Flower power on high

Spring is the time to decorate your home with loads of colourful flowers in baskets or pots.

Baskets of fun

Hanging baskets are a vital part of spring and summer garden and home décor, be it for herbs, veggies, ornamentals, cascading foliage plants or even an artistic display of succulents.

We love using wire baskets with a coconut fibre lining, which are light and stylish and do the job perfectly. The coconut fibre lining is vital: it holds the potting medium in place, it helps to retain moisture without making the soil waterlogged, and it allows the plants’ roots to breathe. The baskets from First Dutch Brands come in the standard 30cm size, which means that buying new liners is easy and doesn’t involve cutting anything to fit.

Hanging baskets need something to hang from, and First Dutch Brands has a variety of brackets and hooks built for this purpose, in basic and more ornate styles to fit the look you’re going for.

If you don’t have a spot for a hanging basket as such, think about using one of these half-moon or semi-circle baskets, which you attach directly to the wall. This one from First Dutch Brands is 30cm wide, which is a functional size that is neither too big nor too small, and it comes with easily accessible points for wall attachment with just two screws.

Try filling your baskets with nemesias, pelargoniums, petunias, calibrachoas, lobelias or alyssum. Find more info on how to do that here.

Pots of colour

If containers on the ground are more your thing, have a look at the new Egg Souk terracotta pots, available in four sizes (24cm, 30cm, 37cm and 45cm high), and which have a lovely tonal neutrality that will complement just about any look, attractive in their own right but not so bold as to take the focus off your beautiful plants.

Matching saucers are also available, in 16cm, 22cm, 30cm, 36cm and 41cm sizes. These pots can be used on their own, outside on a patio or inside on a prominent shelf or table, or they can be used as a set of four (one in each size). Alternatively, they can also be used in matching pairs or groups, all in the same size. Another use for pots as attractive as these is as pot covers. To do this, pot up your favourite plants in plastic pots that are the right size to slip into Egg Souk terracotta pots. Do multiples of each plant, and keep the rest outside in prime condition. Use one at a time in the Egg Souk terracotta pots inside, for a week or so at a time before rotating this plant back outside to maintain its health.

If you’re looking for plants to fill these beautiful terracotta pots, why not start a small but convenient herb garden? Place three or five of these pots together not far from the kitchen door. Plant mint in one, parsley in another and oregano, thyme chives or basil in the rest. You will be amazed at how often you find yourself heading to this clump of elegant pots with secateurs in hand to finish off supper.

In these pots, we used Brachyscome, Cupressus ‘Gold Crest’ and Pelargonium tacari ‘Bright Red’.