The Garden Corner retail nursery in Tualatin, Ore. today unveiled what is believed to be the world’s largest free-standing hanging basket. Measuring 16 feet tall and 10 feet wide, and weighing in at more than 2 tons, it truly is a behemoth. Garden Corner worked with several partners, all based in Oregon, to create this demonstration of what the Oregon nursery industry — the state’s largest segment of agriculture with nearly $700 million in annual sales — can do.

The basket will be a permanent fixture at the suburban retailer, where owner Jonn Karsseboom plans to replant it every season with fresh new material. “We built the basket because we live our passion,” he said. “We do hanging baskets, and our history is hanging baskets, so it’s just a natural outgrowth.”

The basket was constructed by Garden Gallery Iron Works in Hubbard, Ore. and lined with moss cloth from Tropicare in St. Paul, Ore. The soil was provided by ProGro in Wilsonville, Ore. “This is all local,” said Karsseboom, who is pictured above with Garden Gallery owner Don Sprague. “That was our goal.”

Jerry Simnitt, co-owner of the wholesale Simnitt Nursery and the current president of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, said he was duly inspired by the mammoth creation. “The nursery industry has seen some very tough days in the last few years,” he said. “Sales for last year were down 9 percent. But it’s kind of neat to have events like this to show that we’re a resilient industry, and some of our best times are ahead of us. With the spring, everyone becomes a little more optimistic.”

The unveiling was covered by most of the local TV stations, as well as print media. KATU-2 has coverage here and the Capital Press newspaper (Salem, Ore.) has an article here. We will post others as we become aware of them.