Hanging baskets provide a personal touch to the garden, bringing flowers and foliage to unused nooks and crannies.
Hanging baskets bring gardens up to eye level, making a garden feel fuller and more complete.
Use them to dress up walls or decorate tree branches.
Credit:Getty Images
They also stand up to the challenging conditions of container life.Container plants need consistent moisture.
Drip irrigation also works well for containers.
Hanging baskets will likely need watering every day in the heat of summer.
Credit:Getty Images
Varieties are available in almost every color of the rainbow.
Calibrachoa also tolerates partial shade, but flowering will be reduced.
Boston Fern
With gracefully arching foliage, this evergreen fern is a staple of Southern porches.
Credit:Getty Images
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.
Credit:Getty Images
White and bicolor blooms are also common in the trade.
Flowers are born in rounded clusters.
Remove spent blooms to encourage continuous blooming.
Credit:Getty Images
Many verbena varieties are both mounding and trailing, filling multiple rolls in a container planting.
Though plants perform well with little maintenance, deadheading encourages more vigorous blooming.
Pinch back plants if they grow leggy.
Credit:Getty Images
Look for cascading varieties which are best suited to hanging baskets and raised containers.
These vigorous growers may require a haircut mid-summer.
The jewel-toned blooms shine in shades of ruby red, velvety purple, and yes, fuchsia.
Credit:Getty Images
Some are accented with white or pale pink hues.
Keep them well watered and protected from the afternoon sun.
White and pink varieties are also available.
Credit:Southern Living/Adrienne Legault
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.
Plants also make a gorgeous stand-alone planting.
Credit:Getty Images
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.
These traits make it superior to other varieties for life in a hanging basket.
Credit:Getty Images
And you wont 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.
Credit:Getty Images
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.
Credit:Getty Images
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.
Credit:Getty Images
Ornamental Oregano
For gardeners with lower humidity, ornamental oregano makes a stunning solo planting.
The blooms are commonly used in dried flower arrangements.
Plants are heat and drought tolerant, making them easy to maintain.
Credit:Getty Images
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.
Plants are self-cleaning, blooming all summer long without deadheading.
Credit:Getty Images
Bring them indoors over the winter and they will keep on blooming.
ensure to provide a sturdy hook for hanging, as these baskets will get heavy when loaded with fruit.
