A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 What kind of plants do you put in hanging baskets?

What kind of plants do you put in hanging baskets?

Just curious, I had some one ask me that question last fall time, and needed some ideas............

What have your plants been???

Weezie

Hi Weezie,
I've done hanging begonias, fuchsia, impatients, lobelia. sweet alyssum, petunia, lantana, verbena, sweet potato vine (the green and blackie), million bells, bacopa and evolvulus. I can't think of any more, but I'll bet there are more that I've done over the years.

Newt

Some Dianthus for hieght in the middle and the lobelia to hang down fromthe basket. I heard once that you need to use oversized baskets that are lined with moss so that the plants have plenty of room and don't get root bound. The plants should grow nice and full with the larger baskets as opposed to those smaller white ones that alot of people use.

A friend of mine put Sweat Pea in a basket...that looked pretty

Ooh, I like the idea of hanging sweetpeas! Would I make a little top teepee for it to climb up, and then spill down?

I love scented flowers!

I can't wait to see what other ideas people have!

Barbara

I boring, I use wandering and bolivian jews on my porches in baskets because they don't flower and I don't want a ton of bees while I'm sitting outside.......I love hanging the baskets though, makes it look really nice......

Last summer I tried the relatively new sweet potato vine in a hanging basket on my deck -
I LOVED IT!!! It was the dark purple variety -
Loz, you might like it with your wandering jews!

Hmmmm, do you have any other info about it? Sounds interesting lynne......I'd like to know more.

Loz,
I know Somebody's got a picture in their WEB~SHOTS
thing!!!

Njoynit???

I'm getting ready for school with the the oldest, I'll be back to hunt through the archives!

Weezie

Yes i'm the one with blackie sweet potato.Though i did grow mine in hanging basket.i took no pics of it in baslet...just of Dons plant in his bed.it IS a good canidate for hanging basket as it don't like to climb....but it will cascade nicely. I've grown:morning glory,was actually a pair of morning glory baskets,cardinal vine,verbena,ornamental oregna,snapdragons(currently)strawberrys(currently)black eyed susan vine,potohs ivy(a giant,needs a trim soon)spider plant(3 kinds)bloody sorrel,petunias,fern-boston,mums(was rooting,hand got full stuck in MG hanging basket,was not a planned growing,but have left it there.it looked nice& still does) tomato plant growing out of bottom of container with marigolds on top...nice combo...you should try in 5 gallon bucket.I think we discussed this in vegetable forum.I'm sure i've grown other things in hanging baskets but just have short term memory Now my BUBBLEGUM PLANTER.I've grown panseys,dianthus,sweet william,petunias,creeping rosemary,snap dragons& am fixing to change them out again so no telling what will come up with next.I'm still undecided at the moment& i now have 2 bubblegum planters and 2 candy machine planters which have 3 sections :rolleyes:

Njoynit,
I thought it was you!!
We had to guess what it was!!!
My mother loves both of them, the black one
and the lime green one... Quite colorful!!!!

I'm going to dig my bubblegum machine out
and try that one this year...
*I have a candy machine actually.
I have been helping my mom empty her house
on the hill of 49 years worth of collecting!!!
And we have been eyeballing some items, that,
we just don't want to part with quite yet, but
may just have some planting qualities in them...
We are looking at a hamper, maybe drill some holes in the bottom. The front has a good sized area for ventilation of the laundry, so maybe plant some seeds into there????
And leave the top open and fill mostly with styrofoam packing balls, and cover those with the landscape fabric, because doing that,
I can reuse everything a few times that way...
The packing balls, lift it up high enough where I'm not filling the entire basket with dirt, expensive doing that, and then with the fabric over the top, the dirt stays on top and so
do the roots, but drainage is still very good...
And I'm even eyeballin' some pots and pans maybe for butterfly water dishes, with the black shiney rocks, and the handles would give the butterflies a place to land?????????

I'm getting bad, I don't want to chuck anything, I'm ready to plant in the house!! LOL!!!

Weezie

njoynit,
I noticed you had grown black-eyed-susan vine in a hanging basket...how did that do? I got some of this last year and put it on a small trellis...it took it awhile to grow up, wondering if it would "trail" better out of a hanging pot?

Glenda,
My mom bought two of the plants in hanging pots,
she put them on her front porch, (morning sun and late afternoon sun) and she had an extender on her
hanging hooks, she can't pull them down when they are so high up so she gets this little extension thing that goes in between them (the hook and the pot), and they were growing down as well as up, they were having a ball.

Weezie

I'd like to know where you get some seeds for some?
One of the gardeners wive's is looking for some, any heads up for some/????

In my hanging baskets, I have put Million Bells It survives the direct sun, and blooms and blooms all season. I have gotten so many compliments on them, that I stick with the verbena every year. <img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

Weezie....sorry it took so long to get back to you, but you can order seeds from Harris seeds (www.harrisseeds.com)...They are Thunbergia and they have the Alata mixture and the Spanish Eyes. I tried to collect seed this year, but they literally POP off the plant and are a little difficult to collect...they kept popping before I could get them, so I only collected about 10 I think...I should have been more diligent, but I was gone for a week when the seeds were ready to harvest. Hope this helps!

Nyce,
I love verbena's!!
I had them one year next to my house and my dad saw them, and he really liked them too!
Good color!!!
And proficent bloomer!

I just saw a hanging basket combo, it was:
Blue/purple lobelia's and pink(magenta) verbena..
So vibrant of colors!
Lobelia on top and the verbena to spill out over the sides...
I would imagine it wasn't for the hot, bright intense sun area, but something that got 4~5 hours of sun, maybe early morning~late afternoons.

But there is several colors of the verbena!
White's, Red's, Pink's, Purple's good trailing plant!

Weezie

Glenda,
Thanks for the seed info!!!
I will have to IM them and let them know
where they can find some!!

Thanks for the info on the seed
(where to find them and what to look for
when growing them)
I never noticed on my mom's plants.
I try not to touch her hanging baskets,
she has good luck with them...
I always start mine so late, cause I'm into
my veggie's and perennial's first..
Her's look really nice and she comes up with
the wierdest combo's but after they get to growing
I'm like, that looks really nice!!

Weezie

Weezie....was browsing catalogs yesterday and also found the black-eyed-susan vine in Burpees...they carry the Thunbergia Alata...I'm going to have to try these in baskets this year! Thanks for the info!

Nasturtiums are wonderful in hanging baskets. I have tried spider plants, purple passion vine (it does get nasty smelling yellow-orange dandelion like flowers), moss rose, lavender, marigolds (dwarf varieties), carnation clove drops, sweet peas, allysum, petunias, bleeding heart, and mint.

Danaus,
I know what you mean by "nasty smelling" purple passion vine! I bought a large potted one last year because my mother used to have a small one years ago...I never saw (or smelled) hers bloom...so had no idea! It spent the summer hanging at the edge of my carport and I never really noticed the smell out there...but when I brought it inside my back porch to overwinter it...Holy Cow!!!! I still love it though and will continue to grow it on my carport.

Anyone else with any more ideas???
Just curious!!

Weezie

I have my rosary vines planted in hanging baskets, they come indoors in the fall & go back out every spring:)