They do look so good purple, and I cant help but notice your love of purple in all your plants LOL.... will you be bring in all your hanging pots over the winter or is it safe enough to leave them out down there??
Christine

Thanks, Christine! Yes, guilty, I do LOVE purple. So glad T. zebrina grows so fast, I've got it everywhere. A few can stay out, but I will bring most of them in. Starting to wonder about the strength of the ceilings...!

Starting to wonder about the strength of the ceilings...!

LOL !!!!

Very nice, Purple!

I can't help but wonder though, if some of those plants wouldn't prefer some slightly bigger holes, once they mature a bit? It looks great though, and I bet even better in a month or two!

VG

That's a good question I've asked myself also. A lot of the plants I know well enough to know they never grow stems too thick for these holes, and I tried to use only those, but some might. The Tradescantia sillamontana pieces definitely can have stems much thicker than that. I don't know what that will do/cause and am curious. Will report on it all...!

And hey! Not all plastic hanging baskets are made of the same kind of plastic, and as it ages, it becomes more brittle. I was attempting to put holes in a couple empty old ones yesterday and just ended up with cracks instead of holes. If your pot is not one you can replace or part with, I might recommend against trying this.

After I got in high gear with this, I realized I have somewhere around 20 baskets I can put holes in. I'll have to wait for stuff to grow more to finish filling all of the holes I've made. Some of them ended up being a lot bigger, used a pruning thing to snip bigger holes in places, especially for Tradescantia pallida.

Already though, the pots look so much better/more interesting to me. Also discovered that it's possible to thrust an awl into the sides of some pots without any tapping with a hammer.

Fun! I totally see the potential!

Oh yeah, I've been having a blast with this! Trying to wait a little longer to show some updates, but everything's growing well, even fewer casualties/fails than I'd anticipated. I've snipped and snapped everything to bits, so even though it's coming on Fall, these pots look like spring pots, almost all tiny plants. Some of the cute little succulents are making flowers though, so that's awesome.

Already anticipating taking them back outside next spring, hopefully by then looking like they do in my minds' eye next year. I probably put waaaaay too much in each one, but that's what I wanted, I think...!

It looks like I'll have a LOT fewer pots inside this winter, so many plants have been moved to hanging baskets and 'companionized.'

Oh, I hope they do look awesome next year! Sometimes, the first year of a creation looks meh, but it's all worth it!

Just reading up on all the posts, how are your plants doing so far?
Can you update new pictures?
Love the ones you have posted so far!

katbird

Hi Kat! Thanks for asking. I've continued to add so many holes to pots, there's not enough stuff for a lot them yet, so everything looks kind of frozen in time because I'm constantly harvesting the longer pieces to share. Just brought stuff in yesterday, except for a few that are in a shed, they had ants.

This one I've left more alone than not:
{{gwi:2875}}

Guess I should put the hummingbird feeder away:
{{gwi:2877}}

Foreground pot wanted to crack instead of allow holes. The side with some plants is toward the window.
{{gwi:2878}}

Many are not hanging:
{{gwi:2879}}

The west window is frustrating. The sun slants toward the north of it...
{{gwi:2880}}

Wow! they have really taken off! I
miss my houseplants alot.. Have been looking for one that is called
Creeping Charley and
I think it is the same as Swedish Ivey.. at least from pictures they look the same.. leaves get stiff when in good health..

Love your plants'! and I want to get a bunch like you have,, all in good time I guess!

Thanks, Kat! I've gotten a lot of new plants this year for postage. If you keep your eyes open for offers like that, (and are interested,) that's an easy way to get stuff that might not be at stores. I sent a lot of 'extra' plants to new homes that way recently too, a 2-way street. Hope I'll be in a position to do it again next year with a lot more plants.

I think CC/SI is Plectranthus verticillatus. Hopefully the little sprigs I've gotten will grow quickly enough to share soon!

Looks nice purple.I use my wood burning tool to put holes in plastic pots,it's much easier and you'll have bett e r control and your pots won' crack.

I have a potted geranium,and it has 2 staghorn ferns coming out of a couple of the drain holes,and the same pot also has a maidenhair fern growing out of the drain holes,as well as in the top.The birds or the wind must have planted them as i didn'.

In fact,i've never ever owned a maidenhair fern,but i do have 3 staghorn ferns on the patio,and they are all different.
Kathi

That sounds really cool & jungle-ish! If you feel like taking/sharing a pic, I'd love to see it!

I should have talked 'to people' before starting the holes project, but live'n'learn, huh? Your method sounds a lot easier. I will probably re-do a lot of these in the spring, now that the experiment phase is done, the ice broken. I just want the hanging baskets to look like globes of foliage, without any ugly pot visible... bigger holes would be easier to work with, and opens the possibilities to plants with fatter stems. I'm thinking TC's would look great like this!

i know you prolly want to use the baskets that you already have, but strawberry baskets should be very good for this sort of planting. this one looks almost like yours.
http://tinyurl.com/lxrjvq8
another thing to use - pond baskets. they are usually cheap and come in all sizes. some fine webbing can be cut out for larger holes.
this one has larger holes already.
http://tinyurl.com/k34g86b
but of course they drip and best need to be lined with coir matting. but a thought anyway.

TY, Petruska. I've also become aware of pots called 'bloom masters' so apparently my idea is not as unique as I thought. That's really cool though, someone thought enough about pots like that to make some, and others think enough of them to buy them.

This past spring I had tons of baskets planted, then tried adding to them, mid-summer. This year I'm going to start each one packed at the top and sides, now that the idea is in progress. Will probably discover I don't need 45 hanging baskets (to start...)

This is my fav pot at this time.

Looks great, Purple!
About the holes: are they still big enough for all the plants? You might get larger holes with a (big) drill, but if you use one, make sure to go VERY SLOWLY without pressing hard, or the plastic might crack (has happened to me once before).

TYVM! Yes, so far - so good, with the holes. You're totally right about cracking. I had some of that, especially trying to put holes in empty pots. Also discovered that after I poke a hole with my awl, I can just use a pruner to snip a chunk out of the side. Easier, quicker, bigger holes. They're not round, but I don't care.

After playing with these fugly plastic things, I feel like it would be worthwhile to invest in some iron ones/coir liners. I always thought those were ugly, but now I know how to cover them up.

This post was edited by purpleinopp on Fri, Jan 17, 14 at 14:27