At last the flowers in my March hanging baskets have come into full bloom .(^o^)
My hanging baskets in March!
No 2.
Wow Tomtom, I have to say that I have never seen pansies in a hanging basket before. Is that a common practice in Japan? Very pretty!
Meant to ask you if you have ever tried the Tidal Wave petunias in baskets or containers? I have had great luck with them-all summer as they really handle all types of weather and water situations. They completely fill out the container as they grow upwards as well as hanging
That is a great idea...pansies in hanging baskets. Our resident bunnies would not be able to munch them off if they were high in a basket!
How do you get them to surround the entire basket?
They are beautiful.
WOW!!!
All I can do here is dream,way to cold for hanging baskets here.
I can`t wait . We can usually hang ours out in May.
We always plant our garden the first week in June.,even then we sometimes have to cover at night.
Again WOW..... Aleta
Thank you,tigerlily123,for your pleasant words.
Yes Pansys and Violas are commonly used in hanging basket in Japan.
Every year i make their baskets.
I've tried the wave petunias in baskets and containers too.
My way is to plant only one petunia in a container and a basket.
Marianinark,
I usually use these two kinds of baskets.
I'll show you pics of basket using Mimulus.
There is not much difference in planting Pansies .
NO.1
No2
Tomtom, those are so lovely. I take it those baskets have holes in the sides for plants?
I do most of my planting in containers now, and love hanging containers. I hang many of them on sturdy branches in trees and shrubs around our yard. My hanging houseplants go out there in the warm months also.
It looks like that one is a plastic container...do you drill holes in the sides? Is the wave petunia really only ONE plant? They are absolutely gorgeous.
Tomtom.... Another great idea from you..Do you have any problems with your pots drying out?Can you tell me what you feed them and what kind of soil you use?...TIA.....
Loretta...
Marianinarkm ,and levilyla,
My baskets are store- bought ones that have some slits on the side for planting plants.
You paiste the thin spoinge sheets attached to the bascket from the inside ,which keep the soil and water from getting out.
Tomtom do they have a company name on them?I sure would like to buy some of those..TIA..
Loretta..
Thanks...I do not believe we have them here.
Thanks, Tomtom. I have never seen any like that. They may not be sold in my area.
Demstratt,
I'm surprised at your quick reponse !!
The basckets are made in Japan by Ito Shoji Co.
They are useful in that you could place the potted plants without hurting the roots.
I use no paticular mix or fertilizer . I mix several soils by myself which would suit the specific purposes. The Great mother Nature does the finishing up !
Tomtom
Tomtom, I love your plants, just BEAUTIFUL. If anyone finds out where to get baskets like this please let us know. I am thinking maybe buy some plastic planters at the $ store and use a box cutter to make slits. ???
Hi plantzoo... I found a metal one at biglots for $3.97..Its nice but I sure wish we could get those..I went to a site that sells the room dividers but not the pots..Still searching for those and will let you know if I come up with anything...
Loretta...
Hi Loretta,
Thanks, even a metal one would be nice and the price is sure right. My nearest biglots is about 70 miles away. With the price of gas I would rather order from some place and pay the postage. If you do find them any place, let me know. O.K.?
Thanks so much,
Bev
Hey everyone, I just found this post. Guess I should have been checking in here more often. There is a very similar American product called "Bloom Master." I don't know the exact price, or where you can buy it...I'm looking for it myself, and if I can't find it soon, I'm going to make my own. Here's the web address for the company's website http://www.bloommaster.com/index.html They seem to want to sell mostly to the commercial trade. Right now their retail and distributor links aren't working, but I'm going to contact them about that, and if I hear anything I'll let everyone know.
I also did a search for buying Bloom Master and there's not a lot out there. I searched for Tomtom's planter too. The weird thing is that the maker of Tomtom's planter made a donation and was honored at a college that is nearby me. This Mr. Ito is the largest seller of Zippo lighters in Japan, and the home base for Zippo lighters is about an hour from me. It's a small world after all!! I'm sure a line of contact could be made there, if anyone would like me to be that persistent.
HOWEVER, on Tomtom's pic of the empty planter you can see the beginning of a web address!!!!! Right beside the little red circle thing...see it?? it says "www." and I can't read the rest for the life of me. But, it's there. Since the label is also written in English I'm assuming the site will also be in English...or hopefully we can use those translator thingies.
If nothing else, I bet Tomtom might ship us some planters????? If we said please really nice and sent him the money first??? And maybe if someone like me offered to take care of all of the orders on this end and receive the package at my house and take care of dividing out who gets how many pots, etc.???? Anyone who can grow flowers like Tomtom has to be a nice person!! Flowers don't grow like that for just anyone!
We'll have to compare prices for Tomtom's pots vs. the Bloom masters, figuring in shipping costs, and see what would be cheapest. Now that we are allowed to do co-ops again maybe we could get enough orders to get a wholesale deal from a distributor? Anyone know anything about that? I sure don't, but I'd give it a whirl for a good price!
If anyone thinks this is a good (or bad) idea let me know. You can d-mail me also if you want to. Oh, and Tomtom, if you really don't want to ship us the planters don't feel obligated to. We will still welcome you here, and you'll be our friend! :) We'll find a way to get these planters if we want them badly enough!
Hugs everyone,
Heather
Here's the pic of the Bloom Master planter pot. I forgot to add it above. As long as that post was, can you believe I forgot something??? LOL! I copied this from their web site, it's not my pot. I'm thinking of taking an old plastic pot and cutting holes in it just to see if I can make my own. Rather than cutting them I may use a wood burner to melt the plastic....that works great when you're making holes in ws containers.
Heather
Thanks heathrjoy... I sure would be interested in quite a few...I really want the design like tomtom's tho...Please keep us informed...I really do need those..I saw a set something like those but it went with an arbor...When I get back to that nursery I will write down the co.maybe they sell those seperately...
Loretta...
Great Loretta, get all info you can!
I went to that BloomMaster site and although there are retailers within 15 - 30 miles of me it wouldn't click through the link. But those look more like a strawberry planter planted with flowers instead of strawberries! I like the design of (female) Tomtoms better. With the bloommaster ones you have to insert each rootball separately. Hmmmmm.
xxxxxxxxxx, Carrie
I'll try this again...grr...
I found the Bloom Master pots here; 12", 2 fo 11.50.
http://www.gardeners.com/Hanging-Bloom-Planter/default/StandardCatalog.OutdoorPlanters_Hanging.35-650.cpd
I would also be interested in joining a coop if one is put together. I did get the mentioined links to work and found that a nursery I go to fairly often has these. But I think it's for their own use. I think I'll drive over and see if they would be willing to sell a few unplanted.
Anyone who has any info or is interested in getting together for a large purchase let me know and we'll see where it goes. I do see advantages of Tomtom's planters over the Bloom Masters. It would be nice to get the web address of off Tomtom's planter!! I'll try d-mail HER.
I wrote Bloom Mater last night, maybe that's why their retail links are back up now. Beaker, let us know what you find out...maybe you can find out who their supplier is....if folks decide they want Bloom Master planters or if we can't get Tomtom's.
Thanks y'all!
Heather
When you find out about Tomtoms I would be interested in HERS...The others look do not have the look I'm after...I'll let you know tomorrow about the ones I saw on the arbor..I will get the name of the Co. and see if they sell JUST the planters..!!
Loretta...
I d-mailed Tomtom. I also got a response from Bloom Master, they said if I'm using Internet Explorer the retail site has too much info for me to see it all...I do use Internet Explorer (why would they do that??). Anyway, they said they would sell directly to us, but didn't quote a price. If we are interested in buying their planters I can get back to them (hopefully with some idea of how many we'd want to buy) and try to get a discount and find out how much shipping would be.
I'll be waiting to hear from Tomtom, and find out if she can help and prices there, before I do anything else.
Thanks Heather ..I want Tomtoms..The others we could make ourselves...
Loretta...
Edited cause I goofed...
This message was edited Apr 9, 2006 1:05 PM
When I was looking around last night, I did find the Minnesota distributor. You couldn't get too far into their website without an authorization number, so I couldn't get to prices either.
Some gorgeous plantings on the Bloom Master site. LOL, I was even thinking some were too big. I would be unterested in either of the two types of planters (or both). If Tom Tom's hasn't made it to a USA distributor yet, shipping might be way expensive.
My local nursery that is suppose to be using these, is just a little mom & pop operation, so I'm fairly confident they will sell the pots unplanted. Can you imagine the cost of one of those planted? I would bet anything that it's in the 50.00 to 100.00 range.
I would definitly pursue a direct purchase from Bloom Master if we can get distributor pricing. I'll let you know what I find out. I may not get over there today.
Too BIG??? OMgoodness, NO! Never too big! LOL!
My SIL buys hanging baskets that look similar to some they have on the Bloom Master site (the overall look, not the planters) and hers run her about $40 each. They are planted w/ petunias...the new ones that don't need deadheaded and they spread like crazy...so they trail really long. They look absolutely stunning. I can't imagine what they'd look like in person if they were planted in one of these planters we're talking about. They'd prolly cost a good $60 around here anyway...and if I could I'd pay it too!!
You-all are right about the prices - folks (me included) will always pay more for someone else to get their hands dirty. Especially for something I've never done before.
xxxxxxxxxxx, Carrie
heathrjoyAet al.
Thank you for getting interested in my baskets.
Here is the link of Ito Shoji Co.,the maker of my favorite baskets.
http://www.itoshoji.co.jp/display/list.php?fMid=19
I called them and they said that they do not export them to the US at the moment.
I asked them to let me know what costs it would make if they ship ten of them to the US.
When their reply comes I 'll post it.
One of the features of this basket is that the side slits are expandable .
So you can use it without much difficulties or experience.
I'm not with this company ,though LOL.
Tomtom
Please let us know Tomtom... I could use several and will pay you all costs if you would buy them,I would send the money first so please let me know...TIA...
Loretta...
I've just received the reply from the company. The cost is :
#1 `elegance' W300~D180~H240 @1500Yen (approx.$12.5) plus tax
#2 `slit 'W250~D170~H231 @735 Yen (approx. $6.20) plus tax
Ten baskets will be sent by EMS (International Speed Mail) at the cost of about 14200Yen (approx $119)
The basket prices are those of wholesale.
I couldn't buy the basket at the prices and I could't send them to you at these costs.
If you would like to get them at these cost described by the company, you might better order them directly from the company.
Tomtom
Oh ,I was such a fool to foget to attach the image of the baskets.
This is it.
Tomtom
Tomtom, thank you so very much for getting this info for us. We sure do appreciate all of your help. However, I think that $119 shipping is more than anyone expected! I've had things shipped from other countries before and never paid anywhere near that amount! It took me a month to get my items, but I'd rather wait than pay that amount. LOL
I checked out the website, I translated it with babel fish http://babelfish.altavista.com/ there's the site if anyone else wants to translate it. It doesn't do a perfect job, but it's much better at reading Japanese than I am! I couldn't find a "contact us" link, but will look again later....I'm still waking up. If we can get a hold of them I wouldn't give up on this idea completely, I think it's still a possibility, if everyone would be willing to wait for their planters vs. paying over $100 for shipping them. Or we can consider the Bloom Masters again...let me know what y'all think. I'll be waiting to hear from everyone. Once we know what we're doing for certain and have our info in order I may list this in the co-op forum...but I have to check out all the rules for that, so please don't anyone list it on my behalf...LOL!!! :) I'm kinda learning as I go here, never done this before (all tips welcome!).
Thanks,
Heather
Not that anyone asked me, but have you guys considered making these same baskets out of TomTom's PAPERCRETE mixture? Smooth out the sides and leave openings for the slits, the make a rim for the hanger.
Or, mark and cut the slits out of a simple plastic pot with a saber? saw, and attach a hanger.
Designers of America UNITE! Somebody out there can come up with a comparable (NON-COPYRIGHT infringing) design. Let us know when you do!
Maybe it's easier SAID than done...
Pilgrim
Pilgrim,
I was actually thinking along those lines all day today. The only thing I haven't been able to come up with an idea of for sure is the foam liners...I think that's what makes these planters better. If the slits are blocked then you don't have to worry about the soil coming out, even if the soil dries out between waterings. I can imagine what the foam is like, I know I've dealt w/ it before, I just can't remember what I was working on at the time. I can't think of where I'd get some. Even if I don't make the planters for myself I'd like to make some for Loretta...she seems to want them the most.
How much does the papercrete stuff weigh when it's dry? I've never worked with it, but always thought it looked interesting and always wanted a reason to try it!! LOL :)
Who would be up for trying to make our own? For those who don't have time; maybe those of us who do can supply those who don't once we get a pattern and method down. Then maybe we could find a cheap way to ship some to Tomtom in appreciation of her helpfulness!!! :)
I do think that making our own could be a very good idea...even if they aren't as good looking as Tomtom's...they should be covered in beautiful flowers in a short while.
Any ideas on what we could use other than this foam to block the slits? Let me know what you all think and I could even try posting this to the frugal forum...lots of great ideas come out of there.
Have a great day all! Thanks Pilgrim for the encouragement!!
Heather