How to Make an Easter Basket With Plants

An Easter basket full of plants can be used as a decorative centerpiece for your Easter table, or simply used to decorate the home around Easter time. Spring flowers are associated with Easter as they represent rebirth, so an Easter basket filled with spring plants makes an appropriate and attractive gift that will last indefinitely.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Easter basket of your choice
• Flowering springtime plants
• Potting soil or compost
• Trowel
• Spray bottle
• Thin plastic sheeting to fit inside basket
• Mulch
• Scissors
• Small Easter trinkets

Preparing the Basket

1. Line the basket with the plastic sheeting. At this stage it can come up over the edges of the basket if it is easier, as you can trim it back later.

2. Place your plants (still in their pots) in the basket and move them around until you are happy with the arrangement of sizes and colors from every side. Taller plants should go in the middle and smaller ones toward the outside so they can all be seen. Remove the plants from the basket, but remember the positions you have chosen for the plants.

3. Fill the basket with potting soil or compost. Do not pack the soil in tightly, as there needs to be room for the plants.

Planting the Easter Basket

4. Use the trowel to make a hole in the middle of the basket. Make it deep enough so that the plant will sit about an inch below the basket's rim.

5. Ease the first plant out of its pot by tapping on the sides of the pot and gently tugging at the base of its stem.

6. Gently place the plant in the hole and pack the soil around it with your hands, adding more soil if necessary to hold the plant in place.

7. Make a hole for the next plant in the same way. Remember to leave enough room between plants to allow some growth, but space them close enough together to make the basket look full and vibrant.

8. Continue in this manner until the basket is full of plants and you are happy with the arrangement. Now is the time to move the plants around if you are not satisfied with their positions.

9. Spray the plants with water but do not soak the soil.

10. Trim any visible edges of the plastic with scissors.

11. Sprinkle bark chips, stones or any attractive mulch over the surface of the soil, covering it entirely. You can arrange small Easter trinkets like eggs and chicks on the surface of the basket if you wish.

Tips & Warnings

• The choice of plants is entirely up to you. A whole basket of one type of plant can look just as attractive as an arrangement of plants of different colors and sizes. After Easter, or when the plants have outgrown the basket, they can be removed and planted in the garden or in larger containers.
• If using a wicker basket, make sure that it is well lined with the plastic, with no holes or gaps. Do not water heavily as the wicker may rot.