If you’re wondering what plants are good for hanging baskets, there are plenty of attractive options for both indoor and outdoor spaces. While mainly used outdoors to enhance a garden, gate, doorway, wall or fence, they’re just as handy indoors or on balconies where space is often limited. They bring in some greenery and bright colors, while maintenance is simple and straightforward.
Now, figuring out what plants are good for hanging baskets requires a bit of extra work. You can find anything out there. You can find seeds, but you can also find grown plants that give you instant results. Either way, you’ll need to make sure that they can live in your climate, deal with summer and winter, let alone the maintenance.
With this thought in mind, let’s go through some of the best picks for hanging baskets.
Artificial Fern
This plant checks all the boxes for anyone wanting a stress-free green display. You have beautiful greenery that looks like the real thing. It’s UV resistant, so it won’t fade or lose its colors in the long run. It can resist hot summers, as well as cold winters. And on top of all these, maintenance only involves cleaning dust and dirt every now and then.
Opening the list with this artificial fern means that artificial plants make better options when it comes to hanging plants. They don’t grow much, they don’t require watering, and they don’t need soil, so they’re lightweight and easy to install anywhere, including indoors.
Trailing Begonias
This option gives beautiful flowers when in bloom. It’s easy to look after and won’t grow too much. Besides, it can thrive without plenty of direct sunlight too. Once it blooms, its flowers look like large roses. Plus, it smells nice too.
Million Bells
From many points of view, these million bells are similar to petunias. They’re classic, but they’re small and attractive. They flower all the time, so you won’t have to change the bulbs every year. Besides, they can also resist cold weather conditions without too much care.
Bacopa
Bacopa makes a good choice when you’re not sure what plants are good for hanging baskets. It has a trailing habit, so each plant tends to be unique and fills out the sides effortlessly. You can opt for white flowers, as well as pastel colors. They’re all soft and delicate.
Petunias
Classic petunias are great anywhere. They grow relatively fast. They’re easy to look after too. Expect colorful blooms throughout the whole summer, but make sure that your hanging baskets get plenty of natural light and regular watering during peak hot days to keep the foliage vibrant.
Fuchsias
Fuchsias are modern and elegant. They’re suitable for areas that don’t get a lot of direct sunlight, so they can work wonders somewhere at the back.
Lobelia
Lobelia grows nicely and multiplies relatively fast in a hanging basket, so you’ll have lots of tiny flowers within weeks only. You’ll find these flowers in different colors, with blue, pink and white being the most popular choices.
Trailing Geraniums
Trailing geraniums love heat and sunlight. They’re sturdy and hardy, so their colors will last throughout the whole season. They bloom in beautiful, colorful clusters.
Creeping Jenny
Not sure what plants are good for hanging baskets? How about some unique foliage and style instead of colorful elements? Creeping jenny will give you bright yellow trailing stems that can add a bit of contrast to your green garden.
Silver Falls
Silver falls provide a stunning silver element. Leaves look like fans. Once the plant grows, it’ll look like a metallic curtain. It’s not a common plant, so make sure it’s hanging low for everyone to admire it.
Lotus Vine
Sometimes referred to as the parrot’s beak, the lotus vine is similar to silver falls. It has silver needles and vibrant claw blossoms. Blossoms are orange or red, but incredibly bright, so they make a good contrast with the silver leaves. This dramatic appearance gives any hanging basket an exotic look.
Spider Plant
When not sure what plants are good for hanging baskets indoors, the spider plant makes a great choice. Indeed, when looking to hang baskets indoors, artificial plants are miles better. No mess, no soil, no weight, no watering or trimming. But then, the spider plant is definitely worth some attention.
Often seen as a retro plant, the spider plant has some nice “pups” on its longest stems. It looks different from other plants, so it can instantly draw some attention. Spider plants are often promoted as air-purifying plants, although their real strengths are their appearance, resilience and easy care.
Ivy
What can be better than keeping things classic? If you’re not sure what you want or how to look after plants, maybe you can stick to traditional ivy. It grows without much care, and it doesn’t require much maintenance.
The hardy ivy offers variegated green foliage that’s refreshing, but also attractive. Based on the climate, it can retain its green color throughout the whole year, hence its popularity among gardeners who want reliable structure.
Tumbling Tomatoes
When thinking about what plants are good for hanging baskets, most people inevitably think about greenery and colorful flowers. But that’s not everything. If you love gardening, how about some edibles too? There are all sorts of cherry tomato varieties out there. The tumbling variety is one of the most popular ones.
Not only do they look nice, but they also smell good once your cherry tomatoes are ready to eat. Pull a few for a salad and you’ll notice the difference straight away. It’s one thing to grow your own delicious tomatoes and a different thing to buy the tasteless varieties from local supermarkets. Keeping them elevated keeps the fruits clean and away from garden pests.
Verbena
These plants tend to grow upright. While they’re good for hanging baskets, you may need to move them once they grow too big. However, they’re beautiful once their clusters come out. Given the vibrant colors, these flowers also attract butterflies.
In terms of care and maintenance, verbena likes heat and can tolerate hot summers pretty well. It thrives in well-drained soil while resisting both dry heat and humidity throughout the warmest parts of the year.
Bottom line, other good options to consider for your hanging baskets include:
- Pansies
- Violas
- Sweet alyssum
- Nasturtium
- Black-eyed susan vine
- Licorice plant
- Diascia
In the end, you have quite a few options when you’re not sure what plants are good for hanging baskets. When choosing plants for outdoors, you can pick anything. nce your baskets are installed, you may also need to keep birds out of hanging plants without harming them or spoiling the display. When going indoors, low growth or maintenance should be your main priorities, not to mention lightweight artificial plants instead of natural plants.