We moved house earlier this year and with the new house came a lovely little shaded greenhouse type area which the previous owners generously left fully 'furnished' with hanging baskets of ferns and succulents.

I'm not a very experienced gardener and although I can tell you the plants left are common varieties, I have no idea what they're called! However to me, they look as though they could use repotting. The baskets are very old and one of the ferns although huge, it's leaves are quite sparce and beginning to die off, I'm sure the roots are being strangled in the small pot. I have photos but am unsure how to upload them.

What I need is some advice on repotting and perhaps trimming down these overgrown hanging baskets. They are beautiful and probably as old as the house (25 years) I'd hate to lose them being so established, but they really look like they need some love.

Any advice?

Ange

I guess for now just keep things going with water as the location in the old greenhouse has suited for so long.

Personally I've never much minded whether plants are rare or common, in either case they can be very rewarding when they thrive, or improve, with a little TLC.

If you are replanting you'll have to be prepared with some basics on the assumption that the potting mix they were in, may have really passed its used-by-date except for tossing on the compost heap.

Your preparations depend a lot on available cash, available resources, and ingenuity. If you are are a recycler you can probably find what you need. The plants absolutely won't mind what they are planted in, so make do with replacement pots (if the originals break in the process).

Plastic pots may break apart, wire ones may be saved but you might need new lining material - there are commercial liners you can buy or coir/bark that you might have available already.

What you'll probably need are -
spare baskets in case the originals fall apart in the process, and a few pots to spare for making other plants to grow on or give away
potting mix suitable to the plants you are dealing with - if ferns and succulents they will both need a little freer draining than most pot mixes, but you can do that by adding more to one and less to another, of a good brand.
fertilizer - which they are probably lacking a bit - in the form of slow-release in plastic /pellet form or aged manure of most sources
maybe something to lessen transplant shock, like sea-weed emulsion
some LABELS for when you have them ID'd
a tranquilizer or two (for you)
no I'm kidding but the mess upon breaking up a well-established plant and wondering whether you've done the right thing, can throw you a bit.

The potting mix blend, and the manner of breaking up plants, or re-potting them, comes next, and you probably DO need to identify them as some ferns have underground growth and some have rhizomey thingeys (you can tell I am an expert) that are happy to grow on the surface or in or out of the pots.

Posting pics is not hard here, it depends on whether you have them on your computer hard drive or are trying to link from a web-site.

If the latter, you use the link "optional Link URL and cut and paste the location of the photo on your computer.

BUT there are size limits it must be under 61 kb to be accepted, or you will have to downsize it a little.

Sorry for the waffle, clarify more if you can and I'm sure people can help.

Alison

I'm going to try and upload the photos... they are on my harddrive so it might take me a couple of goes to get it right.

So just a recap, I'd like to know how best to re-pot these plants or at least reduce their mass so that they fit and have more growing room in their current baskets. I do have spare baskets as I purchased some new ones, but it's whether these plants will cope with being broken up and re-potted.

No 2 is a fern of some sort. Dunk the whole basket in a bucket of water, let the airbubbles rise for 15 mins by then it should be well and truly soaked. This will let you break it up easier. Discard all dead bits and old stems. You'll be able to tell what parts of the stem are still alive. I can't tell what type of fern it is from your pic but if it has a root-ball below the surface, that's how you will re-plant it. If it has a rhyzome on the surface, you'll plant the new bits back that way.
3 I think is Burro's tail - Sedum morganianum. It will easily propagate even from every one of those pearly little bits. You need to break it up and in doing so you may lost a lot of leaves, just scrape them up and save them. For the rest I'd recommend cutting off a reasonable, healthy hanging bit about 3 inches and trying to strike it. Use a sandy mix, let the cuttings just sit in the air (not in the sun) a day or two to "heel over" otherwise they can rot.
The other thing with the orange flowers I can't tell from your pic you might have to get closer with the camera -
PS the breaking up now would better wait till spring and growing season