Top 7 Vibrant Trailing Plants for Suspended Containers - Craft a Captivating Summer Garden Showcase
Trailing plants can add a beautiful touch to hanging baskets, bringing life and colour to your porch or balcony. Here are some of the best options to consider, each with unique characteristics that make them perfect for various light and care conditions.
Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) is a popular choice, known for its glowing golden leaves that trail beautifully in both full sun and partial shade. It's important to note that Creeping Jenny can be invasive in garden beds, so it's best to keep it in containers or baskets.
Trailing Verbena is another great option, offering vibrant, long-lasting blooms from spring to fall. Ideal for full sun, this plant comes in many colours and is excellent for cascading over basket edges.
Calibrachoa, also known as Million Bells, produces small petunia-like flowers in various colours. It has a thick trailing habit, making it great for sunny hanging baskets with regular watering and deadheading.
String of Pearls is a succulent with bead-like foliage that cascades elegantly. Prefers bright, indirect light and dry soil between watering, making it suitable for indoor hanging baskets.
Impatiens flourish in shade and provide soft, spilling pastel-coloured blooms, ideal for shady hanging baskets.
Black-Eyed Susan Vine offers cheerful yellow flowers with dark centers, adding a playful vibe to baskets.
Morning Glory is a fast-growing twining vine with trumpet-shaped flowers, perfect for sunlit hanging gardens needing vertical interest.
Moss Rose thrives in heat and poor soil, with vibrant rose-like flowers and succulent leaves, suitable for sun-soaked baskets.
Other plants worth considering for texture and colour contrast include Coral Bells (rich foliage), Coleus (colourful leaves), and Lamb’s Ear (soft, silvery trailing foliage).
Lobelia grows in full sun or partial shade, prefers organically rich soil that stays moist and drains well, and blooms profusely in a mound that spills over the sides of containers.
English Ivy (Hedera helix) is an invasive plant in most regions of North America, but can be enjoyed in a hanging basket for its glossy, dark green foliage.
Petunias are South American native flowers, popular as annuals in North America, and suitable for hanging baskets due to their trailing habit and vibrant colours. They need full sun, well-drained soil, and medium moisture, and will reliably produce blooms from spring to fall if deadheaded regularly and pinched back periodically.
Trailing Fuchsia (Fuchsia x hybrida) is a popular annual plant for hanging baskets, known for its plentiful, tubular, and brightly-colored flowers. It's hardy only in the warmest USDA zones and is perfect for shady areas, requiring fertile soil that retains moisture and plenty of humidity.
Each of these plants offers a unique combination of flower colours, foliage textures, and growth habits, providing plenty of options to diversify hanging basket displays beyond the usual choices. Selecting among them depends on your light conditions, maintenance preference, and visual style desired for your baskets.
- Incorporating Trailing Verbena, with its vibrant, long-lasting blooms, into home-and-garden projects can introduce a lively touch to your home or garden.
- For those seeking a more subdued lifestyle, Impatiens, with their soft, spilling pastel-coloured blooms, are a great option for shady hanging baskets within the home-and-garden setting.
