Hanging Baskets

My hanging baskets have been looking a little less than vibrant the past couple of weeks. I was blaming this on lack of watering; they're on the ground here because I did an emergency bucket-water, where I set the bottom of the basket in a brim-full bucket of water for a couple hours to re-hydrate the totally dried out potting soil. This usually gets the soil to wet again (dried out peat-based soil is very difficult to re-wet just by top watering) but by the time a bucket-water is necessary I have abused my plants.

Then I saw that my neighbor's impatiens look just the same, and they are planted in the ground and watered religiously. Perhaps it is just the time of year? (I have never managed to keep them alive this long - thanks Park's!)

Interestingly, the petunias I tucked in there are still alive and looking well. They are even kind of hanging over the side in a pretty sort of way that I didn't expect. I will have to plant more of those next year.