Helllllp

I'm thinking about the plants but what may help is to mix water retaining crystals with the compost-- also have a look at Goypedia ( alphabet below) and you'll find lots of lovely photo ideas

Try Unwins, suttons or Thompson and Morgan they have some fantastic offers on at the moment (online). My main advice would be address the basic requirements of the plants. Watering will be your biggest issue as it can be time consuming and I'm sure you'll be busy with the business - consider an auto irrigation system, its expensive but time saving and will last forever so its a sound investment and will help no end with your display-try screwfix for this.
Your plants will also be hungry, they've got a lot of growing to do so ensure you feed them regularly this is in addition to good quality compost.
Good luck with your planting you'll have to send us some photos of your displays and I am sure it'll bring in the customers :-)))

Oh, unless I've misunderstood, let me warn you about something - do not use manure or garden compost or soil conditioning compost in pots, tubs, containers or baskets. You will need decent potting compost for those, so choose a good multi purpose one for hanging baskets, and a mix of John Innes No. 2 and multi purpose in anything standing on the ground. You can mix perlite or vermiculite with them if you like for more water retention.
As for plants, Surfinia petunias in hanging baskets can't be beaten - you don't need more than 3 in a 14 inch basket, and they'll be huge by mid summer. Put an upright something or other in the middle, (upright Fuchsia or Geranium or, even better, very small red leaved Cordylines if you can find them, sometimes Tesco have them), make sure you pick surfinia petunias in colours which blend, not clash, water well and frequently, twice daily in hot weather, feed twice a week with something that's specially for pots and baskets, preferably liquid, the Phostrogen one will do fine, it's a fine powder to be diluted in water. If money's not an issue, they look even better with something like Helichrysum petiolatum added to each basket, one in each only. this provides a grey leaved foil against all the bright colours of the surfinias.
Not sure what the planters are, whether they're on the ground, or those manger/trough things that get fixed to walls, and the planting for those would be different. I speak from experience - one of my customers up till 5 years ago was a pub in Southall, where I had to do 25 baskets, 8 wall troughs, 6 freestanding troughs and 7 half barrels every year, summer and autumn, lol! Backbreaking it was too, specially as the freestanding troughs were on a roof about 12 feet off the ground...
And a PS on potting compost - the best one I've found, having tried several in the last year, is Wickes own, and not the peat free one.
and another PS - if some of the containers are in shadier spots, stick to Fuchsia, busy lizzy, begonia and lobelia - these flower well in shade, all the others prefer quite a bit of sun.

Thanks Bamboo - you've given me some sound advice too.

Then its all in the weekly feed dead heading and watering good luck,

Hi Kfunsters, isn`t this just a great site, thanks to your query and the lovely informative answer from Bamboo I think I shall have a go at hanging baskets again = I`ve never done any good in the past.

hi leakiwellies, Some Great advice already. If you look in my blogs, theres one named "plant combinations" a couple of ideas there for pots i did last year...

Wow, fantastic, thank you all very much. I've actually just bought John Innes No 2 for the planters (these are free standing planters at ground level, him indoors was a bit ingenious as we'd bought tubs and he has made covers to fit over them (hiding the tub) which will lift off when flowering is over and I can change the plants in the autumn quite easily). I also popped into Tesco and they had some lovely healthy busy lizzie, lobelia and petunia all in complementing colours so bought quite a few trays and they were (what I think) a good price at £3.00 a tray of 20 plants and I've bought them home and watered them already! These will all do for the back of the pub as it's shadier but customers will still have the benefit when they sit in the garden area. The irrigation system does sound like the way forward, in actual fact I was surprised when him indoors mentioned it a few days ago, was surprised he even knew what it was!!! A bonus also is Screwfix have just opened a unit 5 minutes away from home.
Point noted Bamboo about the manure, although the chap who gave it me is a gardener and he said anything would grow well in it, I'm sure he won't notice if I take it home for my roses!!
Anyway thank you all again, you've all been a great help. Look out for the pics and the award for best pub in bloom!!!

Leakywellies

i certainly hope you get the award leakywellies; i was wondering if a bottle garden would be appropriate??
more sensibly, i thought maybe you could pop a few herbs into the mixture cos they smell so nice and fresh ~ especially if they are near people who may brush up against them?

What a great idea Stickitoffee, mind you I could keep him indoors busy by getting him to make a couple of extra planters and fill with herbs to sit either side of the kitchen door (customers walk past it too).

:-)