Flowering Hanging Planters Bring Unexpected Beauty To Your Home
All the info you need to make your own: the pots, the plants, the tips. Hanging planters are so easy to put together, and the baskets here are just stunning.
Brighten Up Your Spring and Summer Porch with Hanging Pots of Flowers

photo: Ilona’s Garden
There is something so inviting about a porch with pots of hanging flowers. Artistic hanging baskets with well-chosen plants spilling over the sides spell out summertime evenings full of flower fragrance and firefly sightings.
PORCHES SHINE WITH FLOWERING HANGING BASKETS
Containers overflowing with petunias or bright geraniums are just the right touch for a hospitable entry, and hanging planters take advantage of vertical spaces. Just one hanging planter can add a spot of color right at eye level. I like a row of three across the front porch, facing the street.
However you line them up, hanging planters are a wonderful way to add a little green and a lot of curb appeal to your home.
YOU’LL FIND IN THIS ARTICLE:
- How to make a hanging container of flowers
- Tips on keeping your hanging planters looking good
- List of flowers that make great displays
- Frugal tips and diy videos to make your own and save money
- Examples of gorgeous hanging planters to choose from
Front Yard Container Design Tips
Adorn the front entry or the patio
The front entry is one of the classic areas for hanging baskets of foliage or flowers. Matching containers give cohesion to the look of several hanging planters. It is more attractive than a jumble of different styles.
They can all be hung at the same height or given varied heights, but similar containers with similar plantings will provide repetition that pleases the eye. Such repetition gives a sense of order.
Don’t let your array of hanging planters look hodge-podge:
Put similar planters together to give the display more continuity, for the best effect. If not exactly matching, try to have something that unifies them: color, shape, or size.
14-inch Hanging Planters – Art designs to make your porch the talk of the town
Toland Home Garden Dragonfly 14-Inch 2-Gallon Decorative Insulated Hanging Art Planter Basket 202029
Dragonfly Art Hanging Planter- holds 2 gallons of soil and has a collapsible design which makes winter storage a breeze.
These planters by Toland are gorgeous, but won’t upstage your flowering plants.
The patterns and colors harmonize with many plant combos and are a feature in themselves as the plants start to fill out. The designs highlighted here are but two of an array of lovely hanging planters that can match the décor of your home. I especially like the Moroccan design above, but any of the choices would be delightful to plant up with favorite container combinations.
Essential Hanging Planter Tips For Planting A Beautiful Pot
- Don’t overfill your container, three to five plants for most hanging planters should be enough.
- Some believe that containers need to be a complicated affair, but the simplest recipe of just a few harmonious plants often gives the best effect.
- Repeating several containers of the same plants multiplies the effect for an even bigger visual impact. Just make sure the plants stay healthy with the proper light, moisture, and feeding conditions met throughout their growing season.
- Moisture retaining soil and potting methods help.
- Trimming (a midseason “haircut”) the lanky growth, keeping old blooms dead headed will keep your hanging planters looking amazing all season, too.


Keep The Plants Moist
Frugal Ideas
There are so many recipes for combining plants in your planters, that it is a snap to create spectacular looking hanging planters for your porch. No need to buy expensive “pre-planted” combos.
It is more economical to pot up our own, and if care is taken for using good soil and amendments, the plants will quickly establish and provide a very nice show.
Try purchasing a ready made pot of a single type of flower, divide it up into plantings for several pots. Put those, along with additional accent plants, into those you are making in your own, better looking, hanging planters.
I like the inexpensive pots of the new petunias or geraniums for this last idea, because they are easy to grow, respond well to this type of division, and the new trendy colors are more available in pots.
DIY Savings
Artful Toland Hanging Planters
Water drips through the bottom drainage, utilize this to water a planter pot in line with the draining water. The colorful fabric of these collapsible planters will give an artful look to your porch scene. Made of nylon Fabric with a waterproof liner, sturdy metal chains and hook.
I featured these planters on the page because they are so strikingly attractive, and I’ve never seen anything quite like them. The colorful designs remind me of Craftsman style decorative home accessories: artistic touches in even the most practical things.
How To Make A Hanging Planter
Product List For Completing Your Creation
Everything for a blooming show
Gather together just a few supplies to make your blooming planters healthy and ready for a full season of pretty flowers and foliage.
It simplifies making baskets if you have something of an assembly line, making as many of your baskets together at one time. Filling the pots with soil and then watering can get a bit messy at times, and a one-time assembly makes cleanup easier.
5 Things You Need To Make Superb Hanging Baskets
- The great looking container
- Light soil or compost (don’t use heavy garden soil) Like Miracle-Gro Potting Mix, which is economical.
- Added time-release fertilizer “FoxFarm American Pride Time Release Fertilizer” is a good one.
- Moisture additive: anything similar to “The Dirty Gardener Water Retention Granules”. Miracle Gro also has a special moisture retentive formula.
- Your plants, usually trailing types, but a center plant with height to it is nice, too.
DIY Planter From Wood
Best Potting Soil, IMO
Of anything I use, this is my favorite soil mix for hanging planters. With the winds my porch planters can quickly dry out. That is why something with “moisture beads” makes such a difference.
Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix, 8-Quart (currently ships to select Northeastern & Midwestern states)
I use this soil to make sure my plants have adequate moisture. It has moisture retentive ingredients.
Make A Mixed Summer Hanging Container
List of Flowers for Great Displays
Which plants would look good with your new hanging planters?
Vinca
Sweet Potato Vine
Thunbergia
Lantana
Begonia
‘Diamond Frost’ Euphorbia
Thyme
Oregano
Container Recipes
Pleasing Flower Combinations
Following a recipe can take to guesswork out of putting together planters with the right combination of growing requirements, pleasing forms and colors. Sometimes it sparks a look that you may not have otherwise thought of. If you like this idea, I have a large number of recipes on these pages:
- Favorite Annuals In Containers
- More Favorites For Hanging Planters
- 5 Container Recipes, 5 Tips
- Summer Flower Combos
Ingredients For Perfectly Purple
- double petunias
- vinca
- purple angelonia
Instructions
- Place soil inside your pot, about halfway to top.
- Arrange Angelonia center to side, place Vinca spilling over two sides, and three petunias around the edge of the planter.
- Fill with remaining soil to top, tamp down and make sure planter is watered well.
- Hang in a sunny location.
Simple, But Stellar
White Lattice Look Hanging Planter – In Sturdy Resin
DMC Products 14-Inch Resin Wicker Hanging Basket with Chain Hanger, White
White lattice is the classic look for porches: porch furnishings, trellises, baskets. Now someone has made hanging planters out of a tough resin in a look that just says summer, lemonade, and porch rockers.
Don’t Forget Tropical Foliage Plants
Source: C. Dani, Buy at Allposters
More and more, I see innovative flower pot designs that include typical tropical houseplants along with the usual annuals. By themselves for a shady place, or as part of a stylish combination of color and foliage, they make great hanging plants for summer porch decor.
- 5 Tips For Container Gardening
Five tips and five flower combination recipes to kick-start your summer container garden. - Care of Hanging Baskets
U. of Missouri hanging plant tips
Assorted Hanging Planters, Ceramic or Woven – Filled With Colorful Blooms
Farm Stand in Red
Source: Allposters
Make A Cone Style Display
Tips For Terrific Hanging Planters
HOW TO PUT TOGETHER A GORGEOUS PLANTER
- Use mainly trailing plants that can spill over the sides.
- Center the pot with a mounded plant that gives a little height
- Plants can be all of one type ( like petunias) or mix a few plants that like the same conditions (light and moisture)
- Choose large size planters for biggest impact. At least 14 inch diameter is best.
- Line the inside of moss baskets with a plastic liner, create a reservoir for water for better results.
- Water regularly
- When newly planted, allow basket plants to settle in before exposing to elements. Try larger plants to stand up to weather conditions earlier than very small new plants.
Toland Home Garden Damask 14-Inch 2-Gallon Decorative Insulated Hanging Art Planter Basket 202006
If you love Damask patterns this is the Toland planter for you.
Make Your Own: Upcycle Bottles
Watering System – Ease the workload of watering the plants
Harness the energy of the sun with this solar powered (three rechargeable AA batteries needed) automatic watering system.
Watering every 3 hours, it irrigates your plants for you.
Flower House SOL-K12 Solar RainMaker Automatic Watering System
Patio watering system for when you have lots of plants and want to automate the chore of watering containers.
Find More Hanging Planter Ideas
Inventive idea, using common gutters to create a wall of hanging plants.
From Beginner To Advanced Hanging
Jelly Planters
Source: Angus and Celeste
Planter Tutorials
Whether you want to create your own hanging planters or just pot up some plantings in containers you have bought, these tutorials take you through the process. Expert advice for free.
- My Hanging Baskets, Basket Gardening to beautify your home
My Hanging Baskets offers Plants for Hanging Baskets, Basket ideas. Our Hanging Basket Blog shares photos and ideas on great plants for hanging baskets - How to Care For Hanging Petunia Baskets
How to Care For Hanging Petunia Baskets. A large hanging basket filled with colorful petunias is one of the most popular ways to adorn porches and decks. These beautiful baskets pop with vivid colors and stay attractive all summer long with … - BHG serves up plant recipes
Use these easy plant-by-numbers recipes to put together the most beautiful hanging baskets in your neighborhood. - Hanging Basket Care
Tips for taking the best care of your planted baskets. - Annuals for Specific Uses – Gardening with Annuals – University of Illinois Extension
Choose your annuals from an expert list