Hanging baskets can bring a touch of greenery and color to any space. Hang them near your entrance way to welcome guests, coordinate with your outdoor furniture, or brighten up your garden.

Flowers, vegetables, and herbs can all make a show-stopping display, but can you put any plant in a hanging basket? 

In our helpful article, we will discover the real answer.

Before we go into details heres a quick tip. 

Hanging baskets are made to hold a large variety of flowers, herbs, fruits, ferns, and vegetables. These varieties often make the best display because there are different, shapes, sizes, textures, and colors. Other varieties that work include perennials and annuals, along with air plants, Ivy, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, trailing rosemary, or creeping thyme.

Now that we better understand the significance of a diverse basket lets get straight underway. Starting with discovering some of the best flowers that you can put in a hanging basket. 

Flowers For Hanging Baskets

There’s nothing as beautiful as a fully loaded hanging basket brimming with trailing flowers. 

Whether you decide to use simply one variety for a real statement or a mixed basket, there isn’t any limit to the flowers you can use.

There are hundreds of species that are suitable to be grown in hanging baskets, ranging from colorful flowers and bedding plants to shrubs, evergreens, air plants, and trailing climbers.

You can choose one type of plant or you can plant a mixture of styles. 

“Whether you decide to use simply one variety for a real statement or a mixed basket, there really isn’t any limit to the flowers you can use.”

Flowers In Hanging Baskets Add Height

When deciding about whether you can put any plant in a hanging basket, height should be taken into consideration.

As a general rule a hanging basket looks best when it has:

• One plant for height

• Three plants for trailing 

For anyone wondering if you can put any plant in a hanging basket, let’s find out whether pelargoniums work to provide height.

Pelargoniums

The pelargonium – or more commonly known as geranium – is a great choice for hanging baskets. 

They’re available as trailers and also grow upright too, are perfect to add height, structure as well as a beautiful display of color. 

Make sure you water, feed, and deadhead regularly in order for them to flower all summer long and into early fall with the right kind of weather conditions.

“The pelargonium or more commonly known as geranium is a great choice for hanging baskets.”

The Best Plants To Put In A Hanging Basket

We now know you can put any plant in a hanging basket, you might be wondering which ones are the best? 

Here is a list of the top ten best plants that thrive in baskets: 

• Ferns
• Succulents 
• English Ivy
• Golden Pothos
• String of Pearls 
• Black Eyed Susan Vine
• Burro's tail 
• Spider Plant
• Bacopa
• Tomatoes

Herbs, Fruits, And Vegetables

Herbs, fruits, and even vegetables such as sweet potato vines can create an oasis in a basket.

Basil and cilantro can make not only a stylish-looking basket but make a great addition to your kitchen garden too. 

When grown in a hanging basket, they both develop a soft stem that creates a beautiful drape over the side. There is a wealth of amazing plants and the list is virtually endless, but here’s a quick list of 21 of the best and most popular.

• Petunias
• Fuschia
• Verbena 
• Trailing Ivy 
• Bacopa 
• Osteospermum
• Lobelia
• Portulaca
• Million bells 
• Nasturtiums
• Begonias 
• Lantana 
• Pansies
• Inpatients 
• Strawberry 
• Sweet potato vines 
• Trailing rosemary 
• Creeping thyme 
• Sweet Alyssum
• Grasse
• Succulents

 

Can I Put Plants That Flower At Different Times In A Hanging Basket? 

Although we understand the sky’s the limit with the type of plants you can use in a hanging basket, it’s worth making sure for a healthy display, you think about when your chosen plants will flower.

By mixing it up a little with some earlier flowering plants such as Bacopa Flowers or Moss Verbena which flower earlier spring right through the summer and to the first frosts, you can layer up your display.

You might however want to choose a single flower, herb, fruit, or vegetable which will give an intense statement during their flowering time, then simply create more baskets for the following season.

You might like to have a group of red pansies that will provide a beautiful splash of color throughout the summer, and then maybe plant up some elegant sweet autumn clematis to take your hanging baskets right through to the fall.

Can I Put Large Plants In Hanging Baskets? 

The only limit to the size of your plants is the size of the container.

Make sure to find the right fitting home for your plants in order to promote healthy growth.

How Many Plants Do You Put In A Hanging Basket?

According to plant experts Thompson and Morgan, using one plant for every inch of your basket's diameter offers the best and most ideal display and makes sure your plants stay healthy.

For example 10 inch baskets, 10 plants, 7-inch baskets, 7 plants. 

However, if you’re using some of the faster-growing plants such as pelargoniums (geraniums) or Fuchsias then plant less than the ‘one inch, one plant’ rule. 

How Do You Look After Hanging Baskets?

For anyone wondering if you can use any plant in a hanging basket, the most important consideration is to make sure whichever plants you choose you should take care of them! 

You should look after your hanging baskets according to the individual requirements of the plants you’re growing. 

Generally speaking, you should place them in a sunny, sheltered spot, and water them as soon as the top of the soil feels dry. 

You can also add a liquid plant food every few weeks during the growing period. 

Don’t forget to keep your plants healthy, happy, and looking their best by deadheading throughout the season, to encourage new flower growth.

And To Finish…

We hope you have all the answers now to whether you can put any plant in a hanging basket! 

For plant lovers who enjoy the minimalist and contemporary look of indoor hangers and shelves, don’t forget to drop by and take a look at our store with a stylish range of gorgeous wood and natural braid to compliment your home, workspace, and commercial requirements.