14.—HANGING BASKETS.
Hanging baskets are now in such universal use, that the taste for them has extended to every town or village in our land. All florists keep a supply of baskets, with flowers planted and growing, ready for sale. These baskets are quite expensive. We will give directions for some equally pretty, but inexpensive, which any ingenious boy or girl can make.
Take a small wooden bowl, bore holes in the sides to fasten in a cord, or screw in rings. Cover this with cones, acorns, black beans, &c., in fact, any pretty seed can be used to good effect; arrange them in different forms, like flowers. Varnish with asphaltum varnish. A cocoanut shell makes a pretty small basket. Either of the above are pretty with the white and green dry moss glued over the outside. Baskets can be made of sticks of the oak or maple tree, choosing those of the size of a man’s thumb, and cutting them of equal lengths, eight, ten, or twelve inches, according to the size of the basket desired. Then build your basket like a log hut; interlace your fingers, and you will see the design. Nail these sticks firmly in place, fasten in a wooden bottom. Heat a wire and thrust it through the end of each stick, and bend it into a loop; suspend it by cords fastened to these loops. This makes a durable basket to hang out of doors; any boy of twelve could make it.
Rustic baskets can be made with or without a wooden frame, but a wooden bowl is a good foundation; procure from the woods a quantity of blasted branches, or other crooked, rough, or knotty twigs. Soak them in hot water or steam them, so as to make them pliable. Stain the bowl with asphaltum or black varnish, then screw in rings for the hanging cords to pass through. When the varnish is dry, bend around the outside of the bowl one of the twigs or blasted branches, and nail it securely at the top edges on either side. Twine several pieces around in this way, according to your taste, until the whole surface is covered; finish by nailing one around the rim of the basket for a border. Varnish the branches like the bowl. The entire basket is then ready for use. All kinds of shaped baskets can be made out of wire, painting them green, and filling in moss in all the crevices; a painted tin dish, placed in for the dirt, will surely prevent any drip; thick moss is ordinarily sufficient. All kinds of these baskets should be filled up with light, sandy loam; a few bits of charcoal, and a piece of sponge in the bottom, assist in keeping the soil moist. Light, trailing vines should be trained to fall over the sides, and loop in and out of rustic work. We will give a short list of vines suitable for baskets.
Lobelia Erinus Paxtoni, an exquisite blue. White and pink Gypsophila. Panicum Variegatum. Tropæolum, ball of fire. Convolvulus Mauritanicus. Variegated Myrtle. Geranium Peltatum Elegans. Nierembergia. Linaria Cymbalaria. All varieties of Maurandia Barclayana. German Ivy. Alyssum Variegatum. Vinea Elegantissima Aurea. Moneywort.
PLANTS FOR THE CENTRE. Centaurea Gymnocarpa. Alternanthera. Sedum Sieboldii. Bijou Zonale. Achyronthes Gilsoni. Mrs. Pollock, &c.
These baskets should be exposed to the sun at least two or three hours daily, and in dry weather watered freely. If the surface of the basket between the plants is covered with moss, it will prevent the earth from drying as soon, and the basket will look neater.
Baskets of moss and wire can be every week dipped into a pail of water.