Grooming ought to be an ongoing thing. I find that I do a small amount of cutting/heading back on a regular basis. Thinning is important, too, as plants mature and begin to crowd each other for space. I don't what you fertilize with but I'd suggest something with lower Nitrogen than Phosphorus in the analysis and that you use it more frequently than once per month, if it is a soluble product. I fertilize the heck out of annual planters, though am stingy with that practice for any other kind of planting.

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 the same problem in Florida with my orchids. They hang in various baskets under the trees. Not only do the birds try to nest in the baskets, they love the sphagnum moss which is part of the potting mix. They also love the coir baskets, pulling chunks off the baskets which leaves big holes where all the potting mix falls out. One thing I did last year which seemed to work was to add small lava rock to the top of the potting mix. They do not like it and have left the plants alone. I removed it after nesting season and saved it for this year. I found a bunch of house wrens and finches landing in the baskets this morning and I knew it was time to get the rock out. You could probably use small gravel. Would work the same. Good luck and let us know how it goes... Jane

what they said ... did you make the basket.. if so. the lesson would be ... couple of them ... its overplanted ... a bit of instant gratification early ... second ... because there are so may plants.. i suspect the only way to water it is by wetting everything ... and i bet you water in the evening???? in my MI ... mildew is a hot humid still night phenom ... exacerbated by wetting plants after dinner and making them go into dark with wet leaves ... to devcrease such ... since you have no control over wind ... you thin the planting ... so what little air there is can move thru the plant.. and you water in the morning .. so the plant is fully dry at dusk ... way back in my learning curve.. i would come home and water all evening long.. very meditative after a hard day at work ...giving everything a good wetting.. soil and leaves.. and learned real fast about PM ... this is when i learned.. on the ground.. to use a breaker bar .. see link .. available everywhere ... and only watered the soil in the evening .... the simplest solution is baking soda in a windex type bottle ... or a better hardware store one ... but to start.. i might cut everything back to about 3 inches.. then spray it down .. top of leaves.. bottoms.. everything.. then move it to bright shade for a week since you slathered on the BS .. lol .. the soda... and see how it responds ... an experiments always teaches you something for next year.. rather than just throwing it away now ... BTW .. i see a lot of seed pods on the petunia.. they need to be removed.. or the plant will go in decline anyway.. and the easiest way is to just prune back hard ... ken