The Wire Basket Project

I bought this wire basket at Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara last January, a stop on our trip home from Thousand Oaks.

It was this planting—also at Terra Sol—that inspired me to buy the basket, thinking I'd do something similar, especially the part with the fern growing out the side of the liner.

Over the winter months I replaced rotting burlap on a couple of my epiphytic fence plantings...

This one was challenging since the Pyrrosia rhizomes were actually growing through the burlap, thankfully I was able to work the loose weave apart and thread the rhizomes through.

I saved this large piece to use lining the wire basket, but just could not make it work. The folds got too deep and it just looked sloppy.

So I broke down and bought a premade coir liner.

Then I decided to line the basket with moss and put the liner inside.

 

Nope! The liner was now too big.

As luck would have it I'd originally bought a liner that was too small, so I went with that one.

I also sliced a few openings in the side, to help the ferns grow out through the moss.

Here are the plants I used. There are two Begonia grandis ‘Alba’, two divisions of Pyrrosia lingua 'Ogon Nishiki', and three 4" pots of Blechnum penna-marina. Once I got working I also added a 4" pot of Pyrrosia lingua, as the Pyrrosia divisions I was working with were just too sparsely leafed out to make any impact.

I bought the Begonia grandis at Thicket on Alberta, I think they'd potted up some of the volunteers growing under one of their nursery tables!

Working the Pyrrosia rhizomes through the side.

I wanted to stuff one of the Blechnum penna-marina root balls through the side as well, but couldn't get it to look right. Oh well, this plant is a fast spreader so it will be growing out and around soon enough.

Here you can see the plants all tucked in and the soil topped off. Before I moved the basket into place in the garden I covered the soil with a layer of moss.

I'd tried the empty basket form in several places around the garden and decided my favorite location was on the pathway to the shade pavilion. Can you see it?

There it is...

I've wanted to use Begonia grandis in my garden for years now, but since it's so late to emerge I've held off, knowing I'd grow impatient with the empty space. This planting felt like great excuse to finally use it.

Finally, I added a couple of Tillandsia to fill in and add a different texture. I look forward to watching the plants settle in over the summer months and hope everything (except the Tillandsia) will prove sufficiently hardy to return again next year even better.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.