Gardening Ideas Gardening & Landscaping Ideas Container Gardening The Best Plants For Hanging Baskets Hanging baskets provide a personal touch to the garden, bringing flowers and foliage to unused nooks and crannies. By Kim Toscano Kim Toscano Kim Toscano has provided gardening expertise for over 20 years through her writing, videos, and garden designs. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on July 26, 2023 Hanging baskets bring gardens up to eye level, making a garden feel fuller and more complete. On the porch they create an immediate sense of welcome, while plants hanging outside windows create a connection between the indoor and outdoor worlds. Use them to dress up walls or decorate tree branches. The best plants for hanging baskets take advantage of their heightened locations, with trailing stems that cascade over a container’s edges. They also stand up to the challenging conditions of container life.Container plants need consistent moisture. Locate hanging baskets close to a water source and consider attaching a watering wand to the hose to extend your reach. Drip irrigation also works well for containers. Hanging baskets will likely need watering every day in the heat of summer. Try combining several varieties with similar needs, and experiment to find the best mix for your porch or patio. 01 of 15 Calibrachoa Getty Images Botanical Name: Calibrachoa hybridSun Exposure: Full SunSoil Type: Moist, Well-draining, RichSoil pH: Acidic (5.0-6.2) Calibrachoa stands up to heat and is drought tolerant, making an ideal selection for baskets hanging in the hot sun. Also called million bells, an apt description of this plant’s flower power, it produces masses of 1/2-inch blooms all summer long without deadheading. Varieties are available in almost every color of the rainbow. Calibrachoa also tolerates partial shade, but flowering will be reduced. 02 of 15 Boston Fern Getty Images Botanical Name: Nephrolepis exaltataSun Exposure: Partial ShadeSoil Type: Moist, Well-drainedSoil pH: Slightly Acidic (6.0-6.5) With gracefully arching foliage, this evergreen fern is a staple of Southern porches. Boston fern thrives in heat and humidity, but requires consistently moist soil. Grow in dappled sun to deep shade. In winter, Boston ferns can be grown as houseplants. Keep plants in a humid location, such as a bathroom, or place them on a tray of wet pebbles. 03 of 15 Verbena Getty Images Botanical Name: Verbena hybridSun Exposure: Full SunSoil Type: Medium Moisture, Well-drainingSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Slightly Alkaline (5.8-7.2) Verbena is a butterfly favorite, blooming in a range of colors including cool blues and purples, sunny yellow, and rose to red hues. White and bicolor blooms are also common in the trade. Flowers are born in rounded clusters. Remove spent blooms to encourage continuous blooming. Many verbena varieties are both mounding and trailing, filling multiple rolls in a container planting. 04 of 15 Petunia Getty Images Botanical Name: Petunia hybridSun Exposure: Full Sun to Part ShadeSoil Type: Medium Moisture, Well-drainingSoil pH: Acidic (5.5-6.5) One of the most popular annual plants, petunias bloom from spring through frost, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to the garden. Though plants perform well with little maintenance, deadheading encourages more vigorous blooming. Pinch back plants if they grow leggy. Look for cascading varieties which are best suited to hanging baskets and raised containers. 05 of 15 Silver Ponyfoot Getty Images Botanical Name: Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls'Sun Exposure: Partial to Full SunSoil Type: Dry to Medium, Well-drainingSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Slightly Alkaline (6.0-8.0) With gorgeous silver foliage, this trailing vine provides texture and contrast to accent flowering companions. Native to the desert southwest, silver ponyfoot stands up to the high heat and dry soils common to hanging baskets growing in our most exposed sites. These vigorous growers may require a haircut mid-summer. 06 of 15 Fuchsia Getty Images Botanical Name: Fuchsia species and hybridsSun Exposure: Shade, Part ShadeSoil Type: Moist, Well-drainingSoil pH: Neutral to Slightly Acidic (6.0-7.0) Mother Nature must have designed fuchsias to flow from hanging baskets, with pendulous bicolor blooms dangling their ruffled skirts for hummingbirds to find. The jewel-toned blooms shine in shades of ruby red, velvety purple, and yes, fuchsia. Some are accented with white or pale pink hues. Keep them well watered and protected from the afternoon sun. 07 of 15 Fan Flower Getty Images Botanical Name: Scaevola aemulaSun Exposure: Full Sun to Part ShadeSoil Type: Medium Moisture, Well-drainingSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Neutral (6.1-7.3) Named for its unique blooms, fan flower blossoms non-stop, summer through frost, in shades of purple to deep blue. White and pink varieties are also available. Native to Australia, fan flower thrives in hot, humid weather and tolerates dry conditions. They are a great choice for difficult areas and beginning gardeners. 08 of 15 Purple Spiderwort Southern Living/Adrienne Legault Botanical Name: Tradescantia pallida 'Purple Heart' Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part ShadeSoil Type: Medium to Moist, Well-drainingSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Slightly Alkaline (6.0-8.0) Grown for its striking foliage, purple spiderwort provides a stunning accent to flowering annuals in mixed containers. Plants also make a gorgeous stand-alone planting. Although spiderwort is drought tolerant, plants benefit from protection from the hot afternoon sun. Stems can be pinched back to stimulate more growth as needed. 09 of 15 Begonia Boliviensis Getty Images Botanical Name: Begonia boliviensisSun Exposure: Full Sun to Full ShadeSoil Type: Moist, Well-draining, RichSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Neutral (6.1-7.5) This gorgeous begonia is unlike any other begonia you’ve grown—it tolerates heat, thrives in sun or shade, and shrugs off drought. These traits make it superior to other varieties for life in a hanging basket. And you won’t be disappointed by the blooms. Flowering non-stop in fiery hues, the pendulous flowers have long petals that dance in the breeze. In hot locales, plants perform best in part shade. 10 of 15 Chenille Plant Getty Images Botanical Name: Acalypha hispidaSun Exposure: Full Sun to Part ShadeSoil Type: Well-draining, RichSoil pH: Acidic to Slightly Alkaline (5.5-7.5) Chenille plant lends the garden tropical flair with soft, pendulous blooms reminiscent of a cat’s tail. Each fuzzy bloom dangles up to 18 inches, with deep raspberry pink to bright red hues. The closely related dwarf chenille plant (Acalypha pendula) has plumper and shorter catkins with equally brilliant color. Though both plants are moderately drought tolerant, it is best to avoid direct afternoon sun. 11 of 15 Trailing Lobelia Getty Images Botanical Name: Lobelia erinusSun Exposure: Full to Part SunSoil Type: Moist, Well-draining, RichSoil pH: Acidic (5.5-6.5) Numerous, blue-violet blooms cover plants from late spring to fall, often with a lull during the heat of summer. For this reason, trailing lobelia combines well with flowers like calibrachoa that continue to bloom through the heat. When blooms synchronize, you get a stunning layered effect. Trailing lobelia is a tender perennial, hardy in zones 10-11, though more commonly grown as an annual. 12 of 15 Ornamental Oregano Getty Images Botanical Name: Origanum hybridsSun Exposure: Full SunSoil Type: Average to Dry, Well-drainingSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Neutral (6.0-7.0) For gardeners with lower humidity, ornamental oregano makes a stunning solo planting. Fragrant blue-green foliage is accented by unique flowers reminiscent of hops, with papery, rose-pink bracts draping the plant all summer. The blooms are commonly used in dried flower arrangements. Plants are heat and drought tolerant, making them easy to maintain. 13 of 15 Trailing Lantana Getty Images Botanical Name: Lantana montevidensisSun Exposure: Full SunSoil Type: Dry to Medium, Well-drainingSoil pH: Slightly Acidic to Slightly Alkaline Trailing lantana checks all the boxes when it comes to hanging baskets: they are ruggedly adaptable, have a lovely cascading habit, and bloom prolifically. Clusters of lavender to purple-pink blooms with yellow throats attract butterflies and other pollinators. Plants tolerate drought as well as coastal conditions including heat, humidity, and salt spray. 14 of 15 Streptocarpella Getty Images Botanical Name: Streptocarpus saxorumSun Exposure: Full to Partial ShadeSoil Type: Moist, Well-drainingSoil pH: Acidic (5.5-6.5) Standing up to heat of humidity, Streptocarpella is a gorgeous trailing plant that blooms prolifically in the shade. With plump, fuzzy foliage and lavender, violet-like blooms, this low-maintenance beauty is gaining popularity in the garden. Plants are self-cleaning, blooming all summer long without deadheading. Bring them indoors over the winter and they will keep on blooming. 15 of 15 Tomato Getty Images Botanical Name: Solanum lycopersicumSun Exposure: Full SunSoil Type: Moist, Well-draining, RichSoil pH: Slightly Acidic (5.8-6.8) Small grape and cherry tomatoes grow well in hanging baskets, with their fruiting branches tumbling over the sides. Some varieties, like ‘Tumbling Tom’ have a cascading habit while others, including ‘Tiny Tim’ have been bred specifically for growing in containers. Make sure to provide a sturdy hook for hanging, as these baskets will get heavy when loaded with fruit. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit