Spring is such a happy time with flowers bursting out all around that I always want to get into the act and replant the large terra cotta pot for my front porch.  However, last week as I looked under the laundry room sink and saw the long-abandoned Easter baskets from my daughters' youth, I had a new idea.  Why not use those baskets as my planters?

Because my locally-owned nursery seems to be closed, I headed down to a local big-box hardware store with a garden department.  I knew I wanted to line the baskets with something that would let water drain, but keep the soil in.  My idea was to get sphagnum moss, but I found something even more interesting:  a coco fiber liner intended for hanging planters.  With that in my basket I headed for the bloom aisles. 

Recalling all the beautiful planters I've seen in Sunset Magazine, I wanted something a little taller for the center of each basket with smaller flowers around it.  There were lots of good candidates:  primroses (Primula), cyclamen, French marigolds (Tagetes patula), pansies (Viola wittrockiana), ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus) and Kalanchoes (Kalanchoe Calandiva)--but you could use anything that suits your fancy.  Just be sure to choose flowers that have similar requirements in terms of water and light.  I happened to choose a couple of the Kalanchoes and lots of pansies, and ended up with 4" pots of Kalanchoe because that's all they had, but you only need buy the 6-pack size.  They will fill in beautifully in no time at all. 

The coco liner was easy to tear into pieces to fit each basket.  Then the plants went in.  I added some compost from my backyard pile to a commercial potting mix and filled in around the plants.  The finished baskets are so cute on my front porch.   With quite a few pansies leftover I saw some very small baskets at the craft store for only 99 cents.  Who could resist?  So you'll see by the pictures, I now have porch baskets and table baskets and am eager for guests to arrive to enjoy my festive decor.   Happy spring!