Keep the bloom on -- tips from an expert

The baskets seem to overflow with blossoms -- pale lavender petunias, deep blue lobelia, brilliant fuchsias.

These cascades of flowers around Palmer and at markets in Anchorage and Eagle River have earned Kathy Baker of Gray Owl Farm the official title of "The Basket Lady." Her family says she is a natural with an eye for putting together the right combinations of textures and colors when all she is working with at the time are tiny green sprouts.

"I use the same process I use when I direct a stage and visualize how the set should look," she said. "When I build a flower arrangement or a basket … it has to be theatrical."

Baker said her love of flowers began with her grandmother.

"She is the one who taught me the names of all the flowers," she said. "We spent a lot of time working together in her yard."

Over the years, Baker has further cultivated what has for her become an art, and her family says she spends much of the winter browsing through greenhouse magazines and seed catalogs to find new and interesting blooms.

Most of Valley residents, however, are content to wait until spring and admire her work, maybe bringing it home with them.

The biggest challenge then becomes not ruining the creation.

So what is the secret to keeping flowering baskets looking as beautiful as when they first left the greenhouse? Water and fertilizer, Baker says.

Baker recommends fertilizing flower baskets once a week with a liquid fertilizer mixed with water. The rest of the week, the baskets just need lots of water. Baker said they tend to dry out more quickly than ground beds, especially if they are in the sun, so they need to be watered daily, preferably in the morning.

Baker also recommends "dead-heading" the flowers, meaning to pinch off all of the dead or dying flowers. This will generally extend the blooming season of most plants.

Finally, Baker says people should be careful to purchase baskets appropriate for the conditions where they will put them. Some flowers prefer bright sun, others shade. When picking out a basket, ask where they will best thrive.