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

I use those coir-lined baskets a lot, and you're right--they drain VERY well and it's more of a problem keeping them moist (I have them outside and it's hot here.) I like them very much--no need to worry about over-watering even when we have one of our periodic downpours with several inches of rain. I think it's important to think about the kind of hanging basket--or pot--you're using when you pot a small plant into a larger pot. If it's plastic, I wouldn't go too much larger unless it's a fast-growing plant. If it's unglazed terra cotta, you can go to a bigger pot, and in a coir-lined basket still bigger. And of course the mix matters, and whether you're going to put it outside in the wind or inside in a naturally-cool house, like in the beautiful PNW, or----- There's always more than one thing to consider! And for what to plant in it--good suggestions so far, but I think pothos tends to prefer going up a moss pole, or a tree like I'm lucky enough to have right now--the leaves are already starting to get quite large. By August they should be huge, and they only do that when they grow up instead of hanging. Have you thought about begonias or maybe gesneriads? I have a columnea and a eucodonia in coir-lined baskets and they are sending out shoots through the coir as well as upright. Pretty neat!

Well, Im "swooping in here" late, Dafy! I pretty much second what everybody else has said! Cram them in! When IÂve helped make up hanging baskets and mixed pots in the past, we pretty much knocked the plants out of the pots (they were grown in) and crammed them into the pot or basket side by sideÂand then filled in what little soil we needed in the (small) cracks between the plants! Doing that gives you a nice, full look, FASTÂand if anything should die off on you, you still have lots left to fill in. And, Re: what David said: When I was furloughed after 9-11, I went back to Illinois to help my brother, who sells bedding plants, baskets, and veggies in spring (he has commercial greenhouses and grows the stuff himself), we joked about the same thing! Back there, in addition to knowing people would let them dry out, it was often the people who would come in "too early" and then not know they had to bring annual baskets in when there was a sudden cold snap! More business! Replacing frozen ones definitely made up part of his business. Since heÂs only open for about 6 weeks in spring, he didnÂt get into a lot of replacements for the ones that dried out and died! HeÂs already closed for the season by the time itÂs getting hot out! AndÂspeaking of things drying outÂcoco mat baskets are going to be reallyreallyreally hard to keep wet in our climate! The first garden center I worked at out here in Colorado sold them, and we had trouble keeping them alive long enough to sell them (and we were watering constantly)Âand I seriously doubt that any of the people who bought them were able to keep them alive for more than a couple weeksÂand they were like $60 a basket! PaulinoÂs doesnÂt even sell them. I strongly recommend that you line the inside of the coco mat with a couple thin layers of plastic before planting in themÂwith holes in the bottom for drainage. Without something to help keep the moisture in, youÂre going to have a lot of trouble. Even with a plastic lining, and even in shade, youÂre probably going to have trouble keeping them moist when it gets hot outÂtho I must add that begonias definitely donÂt like to stay wet all the time, so be careful about that. TheyÂll rot off quite easily if they stay too wet. So with begonias itÂll be a pretty fine line between too wet and too dry! For petunias and anything youÂre hanging in the sun, theyÂll probably need to be watered a couple times a day when itÂs hot outÂand thatÂs if you put the plastic in to line them. When the plants get big, theyÂll use a LOT of water in the heat. ThatÂs true for most of your things in pots too! I know IÂve been telling you to let them dry out between waterings, but itÂs still cold out now, and the small plants donÂt use much water. ThatÂs all gonna turn around when they start getting big, and when the heat goes up! Hope thatÂs not too discouraging! Growing in pots and baskets just takes more monitoring than growing in the ground where the moisture levels (and temperatures) are more stable. (Glad youÂre gonna have a little piece of dirt to plant in too! ;-) ) Oh! One more thing! IÂd pick up a couple trailing somethings to put in the baskets to hang down over the sides. There are several different things you can get if you go check out the bedding plants at a "real" garden center. I like, and recommend, Vinca major. ItÂs the large leaf vinca vine, and it looks really nice in basketsÂI think! It comes in plain green, and a green and white variegated oneÂand thereÂs also a green and yellow variegated one that I really like, but itÂs harder to find. ItÂs Vinca major ÂAureaÂ. Time to cram! Digit, the only thing I can think to add to the "houseplant" list is pothosÂtho it doesnÂt grow fast, so youÂd need to buy one, or have one that youÂve been growing inside long enough for it to "hang." But you didnÂt say what kind of light youÂre putting it/them in! Pothos is pretty much a shade or no hot midday (outdoor) sun plant. And as Mayberry and Poly have said above, anything thatÂs been growing insideÂor even in a greenhouse, will need to be very gradually acclimated to a new life outdoors in "outside" sun. Glass filters out a bunch of the "stuff in the sun." Ever try to get a suntan sitting behind glass! And, as Mayberry said, God didnÂt create plants to live indoors, but just introduce them to their new life s l o w l y. Dafy, are you REALLY successfully growing Tillandsia out here??? TheyÂre "air" plants, and "our" air doesnÂt have what they needÂmoisture! When I was a kid and my parents brought some back from Florida one year, we didnÂt even have much luck growing them in "wet" (yuck) Illinois! IÂm amazed that theyÂre working for you! Skybird

I have hayrack window boxes that are lined with cocoa fiber mats. Here is what I do. I cut a piece of plastic garbage bag and place it in the bottom of the liner. I poke some holes in the plastic with a pencil for drainage. Then I fill the container with potting soil. I mix in one of those granulated water retention products (SoilMoist) and then add the plants. I water well. Finally, I add a layer of regular pine bark mulch. Even with all this, the planters needs to be watered daily during the summer heat. I have access to a hose, but I don't like to drag the hose out just to water a few window boxes, so I just use an old fashioned watering can and a step ladder. I find that most times, I can use the mats for about 2 years before they need replacing. We have a small Mom&Pop garden shop that carries these liners in stock, so that's where I buy them. If they are out of stock, they will order them for me. Hope this gives you some ideas for your baskets!