Modern hanging baskets: how to make your own living garden spheres

By Alys Hurn

Published: Tuesday, 01 February 2022 at 12:00 am

A traditional hanging basket with flowers spilling over the top seems more granny than grand designs. Those traditional winter bedding mixes in wired hanging planters can look out of place in a contemporary garden, but what if there was a way to reimagine the traditional hanging basket?

Have a look at these living garden spheres by garden designer Adam Shepherd. Similar to vertical gardens but round, the base is made up of a buoy or fender wrapped in thick capillary matting for plants to bed into. Unlike hanging baskets or hanging planters, these spheres gently rotate in response to airflow and change orientation all the time, allowing the enjoyment of plants from every angle.

Before retraining at The English Gardening school, Adam was an art director. His love and knowledge of plants, a flair for practical construction and good eye for framing a great picture, led him to create his spheres. As someone who has planted many a green wall, Adam’s 3D concept modernises the hanging basket and evolves the notion of a living green wall into something more like a living theatre.

If you’ve always wondered how to make hanging baskets look full and want to bring some artistic drama to your garden design, give yourself a creative challenge and make a living garden sphere this spring.

How to make your own living garden sphere in five simple steps

What you’ll need

A base (A buoy or fender will work well)
Thick capillary matting
Stainless steel staples – choose these to avoid rapid rusting
Secateurs
Plants: we suggest choosing one evergreen mat-forming plant as a base and 3-4 ‘stand-out’ plants to dress up your sphere. See inspiration below.

Step one
Suspend your sphere at eye level before you begin. Somewhere you can have 360-degree access to your sphere and see the design develop from all angles.

Step two
Closely wrap an initial layer of capillary matting around your base and carefully staple it to itself multiple times so it’s snug and secure.

Step three
Cut strips of matting wide enough to match at least the depth of your deepest plant module, and long enough to wrap around the core several times.

Step four
Attach the matting at one end and start placing your chosen plants between the base layer and the additional strip, stapling around the contours of the plant’s rootball to create pockets as you go.

Tip: You may want to attach a few plants and then cut the fabric, re-angle and continue. Stand back as you work and assess how your planting scheme will develop over time.

Step five
Once your sphere is planted up, you can tweak your design by trimming back any awkward protrusions and running your fingers through congested plants.

Planting ideas and design inspiration

Before you begin, here are three designs to spark some inspiration and get those ideas flowing. But by all means, flex your creative muscles to come up with your own. If you do, let us know by sending photos of your living spheres to hello@gardensillustrated.com or tag us @gardensillustrated on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Moving around

Key plants

Wild World

Key plants

Cyperus rotundus
Osteospermum jucundum var. compactum
Osteospermum ‘Soprano White’
Soleirolia soleirolii
Verbena rigida

Rush of colour

Key plants

Some considerations

One joy (and challenge) of these hanging spheres is the constant change of orientation. The sphere should ideally be placed to gently rotate in response to airflow.
When choosing plants, be aware that the intimate underside of leaves and flowers will be closely observed from below.
Think where you’ll hang your sphere on completion. Where will the water from your sphere run off too? Do you need to think about a drip tray?

A little intimidated? Book yourself on a planting course

Adam is planning a series of workshops in his beautiful corner of South Devon in spring 2022. You can find out more about Adam’s work and contact him for details of his workshops at tapestryverticalgardens.com.