Plant up a basket of flowers for spring or Easter

A pink basket from Goodwill serves as a seasonal display for spring oir Easter. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

I recently read an article about too much of a good thing at thrift stores.

Glassware and baskets made the list. Glassware picks up dust and smudgy fingerprints, making it unattractive. And baskets seem only to sell well during the holidays, sitting on shelves the rest of the year. I had just gone to Goodwill to get a couple of baskets to use in a demonstration program and to pick up hyacinth vases.

Gather supplies in the area where you will be planting up your basket. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

There on the shelf was a lovely pink basket, perfect for the Easter holiday and the spring season. Here’s how I turned it into an outdoor container, which also could be used indoors on a table for a few days. The cooler the basket’s setting, the longer the flowers will last.

• At the garden center, select some pansies, violas, forced bulbs, primroses, ranunculus, snapdragons or any other cool-season plants. Pick up a bag of potting mix, if needed.
• Line the basket with dampened paper towel or newspaper. Place the paper along the sides of basket, too. The paper keeps the soil from seeping through the basket’s weave. If the basket has a plastic liner, punch some holes in it for drainage, if used outdoors.

Line a basket with dampended paper towels or newspaper to keep the potting mix from flushing out. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

• Decide if the basket will be seen from all sides, such as on a porch step, or one side, such as against a house.
• Place the tallest plant in the middle or offset a bit in the basket if it is to be seen from all sides. For a container seen from one side, place the taller plants in the back. Good choices are primrose, snapdragons, ranunculus and taller forced bulbs, such as tulips or daffodils.
• Fill in with the rounded forms of pansies or violas, or add the spiky texture of blue juncus or other ornamental grasses.
• Add a few pussy willow branches, usually about twice the height of the planting. Or buy some inexpensive birch branches and spray paint them to match the trim on the house or the colors of spring. Tie a bow to enhance an Easter basket look.

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