How to Identify Flowers in Hanging Baskets
A hanging basket overflowing with flowers can provide fragrance and color to your garden or patio. Hanging flower baskets are abundant at plant nurseries, floral shops and home improvement stores during the spring and summer seasons. They are eye-catching, and many shoppers will happily bring one or two home without knowing which flowers they contain. Knowing which flowers are featured in your hanging basket, however, can help you to better care for them and ensure that they thrive. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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1
Access a helpful resource that contains photos and descriptions of a wide assortment of flowers. Read a book on the subject, such as "American Horticultural Society Practical Guides: Hanging Baskets." View an educational website about gardening, such as www.garden.org.
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2
Understand the two basic characteristics with which you can identify flowers: color, or the hues of the petals and stems; and form, or how the flower is put together.
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3
Pull your hanging baskets down to eye level, where you can closely examine the flowers contained inside.
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4
Note the color of a flower, as this is often the first step in identifying it. See if there are any distinctive color patterns, such as purple petals with yellow centers.
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Pay attention to a flower's form. Note whether there is a single bloom on top of one stem, or several blooms branching out from a stem. Remember that trailing flowers with several blooms on a long, cascading stem are commonly included in hanging baskets.
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Look at a flower's shape. For example, it may be bell-shaped, trumpet-shaped, tubular or star-shaped.
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Consider a flower's size. Determine whether it is small or large. Note the size of its individual parts---a large flower may be comprised of many small petals.
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Assess a flower's texture. For example, it may be velvety, smooth, thorny or sticky.
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Familiarize yourself with basic plant anatomy. Know that a stamen is the male reproductive part of a plant that usually looks like a long stalk coming out of the center of the petals. Remember that a pistil is the female reproductive part of a flower that is also centrally located and usually features a swollen base.
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Compile all your observations about a single flower and turn to one of the resources mentioned in Step 1 to find a flower that matches its description and appearance. Confirm your identification by consulting a detailed photograph or drawing of the flower.
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Tips & Warnings
Once you have identified a flower, find out how much water and sunlight it requires to thrive.
Trailing flowers such as creeping zinnias, moss verbena, blue bird and creeping gypsophila are common in hanging baskets.
A stellate, or star-shaped, flower contains many separate petals arising from a single point, such as a daisy.
A cruciform, or cross-shaped, flower has four petals positioned at right angles to each other, such as clematis.
A funnel-shaped flower begins as a narrow tube and then widens out into a flared mouth, such as a petunia.
A saucer-shaped flower is nearly flat, with petal lips that turn slightly upward, such as a geranium.
