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Trailing shade plants hanging baskets


8 Best Hanging Basket Plants & Flowers for Shade

Growing plants and flowers in hanging baskets can brighten up an area and create more structure to the garden by lifting plants up off the ground.

When you are a plant addict like I am, being able to hang plants up in baskets not only creates interest in the backyard, but also makes extra special areas for more plants when all the ground and patio planters are full.

Using hanging baskets in the shade can be a huge advantage. We have seen it before, that once beautiful hanging basket that was lush and colorful that has been overexposed to the sun, wind, and weather. Shade can provide protection and help hanging baskets retain moisture.

Hanging baskets that aren’t protected from the heat and brightness of the sun can quickly dry up and wilt.

Hanging baskets thrive in the shade for good reason.

Hanging baskets in the shade gives many kinds of plants and flowers a fighting chance of retaining much needed moisture. A great way to take advantage of this is to explore using living baskets such as baskets made of moss. These are gorgeous and envelope your hanging basket plants in a wonderfully rich, moist backdrop.

Plants that thrive in shade often also require excellent drainage. This means they can be susceptible to problems such as root rot, fungi, and mildews. These problems can occur when planted in poor-draining soils. Putting them up in the air can make sure they get the air circulation and drainage they need.

Shaded areas may provide extra protection from wind and weather that can cause havoc on hanging baskets, drying them out, and damaging precious flowers and foliage.

It is true, shade-loving plants may come with their own set of challenges, but I can promise you; it is worth the challenge!

Another great perk to many shade loving plants and flowers is their unique leaf shapes, colors, and bright, glowing, almost iridescent flowers.

Hanging Baskets in the Shade: Best Practices

Your hanging plants and flowers are completely dependent on you. As the plants are far from the ground and may be exposed to dry, windy conditions, providing moisture-retaining soil, extra nutrition, and consistent water are of the upmost importance.

Plants growing in the ground might be able to source water from the surrounding area but hanging basket plants are completely dependent on us. We must always be kind, and ensure they have everything they need.

A quick note on shade

In areas of high humidity, a “shade plant” may tolerate full sun. Similarly, the same plant in dry conditions may become a shade-only plant. Finding ways to create extra humidity by using tools such as automatic irrigation can provide the extra moisture that some of the following plants may love, particularly if they are exposed to more than partial sun and/or dry and windy conditions.

1.

Fuchsia (Fuchsia ‘Tom Thumb’)

Stand Out Feature: Prolific, tear-drop shaped, vibrant fuchsia pink and purple flowers.

Description: Tom Thumb Fuchsia is the classic compact weeping shrub that is perfect for hanging baskets. The pendulous form is covered in unique blooms from late spring to frost. Fuchsia can be used as a stand alone focal point or combined with other shade-loving plants. Keep in mind, there are thousands of fuchsia cultivars to consider with diverse forms, sizes, shapes, and flower colors and styles.

Hardiness: Zone 8, 9, and 10.

Height and Spread: 2 1/2 feet tall by 2 1/2 feet wide.

Care: Moist, warm conditions protected from wind in shade or dappled sunlight. Fuchsias do not like being dried out or direct, hot sunlight.

2.

Western Bleeding Heart (Dicentra Formosa)

Stand Out Feature: Gorgeous pink/red, heart-shaped flowers dangling in rows from pendulous branches.

Description: The lacy foliage makes a fine backdrop to the arching stems from which heart-shaped blooms dangle for several weeks in late spring to early summer.

Hardiness: Zones 4 to 8.

Height and Spread: 6 to 12 inches tall and 1 to 3 feet wide.

Care: Partial shade to dappled sunlight. Rich, high-quality potting soil. Western bleeding heart is of the more drought-tolerant bleeding heart cultivars, making it a safe choice for hanging in a basket. Spring is its time to shine so group it with other plants that can take over the show through summer and into autumn.

3.

Begonia (Begonia ‘Pendula White’)

Stand Out Feature: Clusters of large pendulous fragrant white flowers.

Description: Bring a bright white glow into the shade with this gorgeous white flowering showstopper. Flowers bloom from July to first frost with blossoms arising in clusters and hanging above deep green, waxy leaves.

Hardiness: Zone 11. Not frost hardy. Bulbs can be lifted and stored to replant the following year.

Height and Spread: 10 to 14 inches tall and wide.

Care: Plant in rich, high-quality potting soil and keep moist. Protect from hot sun and wind.

4.

Lobelia (Lobelia erinus)

Stand Out Feature: Delicate trailing annual with fan-shaped flowers available in many shades of blue.

Description: A prolific bloomer April through June with more blooms in the autumn. This compact annual is an excellent companion plant in the hanging basket and can fill in space while other summer and fall performing plants grow to their full size.

Hardiness: Zone 10 to 11.

Height and Spread: 6 to 10 inches tall and 6 to 12 inches wide.

Care: Loves rich, moist, organic soils. Lobelia may give an extra fall bloom if it is cut back after its spring show.

5.

Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana)

Stand Out Feature: Incredible vibrant color choices.

Description: Small, compact plants of glossy green foliage covered in a plethora of vibrant flowers in ranges of pink, purple, lilac, red, orange, rose, white, and bicolors. They are continuous bloomers with a spectacular bright show from June to frost.

Hardiness: A tender perennial. Zone 10 to 11.

Height and Spread: 6 to 24 inches tall and wide.

Care: Generally low maintenance. Loves nutrient-rich soil and being consistently moist. Cutting back young plants will encourage bushier plants with more flowers.

6.

Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens)

Stand Out Feature: Unusual, sometimes spotted, monkey-face, or snapdragon-like flower.

Description: Blooming from June to September in a range of colors, often in yellows, oranges and reds but can be found in lilac and purple colors also. Some varieties are upright, but some are trailing varieties perfect for hanging baskets.

Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.

Height and Spread: They grow 1 to 3 feet in height and spread up to a foot wide.

Care: Monkey flowers are wildflowers native to North America and found in bog-type environments. They will thrive in moist soil in the shade and do not like to dry out.

7.

Trailing Bacopa ‘Giant Snowflake’ (Sutera cordata)

Stand Out Feature: Overflowing trailing habit.

Description: The ultimate shade hanging basket companion. The giant white blooms begin in spring and keep coming on a beautiful backdrop of its own blue/green foliage.

Hardiness: Zones 9, 10, and 11.

Height and Spread: Grows under 6 inches high but spreads 2 to 4 feet.

Care: Loves extra nutrition due to its vigorous nature and prolific, long bloom time. No need to deadhead but trim any damaged stems.

8.

Coleus ‘Red Trailing Queen’ (Coleus scutellarioides)

Stand Out Feature: Dramatic bicolor foliage with contrasting borders and centers.

Description: Compact plants that are all about their foliage. Heart-shaped leaves are velvety. They are rose burgundy with white to green margins with a small light rose center. There are many color and shape varieties of coleus to choose from. This is just one example of an excellent shade-loving plant that makes an outstanding softened backdrop or spectacular center piece on its own.

Hardiness: Zone 11

Height and Spread: 1 to 1 ½ feet tall, spreading 1 to 3 feet.

Care: Plant in rich, moisture-retaining soil. Keep coleus evenly moist, pinching back young plants to encourage compact lush habit. Flower stalks can be trimmed to retain focus on the gorgeous foliage.

What are you putting in your basket?

Finding shade-loving plants that thrive in hanging baskets might seem like a challenge at first. The planning, planting, and maintaining of hanging baskets is ultimately a fulfilling experience in and of itself. Exploring the amazing options available and learning the special tricks to helping shade plants thrive in hanging baskets can create even more beautiful spaces in the backyard.

15 Full Shade Hanging Plants — Bustling Nest

Finding full sun plants for hanging baskets is easy. A quick stroll through your favorite nursery or garden center provides plenty of options for the brightly lit spots in your yard. Finding shade-loving plants for baskets seems much more challenging. DDon’tworry, though. There are plenty of beautiful plants that love shady spots in your yard or corners of your covered porch.

The following plants are just a sampling of ones that love the shade. The list includes flowering ornamentals, woodland plants like ferns and hostas with a mix of perennial and annual species. 

Understanding What Full Shade Means

All plants need sunshine for growth, including those classified as full-shade. The classifications—full sun, partial sun, partial shade, or full shade—are based on how much sunlight a plant needs through the day. Full shade plants thrive with filtered sunlight or less than four hours of direct sun every day, preferably early morning.

Benefits Of Full Shade Plants

12 Plants For Shaded Hanging Baskets

1. Rex Begonias (Begonia rex)

Rex begonias are a low-light show stopper! They are one of the most eye-catching, dramatic begonia varieties with their exotic-looking foliage. Large waxy leaves display greens, reds, and silver shades and may even have slight purple hues. One benefit of these plants is they easily transition to houseplants in the fall, where they safely overwinter until spring.

2. Coleus (

Coleus spp.)

A favorite for baskets, potted containers, and landscape plantings, coleus plants come in a boundless array of varieties. The stunning foliage is available in shades of maroon, red, orange, brown, yellow, cream, and green. Contrasting or complementary leaf edges are often ruffled or scalloped to create a show-stopping plant. Coleus plants are one of the easiest bedding plants to grow.

3. Impatiens (

Impatiens walleriana)

Classified as a tender perennial, impatiens are small, compact plants with glossy green foliage and an abundance of brightly-colored flowers. They are a staple bedding plant in many gardeners but typically grown as annuals. They bloom all season continuously until the first frost in a range of colors, including white, pink, lilac, purple, red, orange, and bicolor blends.

4. Hostas (

Hosta spp.)

Hostas are revered in the gardening community for shady spots in the landscape. These beauties thrive in the shadows of your house or under your favorite shade tree in the yard. Stunning foliage comes in green, yellow, blue, and cream hues, and the plants are incredibly easy to care for, making them great for inexperienced gardeners.

5. Creeping Jenny (

Lysimachia nummularia)

Also known as moneywort, creeping Jenny is known as a ground cover plant because of its low stature and spreading nature. But the long, trailing stems add interest to baskets when allowed to drape over the side. Plants bloom from late spring to summer with yellow flowers. Its rounded leaves look like coins.

6. Coral Bells (

Heuchera spp.)

Coral Bells are known for their unique leaves in shades of green and red. They have a wavy leaf margin and distinct vein patterns. These herbaceous shade perennials send up long flower stalks that give way to bell-shaped clusters of red, pink, or white flower clusters in late spring and summer. Butterflies and other pollinators also love these plants.

7. Fuschia (

Fuchsia spp.)

Fuschia plants thrive in lower temperatures and shaded locations. Plants bloom throughout the summer, showcasing bright pendulous flowers of white, pink, or purple against contrasting dark green foliage. The delicate-looking plant is quite hardy and low-maintenance, needing little care. Unlike many flowering ornamentals, fuschia plants have the fullest blooms when kept from the direct sun.

8. Ferns (

Tracheophyta spp.)

Most people think of ferns for planting under trees and close to foundations, but they also do well in baskets hung in full or dappled shade. These plants were one of the first plant groups to adapt to growing on the land. Few species can handle direct sunlight, making them ideal for shaded areas. Make sure to choose species adapted to the humidity of your local climate.

9. Vinca Minor (

Vinca minor)

Also known as periwinkle or creeping myrtle, vinca minor vines are commonly used as ground cover with their shiny dark green foliage variegated in white or yellow. But vinca minor also makes a beautiful addition to baskets. Most cultivars put out blue flowers in spring, but some erupt in a magnificent display of lavender, white, or purple. They may occasionally bloom in summer.

10. Bleeding Heart (

Lamprocapnos spectabilis)

The classic bleeding heart is a stunning perennial plant when potted in hanging baskets. Its heart-shaped pinkish-red flowers dangle off an arching stem with a single hanging droplet to create blooms hard to forget. Plants only flower for a handful of weeks, but the time is extended when hung in a shady spot or partial sun.

11. Lobelia (

Lobelia erinus)

Lobelia is classified as a tender perennial but is grown in most USDA zones as an annual. It belongs to the Campanulaceae or “bellflower” family. Fan-shaped flowers bloom in many shades of blue, making it one of the few flowering ornamentals with true blue blossoms. This low-maintenance plant self-cleans, so there is no need to deadhead spent flowers.

12. Trailing Bacopa (

Sutera cordata)

Many people think trailing bacopa is the ultimate companion in shade-loving hanging baskets. It is easy to grow and looks magnificent, spilling over the sides of a basket. White, pink, or lavender blooms appear in spring against a beautiful backdrop of bluish-green foliage and keep coming until an autumn frost. In areas with mild winters, the plant flowers year-round. 

Things To Consider With Hanging Baskets In The Shade

Carley Miller

Carley Miller is a horticultural expert at Bustling Nest. She previously owned a landscaping business for 25 years and worked at a local garden center for 10 years.

90,000 suspended flowers in the basket for the shadow

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Author: Tonya Barnett, (author Freshcutky)

Associated Complexes - Extremely Popular Podgy Complex - Extremely Popular Polen patio and garden hooks. Overflowing with flowers, hanging baskets easily add color and a sense of abundance to plants. Even those with limited space can incorporate baskets into their outdoor living space design. Baskets also offer a versatile option for growing in areas that may not be ideal for other plants, such as shade. Luckily, choosing shade-tolerant flowers for hanging baskets is pretty easy.

Growing shade flowers in hanging baskets

Before choosing hanging shade flowers, you first need to make sure that the proper growing conditions are met for each plant. This means that the baskets should be filled with well-drained potting soil or potting mix specific to the flower type. In addition, all plant hooks and hanging equipment must be strong and secure.

When choosing shade tolerant flowers for hanging baskets, you will also need to consider how much shade the planting area actually receives. While some shade hanging flower baskets are best in full shade, others may need a little sunlight to bloom well. Maintaining this balance is important.

Proceed with planting shade flowers in hanging baskets according to your desired visual design. In most cases, baskets are planted with a "thriller, filler" and "sprinkler" effect. These terms refer to the overall shape and appearance of each selected plant. Thriller plants attract the most attention. Filler plants help fill gaps and empty space in a container, while filler plants cascade or hang from a basket.

Shaded hanging basket flowers need frequent watering, although not as much as plants grown in the sun. Hanging baskets dry faster than other containers, and this is especially true for those located under mature trees or porch awnings. Establishing a watering and feeding schedule will be key to keeping your hanging baskets looking good throughout the growing season.

Popular hanging flower baskets for shade

Hanging summer gardens. Arrangements of annual flowers in hanging pots. Photo — Botanichka

Hanging gardens are a trendy way to use colorful plants in hanging baskets to decorate your garden, terrace or balcony. The ensemble of separate ampels seems like a fabulous waterfall, it looks festive and solemn. There is nothing complicated in creating hanging gardens, but they are looked after in the same way as a regular potted garden. Although such compositions from ampels are not for everyone, but if there is time and desire, they can create unforgettable fairy-tale corners.

Annual flowers in a hanging pot. © bigbrowneyez

Hanging plants never go out of style. And every year designers around the world come up with new ways to use amazing floating plants in hanging baskets to decorate the garden. Even the simplest ampel looks elegant, enlivens the design and adds charm to it. But many people are already bored with simple hanging baskets. Fortunately, the options for using hanging compositions by single plants are not exhausted. Ordinary ampels are being replaced by hanging flower beds and hanging gardens. Despite similar names, in fact, these are radically different ways of using groups of ampelous plants.

Recently, the term "hanging flower bed" has become so popular that many have forgotten about the true intention of the designers who introduce them into fashion. A hanging flower bed today is called any ampelous plant or letnik in a hanging basket. But to narrow the meaning of the term would be a big mistake. After all, a flower bed or flower garden is never created from one plant, even if we are talking about monocompositions from a single species. Flowerbeds are ensembles of at least 3-5 plants. And this is exactly how hanging flower beds should be perceived - as a composition in hanging planters, creating the feeling of the same celebration of colors and shapes as a classic flower garden. The Hanging Gardens go much further. They literally assemble an ensemble of a hanging or floating garden from different ampels and hanging planters. Hanging garden - an ensemble of at least 5 hanging baskets and ampels, placed as a single hanging ensemble .

Hanging gardens are easy to make. In fact, this is an ordinary potted garden, just moved to hanging baskets. Of course, in order to achieve the effect of a full-fledged ensemble and implement the idea, you will have to pay attention to the choice of ampelous plants and containers, but difficulties in the process of creating hanging gardens should not arise even for beginner flower growers. Indeed, from a practical point of view, these are just grouped into one composition, but all the same garden ampels.

Annual hanging gardens have many advantages:

  1. They save space and allow you to bring lush greenery to any corner of the garden without taking away the “living” space from classic objects.
  2. This is one of the most original variants of vertical gardening.
  3. They allow you to show your imagination and expand your horizons, try different color combinations, explore the play of textures or textures, make experiments that can then be transferred to large flower beds and flower beds from summer gardens.
  4. This is an excellent object for trial and error, learning and knowledge of plants, without taking even a small patch of soil in the horizontal dimension.
  5. Effectively masking, such hanging compositions allow you to hide any flaws in walls, structures, unattractive objects.
  6. Hanging gardens always look a little fabulous: cascades of luxurious flyers in a group of living clouds and waterfalls affect the perception of a garden ten times more than simple ampels. They create a complete feeling of drowning in colors and colors, isolation from the whole world, immersion in communication with wildlife in the most beautiful embodiment. Hanging ensembles are the choice for romantics and fans of lush pastoral compositions.
Annual flowers in hanging pots. © caligula1995

Creating a sense of abundance of flowers, massive and lush, even solemn landscaping, such hanging gardens offer a fresh look at vertical landscaping, or rather, the possibility of seasonal design in a vertical plane. In contrast to the classical approach using annual vines - both classic morning glory or sweet peas, and more original kobe or black-eyed - the creation of hanging or vertical gardens from annuals allows you not to be tied to a place on a terrace, playground, path in general and not even occupy a minimal area, achieving the same effect.

But one should not forget about the minor - and often decisive - lack of hanging gardens. Such a project is suitable only for those who love ampels very much and cannot imagine a garden without luxurious blooming clouds. And only for those gardeners who are ready for considerable costs, and for the fact that the hanging ensemble will have to be carefully maintained. Like a simple pot garden, a hanging plant garden requires constant daily watering, top dressing, and removal of fading flowers. And with a lack of time or a desire not to waste extra energy, creating such a composition will not work.

Hanging gardens today are created on balconies, patios, porches, terraces, in recreation areas, along walls and fences. The restriction on the possibility of using and creating a hanging ensemble introduces only one thing - the reliability of the design and the ability to install additional fasteners. Twisted or forged, protective grilles on balconies, cross beams allow you to hang as many hanging plants as you like, creating entire gardens from them. You can use as a support for such a composition of ampels and a pergola, gazebo structures or other objects of small architecture. If you want to decorate a wall or a high fence, but there are no open beams or other elements above it that you can hang heavy plants on, you will have to take care of additional fasteners. They can be turned into a real decoration of the garden, but even simple hooks or a reliable lattice need to be additionally fixed. If you don’t want to drill and drive in fasteners, you can use attached supports for hanging gardens - a heavy ladder or ladder, an old grate or forged doors, etc. But they can only be used where there is protection from strong winds.

Hanging gardens can also be made in the form of an elegant composition of ampels located at a distance equal to at least their own diameter - so that one can see the support or base, the wall and the landscape behind them, and in the form of a more densely located group, which creates a barrier protecting from prying eyes. How dense and large the group should be and what effect you want to achieve depends only on your taste and preferences. With the help of a combination of plants in ampelous gardens, you can achieve a complete illusion of green or blooming waterfalls and cascades - create your own gardens of Babylon.

Whatever option you choose to place your hanging garden, the ability to change it at your discretion, add or remove plants, move hanging groups to other places will never be lost. Like a potted garden placed on stands or the floor, such compositions are mobile and allow you to constantly make changes to the design of the garden. You can dismantle the hanging flower beds and use the plants as separate flyers or rearrange the compositions at any time and in any place where there is something to hang your hanging baskets on. Such mobility allows you to correct errors in the design style, and change boring or boring colors, and quickly change the conditions if they do not suit the selected plants.

Annual flowers in hanging pots. © Willem

The main rule for designing hanging gardens is to follow the style of the garden design and its color concept . In such hanging ensembles, one cannot break the unity with the character of the entire garden: if a potted garden on a terrace or in a recreation area can create an isolated oasis, be stylistically different from the whole site, then a hanging garden attracts too much attention and will not look harmonious if the style will not match the environment.

Plants are selected so that all crops are content with the same lighting (soil composition can be selected individually, so light is the only guideline). Hanging gardens in colors can be both contrasting and nuanced. But according to the principle of building compositions, contrasts are necessarily created between neighboring plants. Rhythm and repetition allow you to bring a sense of integrity to the ensemble, as well as the play of textures, shapes, lines, shades of color.

Individual flyers for hanging gardens are better than flyers in ampels. To create a hanging garden, you can use individual ampels in pots, or a group of mixed compositions in hanging baskets. But since there are many possibilities to combine different types and color combinations, it’s better not to complicate your task and use individual ampels, planting them in the right substrate and container, fully revealing the beauty of each plant. Composing a composition of beautiful ampels and floating clouds, in which each plant appears in all its glory, you can get a much better effect than from colorful collections of different letniki. There are, however, in the rule of using mono-ampels and their exceptions:

  1. If you really like the lettuce, but it has visible flaws, which are usually hidden in hanging baskets with the help of another plant, then it is not necessary to violate the principle of association for a hanging garden.
  2. If you're using different varieties to achieve a fuller, fuller feel, interesting color transitions or combinations by combining bushy varieties with more showy drooping shoots, feel free to plant them together to create hanging gardens.

The choice of plants that can participate in a spectacular hanging garden is very large . Hanging gardens are the realm of selected profusely flowering letniki and genuine ampelous stars with hanging or lodging shoots. You can’t place any plants in a hanging garden: annual vines need support to reveal all their beauty, and grassy stars with slender bushes, tough shoots and unsightly greenery cannot be seen at high altitude. To decorate such a garden, ampelous plants are chosen - those that are also used for single hanging clouds, capable of creating beautiful lush cascades, and green flowering waterfalls.

The real stars of the pendant ensemble will be the ampel varieties:

  • petunias;
  • calibrachoa;
  • surfinia;
  • verbena;
  • nasturtiums and marigolds;
  • lobelia;
  • strawberries or tomatoes;
  • viols;
  • scaevola;
  • marjoram;
  • basilica;
  • suters;
  • fortunes;
  • dichondra;
  • diascias;
  • sanvitalia;
  • nemesia;
  • milkweed;
  • years;
  • pelargoniums;
  • ageratum;
  • strings;
  • lavators;
  • bacopa;
  • balsams
Annual flowers in hanging pots decorating the fence. © simonannitsford

You can also supplement the assortment of garden plants with houseplants that move to the garden for the summer - fuchsia, ivy, chlorophytum, etc.

Planting containers selected for creating a hanging garden are chosen according to their characteristics . Usually they use classic hanging wire or plastic baskets and cones for the most massive plants, and hanging pots or planters for ordinary ampels. Their color and style are selected according to the nature of the design of the entire garden. Today, multi-level hanging pots appear on sale, made in the form of two or three baskets placed one under the other. The volume of containers ranges from 3 to 8 liters. Smaller containers can be used for lobelias, bush petunias and medium-sized annuals, while large-flowered, cascading and powerful annuals should be given larger pots.

Particular attention should be paid to the soil : if the load on the structures is high, but not excessive, when placing a single hanging basket or ampel, then placing a composition of several hanging baskets will become a source of serious overload. And using dense, heavy, ordinary garden soil for hanging gardens is unacceptable.

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