One of our favorite parts of spring are the gorgeous hanging baskets that come out of our 20 growing houses. Overflowing with color, hanging baskets are a perfect way to welcome guests to your home for those summer parties. Maintaining them can seem like a lot of effort, but it surely pays off when your hangers are bursting at the seams with beautiful blooms. We’ve come up with some maintenance tips for you to follow to keep your hanging baskets at their best:

1. Water adequately.

With the summer heat looming, it’s essential to your hanging baskets that you keep them well-watered every day. For full sun baskets, water twice daily in the morning and in the evening, if they need it. A good way to tell how hydrated your plant is is to pick it up and gauge its heaviness. Make sure you keep the hose on them long enough that water begins to drip out the bottom of the pot.

2. Feed every two weeks.

Use a water-soluble fertilizer such as Miracle Gro. (For vigorous blooms, try Miracle Gro Bloom Booster.) Each time you water, fertilizer leaches out of the pot, so a consistent feeding schedule will keep them healthy.

3. Deadhead!

For plants that are getting too long or too leggy, give them a haircut. A pair of pruning shears will work well to trim back any tired-looking, leggy plants. The trimmed growth will help the plant redistribute energy to give you more blooms and fuller plants.

4. Location, location, location!

Make sure your hanging baskets are in the correct location in terms of sunlight exposure. Not all annuals can take a full day’s sun, so make sure when you choose your location that you also know which annuals will do best there. For example, fuchsia, lobelia, and New Guinea Impatiens all perform best with afternoon shade. Geraniums, supertunias, and most combination hangers do best in full sun. Remember that hangers in full sun should be watered heavily at least once a day to keep them from drying out in the heat.