[Muckytyke]

Hi, I'm new to this part of the website.
I love to have hanging baskets and wall mounted planters filled with spring or summer bedding plants.
In my new home I am finding that high winds cause damage to my plants and also despite my best efforts severely dry out the baskets. I have usually had baskets looking good right through to the first frosts ... but not this year!!
Does anyone share this problem and have a solution? Perhaps some recommendations for wind resistant plants.

[sunshineband]

You really need plants that have thicker leaves, as those with thinner leaves just lose water really quickly when it is very windy, as well as sometimes getting torn too.

How about begonias? The bedding size ones should be fine, and are very pretty.

Smaller flowered petunias would trail and might cope with the wind too 

[Goosegirl]

Living about half a mile from the sea, I know this problem well!! I line my baskets with a proprietary green liner, then a turned-out compost bag with a small hole punched in the bottom, then I line that with capillary matting, then add compost with added soil and feed granules. They still get dried out despite watering every day. I don't find water gel granules help. The baskets swing in the wind, rotate and smash whatever is growing outwards against the windows. I have tried many years to get a decent basket but it is nigh impossible. What I did this year was to put a planted basket on top of a stand by our porch so it couldn't swing against the windows. The best plants are bacopa, mesembryanthemums, geraniums (not ivy-leaf), lobelia (not trailing) - er - I have never had a decent hanging basket that has survived more than a month. 

[Muckytyke]

 :happy: Thank you sunshineband and Goosegirl, I will certainly aim for thicker leaved plants and the others that you suggest which are mostly drought tolerant.

Further to my previous post, I had a thought concerning the type of basket that I have used this year. They are the black plastic ones with twelve push-out grids to enable plants to be easily inserted  into the side. I really like the design of them, but maybe the thin black plastic wall of the basket absorbs the heat from the sun, causing moisture to evaporate? I used the magic gel but like you GG I am not convinced that it helps too much.

Does anyone have any views on this or any other ideas? Thanks for reading and helping.

[Goosegirl]

You may well be right about the black plastic ones heating up and causing water to evapourate more quickly. Mine are all wrought-iron types. I find that the water can run off through the holes where the plants are inserted, so next year I am going to try making a "cup" from milk container plastic to insert in the bottom of the holes under the rootball to direct water back into the basket, similar to what you see in strawberry tubs. Maybe planting up earlier in the year will help the roots to get more established before they go out.