskets

We've probably still got a few frosty nights ahead, but springtime is not too far off! As last year was my first year to have a porch just ASKING for colorful hanging plants, I bought 4 gorgeous and bright baskets to dress up the front of the house. I thought they might appreciate being rescued from the nursery to really stand out on my porch. They showed their appreciation by...dying. In just a few days. What could I have possibly done or not done in a matter of days?? I watered them. I think.

I couldn't stand the look of the bare porch without bursts of color with flowers cascading beside the beams. So I bought 4 more. And since the title of this post is "Artificial Hanging Baskets," you can guess how that story ended.

I don't do well with something that is alive, but non-verbal, I guess. Plants are a living thing, but they don't tell me when they need something, so I forget them. If they talked, I might listen. Then check myself in.

They served no purpose but for a mama bird to lay her tiny eggs in my basket. But how was I to know until I took it down? Tiny, creepy-looking baby birds with their wide open mouths and bulging eyes squawked at me, looking like something from Land Before Time, and I almost dropped that basket to surely kill them all. But I kept cool...running like a bird myself flapping my wings on one side and high stepping while holding the basket at arms length on the other to sit it down on the end of the porch. They were just baby birds. But they caught me by surprise.



Hence, I was DONE with these short-lived, money pit hanging baskets. UNTIL the stroke of genius. Fake ones will never die! And surely no one would notice driving by or maybe even walking up to the house with them hanging up high. Yes, I may still have to contend with the nesting birds, but this time, I'll be prepared. So at the end of spring last year, I made these cuties, and held onto the pics to share.


I dumped the baskets (Don't worry, I didn't dump the birds. Remember I had 8 baskets to choose from!) and brought them inside with my assorted artificial floral stems I picked up from Micheals. I wanted hanging amaranthus the most.

I used plastic bags to fill the basket and placed a flat styrofoam circle on top.


I stuck the stems and leaves in one by one with the hanging amaranthus on the outer edges to drape over the side.



Then, I used mulch leftover from doing our flower beds to fill in all around the flowers, covering the styrofoam. This immediately worked wonders for how real they looked!


They looked so pretty and bright hanging in the sunshine!



When floral goes on sale, I'll stock up to fill it in even more. Think anyone will notice when my springtime hanging plants look the exact same every year?? If they do, I might have a stalker on my hands.


If you can support the real thing, yes please do. But until plants learn to say "Feed me!" I'm sticking with these guys.

Until Next Time,
Katie

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