North Coast Gardening

How to Plant a Hanging Basket With an Angel Moss Liner

planting-a-hanging-basket_thumb.jpgYears ago, when I worked at a local independent garden center, one of my favorite winter activities was creating moss baskets to sell. We used loose sphagnum moss to line the baskets, and stuffed the sides and tops with lettuces, annuals and herbs. It was a blast!

So when Discoveries in Gardening asked if I’d like to test out one of their hanging baskets with the Angel Moss lining, I was excited! Eliminate the messy and time-consuming process of soaking the loose moss and stuffing just the right amounts around the wire frame? Yes, please! More time for planting and chasing the kitties around the yard.

(Update: I’ve gotten a number of emails asking where Angel Moss can be purchased, since Discoveries in Gardening has closed down. There is a distributor in Georgia who is selling NZ moss and liners like these.  They are Acadia Wholesale – Phone 770 271 0829 – Contact: Tim – please direct any requests to Tim.)

I made a quick tutorial on how I planted it up so you can see how easy the process is and feel inspired to make your own basket. They’re lovely hanging on a hook on the porch or in your front entry. I’m going to sink a post in the ground so I can hang my basket right in my garden bed for a little vertical interest – hopefully the fact that the post is made of wood will encourage the cats to use that as a scratching post instead of my poor tortured peach tree. (One can hope.)

Anyway, the process:

First, gather the ingredients:

  • Basket with moss liner and chain
  • Plants, preferably some that will spill over the sides (if you want to plant directly in the sides of a basket, get some six-packs because larger 4″ or quart-size plants won’t fit between the wires of most baskets)
  • Potting soil
  • Either Angel Moss Marbles or polymer crystals that help retain water (soak first or leave a little room in the basket as they will expand when wet)
  • Organic fertilizer, which slow-releases

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Add a little soil and your moss marbles or polymer crystals, if using:

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Then plant the sides, by peeling back the Angel Moss lining (it peels like handmade paper or a soft-textured cardboard) and popping the root ball through the hole:

angel moss lining

how to plant a hanging basket how to plant a hanging basket (3)

What to do if your plants are too big to fit in between the wires? Gently but firmly smoosh the rootball with your hands to make it a different shape:

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Add fertilizer and more soil:

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This basket’s a cone shape, so in order to pot up the top, I just stuck the bottom of the cone into my bag of potting soil to keep it from falling over:

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In my basket, I used:

(I’ve also written about other planting ideas for hanging baskets in the past.)

After planting the top, you’re done! Easy, right?

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Genevieve

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58 responses to “How to Plant a Hanging Basket With an Angel Moss Liner”

  1. Looks so sturdy and the cone shape makes this basket look like it should be mine.

  2. I would love to win one and try it out for myself! Thanks for the opportunity at another giveaway!

  5. this would look great on my front porch where I sit way too long looking at gardening magazines !

  7. I have an empty crook just waiting for some vertical color in such a lovely planter against a backdrop of tall evergreens.

  8. I love hanging baskets and I’m really digging black and rusted metal planters these days so this basket would be great with the few plant metal plant stands I’ve acquired. Trailing succulents like donkey tails for me, please!

  9. Love the idea…thanks for the step-by-step photos. How does Angel Moss differ from Coir lining?

  11. I love hanging baskets in the garden. The shape of this one, and the fact that you can plant down the side, makes it unique for metal hanging baskets – what a terrific design! By the way, your choice of plants in yours is quite nice. You can count me in on this giveaway. Thanks agin for making these available to us!

  12. Those calibrachoa are good performers, aren’t they? Love the profusion of blooms.

  14. Your planter looks beautiful. I’d love to give one of these hanging planters a testdrive!

  16. I love the name “Angel Moss Marbles”. Your basket is beautiful and will look more so as it fills out. The cone shape is unusal and attractive. Thanks for a chance to win one. Sharon West

  17. I love hanging baskets. This would be a great addition to my collection.

  20. Great looking basket with a great combination of plants. Basket that I sure would love to have.

  21. That looks like a great way to make a colorful hanging basket – my wife would LOVE it if one of those was delivered to the door!

  22. Roses are red,
    Violets are pink,
    How do you water a cone shaped basket,
    In the kitchen sink?

  24. Pretty – and thanks for the tip about the moss marbles. I haven’t used those before.

    *rolls dice*

  26. I have some of the round baskets and tabletop planters that use the coconut coir lining. This looks much more interesting to me and I would love to try them!

  27. Deep in my past gardening life I created moss hanging baskets, with all the hassle of dealing with loose moss. This looks way easier, and I actually love the shape and look of the basket. I would love to win one! Thanks, Genevieve, for another great contest.

  28. Love this! It’d look fabulous hanging on the sunny side of our house, right outside the frontroom window, too.

    Thanks for the giveaways, Genevieve!

  29. This is a beautiful basket, much nicer than most baskets for hanging. I have used pansies and also bacopa in my baskets, they fill out nicely. Great job on the instructions

  31. Gen, this looks great! Just remember, if I win, you can see it whenever you drive around Sunny Brae! 🙂

  34. I love hanging baskets. I place them on hooks on the posts of the fence. I have a postage stamp lot and this gives me some vertical plantings. I also like them hanging on those shepherds hooks. I can never have enough of them. Reminds me of living wreaths, which are sharp too.

    I’d definitely love one since I am penny pinching at the moment. 😉

  35. Eureka Sequoia Garden Club would love to plant a hanging basket and then
    raffle it to raise money to put in more baskets at the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. Please chose us so we can green up and beautify Eureka.

  36. I like the ones coming out of the sides. It’s like they’re trying to escape!

  38. Love moss baskets! Sometimes I buy a pre-planted plastic hanging basket, ease the root ball out, pop it into a moss basket, add soil as needed, and fertilize. Instant gratification!

  40. This is a nice giveaway. Like the idea of making my own hanging basket. Never have tried before. It will give me ideas how to make one in the future.

  43. I love these cone shaped containers. Would love to have one to plant up!

  45. Just beautiful. Love the hint about adding moss marbles. Hopefully this will help with my hanging baskets. Thanks.

  47. Love the look of this planter. If I win, I think I will plant it with hummingbird favorites and place it outside my kitchen window. Then when I have to be inside I could watch the hummers and the gorgeous planter at the same time! Thanks!!!

  49. My mom would love this. We are creating a new spot in the shady area in her yard. I would love to bring some living color to the space.

  54. if anyone knows where the moss marbles are available, please comment. A store here stopped carrying them, after having done so for years. They said that did not sell well. I guess not many people knew what there were for. I have for many years.(brag) 🙂

  55. it appears as if this liner supplies more moisture than the coconut liners- is this the case?