Begonia hanging baskets

Hi everyone,

I have a few questions about creating Begonia hanging baskets.

I saw a few last year where the hanging baskets looked like a ball of flowers. I'm wanting to create a few for myself this year, if anyone could please help and answer the following:

1 - When planting the Begonia's into the hanging baskets, do you plant them at the top opening and let them hang over, or do you have some planted in the sides of the baskets too? I've seen the 'Easy Fill' hanging baskets and wondered if people use them.

2 - Whats the best type of Begonia's to use in hanging baskets

3 - Am i best ordering the Begonia's as plugs and then growing them on?

I would greatly appreciate any help or advice

Cheers

Craig

 

Hi Craig and welcome to GC
I plant 3 trailing Begonias in a 14" basket . The type I have most success with are Begonia Illumination . These you should find in good Garden centres from late April. They come in Scarlet, Apricot and White . Get them from a garden centre if you can they will be big enough to plant into a basket. They grow well in shade and will flower through to November with very little attention .

 

Thank you very much for the welcome

That is a very nice hanging basket! I have a hanging basket very similar to that so should be able to achieve similar results.

Thank you very much for that info. I will be able to use that type on my back garden as it is North facing.

What are they like in full sun?

 

Hi Craig

Me and Harry grow practicably the same begonias , I grew begonia "Crackling fire" the white and the pink dont last as long as the red colour but they have brought a new colour out "cream yellow" but a bit on the pricey side just for two so I may try next year ,

I grow mine in a 16inch basket , 5 plants in each I only plant in the top NOT in the sides as the will easily cover the basket , they are slow to grow but gather pace as the summer goes on mine where flowering into November , mine both grow in full sun from 1.00pm till dusk , dont over water when they are still small keep soil just moist t and if you have a greenhouse keep them in till May when its warmed up outside.

these where taken September/October , fed tomato food twice a week

Spruce View attachment 13974

 

Hi Spruce,

Again, very nice hanging basket!

I do have a greenhouse, well its a plastic 4 tier one but it does its job! I will have a look out for Begonia's in April and keep them in my greenhouse until May.

I have some tomato feed, i used this on my onions last year, thanks for that tip!

I'm quite looking forward to doing these now!

 

Hi Craig1987.I was dissapointed with our hanging baskets until I tried begonias.I also use a 14-16" basket but I made one up for my sister with a 12" and looks just as nice,just smaller.The mistake I made was I never put enough plants in the basket,frightened of overcrowding, until one day on you tube I watched a demostration where they crammed the plants in.As long as you give enough feed & water they are fine.
For my Begonia hanging baskets (14") I use 5 Begonia Destiny plants for the top and around 11-12 around the sides,Begonia Sparkle,Trailing.Hope this helps.

 

Forgot to say, I personally order medium plugs from Gardening Direct. Never had problems with them but that is my experience. Small plugs were just that, too small so we always get medium plugs.
I did try as an experiment buying some Begonia seeds but without heat & overhead lighting they take ages to geminate. All I did was put them in seed tray in summer and plonked them in greenhouse, not they way to do it but just wanted to see what happens. So I suppose if you want "instant" buy the plugs but if you get pleasure from growing from seed and have the resources to do so, go for it.

I would also be interested to hear how others have got on and their method of growing Begonias from seed.Particulary if you have heating & overhead lighting what month you really need to start seeds off to get plants ready for summer.

This year having more time I have ordered my begonia plugs but everything else I am growing from seed, first time so see how it goes.Petunias,Impatians,Zinnias,Antiryniums,Sweet Peas & Marigolds. Had some help from members of the forum on this.
I will start them off in a heated propagator them transfer small plants to conservatory before potting up into 4" pots and out to blow away greenhouse.
I have read conservatory can be a bit iffy light wise so if no joy then will make overhead light contraption, just one step at a time.

 

Thanks for that info Trogre,

I've had a look on Gardening direct, for the 'Begonia Apricot Sparkle' its around £12.99 for 70 medium plugs and the same for the 'Begonia Destiny'.

What kind of prices are they in the garden centres?

Just trying to weigh up whether to order them online now or wait until they appear in the garden centres.

thank you all for your help with this by the way, its really appreciated

 

Buying from a shed,nothing wrong with that but I am sure most will say to buy 70 medium plugs from gardening centres will be a lot more expensive.
I am not sure if it will be a factor but as generally they are saying some of the big sheds will not be selling Busy Lizzie again this year.As an alternative one of the plants they recommend Begonias so may just may be sold quick.
I did also read I think on this site and web that Sunpatiens will be the big replacement for Busy Lizzie this year so again you may be ok, 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other,decisions decisions.

 

Another tip , I put a cereal bowl in the bottom of the basket after I have put the liner in , add swell gel and mix in some slow release feed pellets into the bowl this acts as a reservoir of feed and water, the trick with baskets is feed and water and dead heading depending what you are growing, when filling up dont get a cheap compost to save pennies its just not worth it.

I normally do my own mix 3/4 multi-purpose and the rest John innes no 3, cup of perlite and a cup of vermiculite to fill two 16 inch baskets

These are photos from two years ago, surfina petunias , very nice but dont last as long as the begonia's

 

Some lovely baskets !
Trogre stunning begonia basket When you say you plant 11 around the side , do you mean like the sketch below? I grow most plants in 3" pots so I normally only put 7 plants in max. I have never ordered a tray of 70 , I wouldn't know what to do with so many of the same plant !

 

Gosh HarryS that was a good drawing, no way could I duplicate something similar to show you so I doctored it in Photoshop. As you can see I put one begonia every other space in hanging basket near the top, not the middle like you got. Roughly the top of root of begonia is around 2" (50mm) from the top rim. I then place a begonia in the spaces in between the other plants, roughly the middle as you got. It will seem big gaps but believe me they will fill out, you can also work out roughly how many plants you need. I do not know about other members but I always find the Begonias are slow starters and are not fully grown by the time the rest of annuals are at full height. But believe me when they will catch up and normally last longer than other flowers.
In all my baskets I do put those water crystals and some slow fertilizer pellets as well as feed them liquid feed.
Do not know if I put too many slow fertilizer pellets in or they do not work as when I empty my baskets they are still there!!
Peter

 

Hi Peter , not my drawing just something I found on Google images !
I'll try side planting begonias this year in a basket They are slow starters , usually getting into July before they get going . I usually have 2 baskets at the back of the house which gets the sun until noon . Never tried them at the front which is full sun and wind ! I use water crystals as well , not 100% sure if they help to a great extent . The slow release fertiliser I use as well , the pellet doesn't dissolve it leaks out the fertiliser so you should see little 100's and 1000's there . I feed my baskets and containers with Tomato Feed from early August about once a fortnight . I really do think that keeps them going until late October

 

I have just placed my order with Jersey Direct.

I ordered 70 Begonia Sparkle - trailing and 70 Begonia Amber Delight for a total of £25.98.

I'm going to clear large areas of my borders and plant the 'delights' to bring in some nice colour. I think i put in too many different plants within the last two years making it look messy. Hopefully the delights will make a better effect. I'll also use a few in the tops of the hanging baskets.

I have 3 hanging baskets at the moment which will be planted with the trailing begonias, i'm also thinking of buying a large wall basket/trough which i'll fill with the same.

i wont be using all 140 plants, i'll be donating some to my family