Here’s everything you need to know if you want to use hanging baskets in every climate.
Containers
Old-fashioned wire baskets in various sizes (from 8” to 18” inches in diameter); square or half-circle redwood or cedar baskets; or any other container of suitable size that can be suspended using a chain, rope, or wire. Wire baskets and small containers dry out more rapidly than others.
Before filling a basket with soil, line it with sheet moss or unshredded sphagnum moss. This lining should give thorough coverage, but it does not need to be snore than 2” inches thick.
After the moss is placed, line it with burlap or aluminum foil. Without this second lining, the soil would sift and drain through the moss. If the foil is used, punch holes in it to allow drainage.
Planting
Basket soil should have the ability to hold moisture. This can be increased by incorporating more humus (peat moss, compost, leaf mold, or well-rotted manure) than used normally. Plants may be placed directly in the soil of the basket or left in pots that are merely sunk to their rims.
Plants left potted are more easily replaced should the basket need refurbishing, but it may not be easy to obtain desired planting designs with them; also, they may be less vigorous.
A few plants well-spaced in a basket are more graceful and vigorous than a crowded planting which gives an immediate effect but languishes as the plants crowd each other.
Maintenance
Watering is all-important. Baskets dry out quickly, even daily, during the hottest weather. Plants can only do well if the soil is moist at all times. Submerge baskets in a tub or other container of water.
Leave until the soil is thoroughly moistened. Remove, allow to drain, then return to regular position.
If drippings are not a consideration, then the garden hose may be used to water baskets—bi-weekly applications of liquid fertilizer help to maintain vigorous, floriferous basket plants. Keep withering leaves and flowers clipped off.
Location
If possible, suspend hanging baskets where their inevitable dripping after watering will not be objectionable. They need protection from strong winds and should be hung out of walkways or other places where they could be a hazard to you or garden visitors.
44659 by
North – Hanging Baskets in Every Climate
Although hanging baskets are not commonly grown in this part of the country, the popularity of this type of gardening is increasing as patios, terraces, and garden areas are used more extensively each new season for outdoor living.
Hanging Basket Tuberous Begonias
Hanging basket tuberous begonias are superb here. They do well in partly shaded places with full sun until about ten a.m. and after three p.m., but full shade during the middle of the day.
Wax begonias make an attractive hanging basket when planted on the sides and bottom of a moss-covered container.
They do well in semi-shade. Impatiens are particularly nice when combined with a trailing plant such as English ivy or Vinca major. They need semi- or full shade.
Summer Flowering Impatiens
Summer flowering impatiens are usually obtained from cuttings taken in early spring. Trailing lobelias, petunias, sweet alyssum, and verbenas are excellent annuals for hanging baskets in full sun or part shade.
Browallia
Browallia is a little-known annual draping a pot or hanging basket with numerous blue (variety speciosa major) or blue and white (variety elata) blooms. It requires partial to full shade.
44659 by Robert A. Phillips
East – Hanging Baskets in Every Climate
In our area, hanging baskets are hung from the branches of trees and large shrubs, from porch ceilings, awning rods, brackets on the porch or patio, and brackets placed on tree trunks.
They are sometimes suspended from the old-fashioned tripods that were once used for cooking utensils.
Plants for baskets in the shade (except for sunlight early or late in the day):
- Fuchsias
- Fibrous- and tuberous-rooted begonias
- Browallia
- Achimenes
- Saxifraga mementos (strawberry-begonia)
- Holly fern
- Impatiens sultani
- Philodendron
- English and German ivy.
For partial to the full sun:
- Trailing and standard coleus
- Trailing lantanas
- Standard and ivy-leaf geraniums
- Sweet alyssum
- Torenia
- Sedum Morgrznianum
- Nierembergia ‘Purple Robe’
- Petunias
- Verbenas
- Campanula mesophyll
44659 by Victor H. Ries
Heartland – Hanging Baskets in Every Climate
In our area, flowering baskets are hung from prepared standards in patios, timbers in pergolas, overhanging caves near doorways, trees, or brackets extending out from masonry walls.
They thrive best in a location protected from strong winds, bright morning sun, and shade during the hottest afternoon.
After a basket has been filled about 3/4ths full of good potting soil, it is ready for planting. Place an accent plant in the center. For example, in a shady place, a Boston fern may be used; for a sunny location, a dracaena.
Vines or trailers are planted at the edge of the basket. Blooming and foliage plants are used between the vines and the accent plant. Hahn’s ivy is a good vine for shade; variegated Vinca is major for the sun.
Blooming and foliage plants for the sun: common and trailing geraniums, dwarf marigolds, petunias, ageratum, asparagus fern (A. sprengeri), coleus, achyranthes (sometimes called Iresine), and dusty miller.
For shade:
- Tuberous and fibrous begonias
- Asparagus fern
- Sultana
- Torenia
- Achimenes
- Variegated chlorophytum
For dense shade:
- Ferns
- Baltic or Hahn’s ivy
In our area, some replanting of baskets is usually needed to keep them in tip-top shape.
44659 by Stanley Mclane
Mid-South – Hanging Baskets in Every Climate
Hanging baskets are widely used in this area—from the lowly cottages to the most exclusive neighborhoods.
For winter baskets, we use violas, pansies, small-leaf English ivy, nepeta, and Phlox subulata. Summer offers a greater variety of plants useable for baskets.
For shaded areas which receive only the early morning sun:
- Caladiums combined with dwarf sultanas
- Geraniums
- Pentas
- Creeping coleus
- Begonias (fibrous-rooted, usually better in our hot climate than tuberous)
- Tradescantia fluminensis.
Also popular for shade:
- Maidenhair ferns (Adiantum species)
- Asparagus ferns (A. sprengeri and A. purposes)
These usually go in a sunny greenhouse or window during the winter.
For sunny locations:
- Petunias
- Portulaca
- Verbenas
- Trailing lantanas
We use baskets around patios, attached to fences, ornamental iron grillwork, around carports, and hanging from branches of trees.
44659 by Minnie Hall Brown
Southwest – Hanging Baskets in Every Climate
Hanging baskets have been used to a limited extent in our area owing to its prevailing searing summer winds. However, this effective and dramatic form of gardening is certainly possible here.
Hanging baskets should be widely used in the Southwest in protected or sheltered areas—porches, terraces, patios, under large trees, and in similar places.
Cacti and succulents such as Sedum morganianum, Crassula repens, and Selenicereus McDonaldiae are useful even in the aridest sections.
Other basket plants for the Southwest for full sun to partial shade include:
- Upright and trailing geraniums
- Petunias
- Periwinkles (Vinca major is perennial, V. rosea annual—varieties of both are excellent for basket work)
- Dusty miller
- Schizanthus (butterfly flower)
- Torchia
- Morning glories
- Moon vine
- Nasturtiums
- Alyssum
For partial to full shade:
- Fibrous- and tuberous-rooted begonias
- Ferns
- Wandering jew
- Upright and trailing coleus
- English ivy
- Philodendron
- Bromeliads
44659 by Robert H. Rucker
West – Hanging Baskets in Every Climate
In our area, hanging baskets are used to mark and accent entranceways; they are placed at varying levels as a living screen along a wall, or in themselves serving as a wall; on brackets on lampposts; placed above a planter.
Suspended over a pool and reflected in the water; suspended from the overhang above a window; and on brackets to soften walls of the house, garage, or other building.
What we use in baskets: Balcony petunias are excellent because they hang over the sides and soften architectural lines; they grow rapidly—may overrun slower-growing plants. Therefore, petunias are best planted in a basket without companions. Vinca, or periwinkle, both annual and perennial varieties, is well suited to basket planting.
The perennials succeed either in the shade or full sun; the annuals need sun. Trailing lobelia is ideal for basket work; plants of slow growth and similar fine textures are suggested to complement it.
Ground ivy (Nepeta hederacea) is popular for baskets, particularly the variety with variegated leaves.
However, the clock vine (Thunbergia alata) deserves more popularity as a basket plant because of its yellow or white flowers; it is good in combination with marigolds, ageratum, and salvia.
Other plants used here for hanging baskets are:
- Standard and ivy geraniums
- Wandering jew
- Marigolds
- Lotus Berthold
- Coleus
- Salvias
- Tuberous begonias (shade)
- Various ivies
- Fuchsias (shade)
- Strawberry-geranium (Saxifraga sarmentosa)
44659 by Leonard A. Yager