The Saturday before Mother&8217;s Day is generally the busiest day in the garden center industry.

All of the wholesalers sent their best products out to the retail stores to be purchased for the mommas in your life.

Now that you have those beautiful container gardens, hanging baskets and potted plants, how do you care for them?

Let&8217;s look at potted plants first. If you received one of the Endless Summer hydrangeas, it should go into the ground as soon as possible. Find a place in your garden that is away from a western or southwestern exposure.

Though hydrangeas need a certain amount of light in order to bloom, several hours of direct afternoon sunlight will cook it. (Exception: Pee Gee hydrangea &8230; for another article.)

Dig your planting hole at least twice the size of the root ball. Add to the soil removed from the hole about 1:3 organic matter. Place the hydrangea in the hole and pack around the root ball your mixture of native soil and organic matter. Leave about one inch of the root ball above the soil plane.

Water heavily and mulch with no more than two inches of mulch. Water regularly for two months or until established. Wait until next spring to fertilize.

Mixed container gardens: Most mixed container gardens are planted with flora that have the same water, light and fertilizer needs.

However, some of them come with plants that will quickly overgrow the container. If you get one of these containers, remove the rapidly growing plant and place it in another container or in the ground.

If your container is left with a void that the other plants will not fill in, place another slow growing plant in its place. If you suspect the other plants will fill in, add potting soil to the empty space.

Hanging baskets: Read the tag. Cascading petunias require full sun and regular watering. Also they will need regular maintenance such as pinching off the faded blooms.

Don&8217;t just pinch the old flowers off. The green part where the bloom came from is a seed pod. If you don&8217;t keep the seed pods pinched, the plant will think it doesn&8217;t have to bloom anymore. Cousin Nature is smarter than we are. She is only trying to keep the species perpetuating.

More plant care next week