Planting flowers in a hanging basket presents a challenge: choosing plants that will perform well, despite the limited growing room.
Fortunately, there are many varieties of annuals and perennials that are a suitable choice for hanging basket flowers.
At Homestead Gardens, we grow hundreds of hanging baskets every spring for customers in Lancaster, PA, and the surrounding areas. Through the years, we’ve discovered a few types of plants that tend to grow especially well in a hanging basket.
Here’s our list of some of the best plants to grow in your hanging basket.
1. English Ivy
The English Ivy plant is a beautiful and delicate vine that can be grown in hanging baskets. It also looks great from the bottom, where it’s not trimmed but simply allowed to grow out freely or up against something vertical for support, like your wall.
The vines will reach about 7 inches tall when mature; however, they can get as longs 15 feet if you allow them.
2. Boston Fern
The Boston Fern is a plant that’s ideal for anyone looking to have an air purifying addition in their home or office. Not only does it need humid conditions, but also moist soil with good drainage.
The fern prefers indirect sunlight and will grow up to 2-3 feet tall if given the right growing condition – which makes this great as decoration!
3. Spider Plants
Spider plants are not only beautiful, but they’re also one of the toughest houseplants out there. You don’t necessarily need much care for your spider plant as long as you give it what it needs: well-drained soil and indirect sunlight or partial shade to accommodate its delicate nature!
4. Prayer Plant
The Prayer Plant is a great addition to any home. The leaves will curl up at night like they are praying, and when the plant blooms in spring with big white flowers it’ll be impossible not to notice this beautiful flower!
This indoor herb does best if given indirect sunlight but still gets enough sun throughout most of its life span– so there’s no need for constant watering during summer months.
5. Bird’s Nest Fern
The Bird’s Nest Fern is a unique plant in that it can grow on other plants. The shape of its leaves mimic those from banana trees and coconut palms because they depend upon light for growth, so if you want this look just alter your lighting!
The fern is a beautiful plant that can be used indoor or outdoor. Indoor, it only grows about 2 feet tall but if you keep the humidity high and provide plenty of light then this doesn’t seem to bother them at all!
6. Christmas Cactus
A Christmas Cactus is a great choice for those who want an indoor hanging plant because it has beautiful pink and purple blooms. However, make sure you give them 14 hours of darkness at night or else the flowers won’t open up!
The best time to see this plant’s holiday beauty will be just before Thanksgiving when its flower petals start turning bright red, in order celebrate Santa Claus’ day on December 25th.
I hope your house isn’t too dry; otherwise they might wilt quickly from lack of humidity. You can keep temperatures between 65 degress fahrenheit (18 Celsius) with about 50 percent shade, and don’t let direct sunlight touch these delicate blossoming beauties.
7. Chenille Plant
The Chenille Plant is a bright plant that will look great in any dining room. It can grow up to 6 feet indoors and 15 outside, with its fiery red flowers dangled from multiple leaves; these are fluffy and centered around what some might call “berries.”
The soil it prefers needs sandy well-drained earth full sunlight or else be kept above 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 Celsius).
