No need to freak out kim.....you can cut back just about anything.....it is a good practice once your plants have outgrown their planters and are drying out too fast.....my impatiens are becoming little trees and are drinking alot and may start to seperate in cooler months ahead...I will post a photo after I hack the hell out of them and the after they recover....I will be away for a week at the end of the month and everything would be dead when I come back if i didn't reduce them....regular petunias planted on the ground really benefit from heavy cutting back the last of july to avoid getting leggy......I think you should try the flowering kale at this late date for planting in your zone.......and a trailer like creeping jenny or vinca.....if you can find something small in flower like begonias or lobelia at this time of year and you can stuff it in there, do it...........this time of year you can get away with cramming in some plants because they will not have enough season left to be overplanted.......your kale and trailer planted so close to your house should get you to christmas.......another option would be geraniums or marigolds(or both) if you think you need a flowering plant......you could buy some kale put it in the ground, plant geraniums or marigolds for now with a trailer.....and swap them in november.....Kale will look nice to minus 20.......as long as snow does not lay on it you could have it well into january that close to the house, when choosing Kale, try to find some that the stems are not too tall, if they are a little leggy, plant them deep..........I don't believe you posted your supertunia photo kim......lets see what your other containers are doing

That's Pink Jasmine, Tressa, or sometimes called Chinese Jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum). But again, it also likes to vine more than trail, so you'd constantly be fighting its nature to want to grow upwards and along your hanging basket chains. And it is VERY prolific. Smells wonderful, but very vigorous plant, at least for us here in the coastal S. California climate. I considered it for my arbor/patio cover, but my landscaper and I decided against it due to it tending to look ratty and scraggly during a large part of the season. If you can get to it to prune, it's not bad, but I'm not inclined to climb up 10 feet to the top of my patio cover to clean it up :-) Patty S.

I have two favs. I hang 8 every year and have tried many combos. My very favs are scavola (fan flower)blue/lav., cuz it take the sun heat and bounces right back if I forget to water until it tells me. It stays looking great with a slight bit of pruning mid season. In fact, it is one of the few things still looking wonderful. The other is Dragon wing begonia in red or pink. It gets clusters of blooms like the Angel wing, but growth is draping. This is a must have. It does well in morning sun and quite a bit of shade - every place I put it, it does well and it still looks fantastic. I have not tried it in full sun or total shade, but very near - may next year. Another plus with it is I overwinter it inside and it blooms a little all winter, but is not near so messy as the wax begonias. I have come to like these two plants alone in hanging pots, cuz all others I try wane during mid-summer or die off completely making the whole container look a sorry mess. These look good when I buy them and still look good when frost hits or the beg. stays thru winter, if I take it inside. What more can you ask? The only other plant I know that is nearly this dependable and continuous bloom are the impatiens in our area and they aren't ususally full to start with - important in our short growing season. Guess I could buy mature baskets tho, now that I think of it. Guess I will for a change. jan

Really digging this basket this year although it's in the back yard. It has various Begonias, Tradescantia zebrina and fluminensis, Gibasis geniculata. What's the star of your show?