Wicking Hanging Baskets

In 2021 Waverley council asked us to procure City of Sydney Hanging Baskets to be placed around the Bondi Junction CBD.  On gaining engineering drawings it became apparent that these baskets were made specifically for City of Sydney street poles. With a certified rating of over 200kg council only had two poles rated to carry these. The other issue with the baskets is that they require daily watering that turns into an expensive maintenance regime.

We did a global search to see if we could find any commercial rated baskets that contained a water reservoir, wicking system and weighed less.  Coming up with a blank we then proposed to council that we design and prototype a hanging basket that could be placed on any pole, reduce maintenance requirements via an internal water reservoir and provide all over greenery.

Version 1.

Our first version formed a full globe and contained 5 litres of water.  We used a metal frame that had a coir outer shell.  We designed a universal pole to enable installation on any type of pole, including timber, aluminium, steel or smart poles with a diameter over 80mm.

Twenty two of these were built and placed around the CBD for 9 months. Issues arose with wind tunnelling and some plant selection and due to the harsh environment watering increased from a predicted once to twice a week.  Still this was a substantial saving in maintenance requirements and we got good plant coverage.

Version 2.

In winter 2022 we re-examined the baskets and made further advancements.  This included increasing the water reservoir to 8l and creating an internal plastic moulded shell that provided greater support and longevity to coir.  We retrofitted all of version 1 with the new systems and re-hung them from January 2023.  With new plant selections and greater water capacity the baskets outperformed Prototype 1 and plants lasted longer into the cooler winter months.

 

Version 1 basket hanging in Bondi Junction

Version 2 baskets 

Version 3

• The third version of our hanging baskets is undergoing trials at our Dural nursery in 2023.  Further increases in reservoir to 10l will now ensure even in the hottest months baskets only need weekly refill. Changes to the metal skeleton and plastic internals will simplify and bring unit price costs down.  We continue to research different species with our partners at The Green Gallery to get the greatest and longest lasting floral coverage as possible.