how big are the baskets? this will decide how many plants you need to put in to get a good show.

And are you putting anything else in them, such as an upright plant in the middle or other trailing plants?

Are you going for instant effect--such as a party in a few weeks--or are you going for all summer color? If the former, then I would plant 1 plant for every 7 cm of basket diameter. If the latter, then plant 2/3 to 1/2 as many plants.

I was told to squeeze in as many as I could as they like that.

Yes the garden centres would like that, but I don't think the plants would be quite so enthusiastic, Derek.

How big is your basket? What else are you planting with it? What effect are you going for?

I think it was on one of the gardening programmes that I heard about squeezing them in, Derek, but it was some years ago so thinking may have changed now. Anyway I gave up on hanging baskets as I found the watering can almost too heavy to lift as it aged!

I put just 5 plants in a 12inch basket (Surfinias) going round just the front three quarters of the basket. I always get a drop of 3ft plus . They never fail. My baskets have been in the greenhouse now for three weeks and the plants are already standing 4 inch high. My plants always come from Enderby nursery near Leicester.

They look great cascading down like that. I have them on my garden wall.

I like surfinias too and used to grow them in baskets before I stopped. Very pretty and long lasting.