Letter: Hanging basket case

Sir: May I suggest that it is now time for us to acknowledge that the era of hanging baskets is coming to an end ("A hanging offence", 12 June)?

Colour, colour, colour is an affront to true gardening philosophy. The time is overdue to move towards a truer vision of the association of plants with buildings. Shrubs, perennials, climbing plants, even bulbs are part of the immense range of possibilities. Roses, clematis, honeysuckle, grown in the ground or in pots. Colour and form are there the whole year round.

I invite gardeners, plant centres and the gardening media to unite in a crusade to transform the appearance of our buildings from attachments of little bitty apologies of colour into a true harmony of plant forms and buildings.

PETER BRADBURY

East Bergholt, Essex