15 Beautiful Hanging Container Garden Ideas

Sunny Hanging Basket
Photo: Southern Living

Container gardens do not have to be displayed in a pot on the ground. Hanging, these decorative gardens can be displayed on walls, porches, or trees. We love the different looks you can create by using unique containers and different flower combinations. Hanging containers elevate color to eye level instead of relegating it to the ground. There are also many plants that grow better in a container than they do on the ground. A hanging container allows you to bring color to an area that may not be the right fit for a container garden in a pot.

Read on for 15 beautiful hanging container garden ideas that go beyond the classic basket of ferns.

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Beautiful Hanging Container Garden Ideas

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Wicker Wonder

Wicker Wonder
Robbie Caponetto; Producer: Mark Thompson

Take a look at the porches around your neighborhood. Are many of them dotted with suspiciously similar flower groupings in containers dangling from spindly wires? Bring back old Southern charm by fixing up a woven wicker basket to set yours apart. You'll need three S-hooks to attach three lengths of chain on opposing edges of a basket that has a wire framework (to shore up the infrastructure). Use another S-hook at the top to loop the chains together, and attach it to the ceiling. Then plant with a variety of hanging basket essentials: sheet moss and 'Kimberley Queen' fern to fill, pink geranium to thrill, and 'Aquamarine' pilea to spill. Geraniums exert a lot of energy to support blooms. Once flowers start to droop, snap them off so the plant can focus on new growth.

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The Fragrant Flower Basket

Yellow Pansy Hanging Basket
Photo: Laurey W. Glenn; Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller

You can combine pansies and herbs in this hanging basket. It can hang on your front door for a warm welcome or out in your garden for easy use when cooking fall stews.

To put this basket together, find a hanging basket at your local hardware or crafts store (be sure to choose a lined one if you plan to display it on your door). Fill it with good-quality potting soil, and add yellow garden pansies and radiant marigolds to give the arrangement bright bursts of color. Add baby kale for a dose of purple. Add herbs like cilantro (pictured growing along the handle), golden lemon thyme (on the bottom left), and Italian oregano (on the bottom right) for a useful and edible hanging basket.

Prep Tip: Fill the space at the bottom of your basket with empty plastic bottles to keep the weight down.

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Rustic Hanging Container

Rustic Hanging Container
Photo: Alison Miksch

The key to this rustic aesthetic is not overplanting the container. Give the flowers space to breathe. This rusty metal bucket—a flea market find—is studded with periwinkles, Rieger begonias, coleus, and other annuals but not overcrowded, which can keep the plants from getting adequate light. Suspending the arrangement on a branch adds to the casual, easy-does-it charm.

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Traditional Hanging Container

Frame Your Porch with Hanging Flowers
Alison Miksch

This woven wicker basket is a natural way to decorate a bare wall in an outdoor space. Pink zinnias and yellow tuberous begonias are the focal points (or "thrillers"), blue Cape plumbago and golden lantana add an extra hint of drama, and English ivy cascades over the side.

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Romantic Hanging Container

Romantic Hanging Container
Alison Miksch

Try varying the scale of flowers and greenery to produce the wildly untamed, "growing in a garden" feel that keeps this basket relaxed. In this sphagnum moss-lined metal hanging basket, larger dianthus blend with smaller petunias, while variegated English ivy and tiny baby's tears dangle over the sides.

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Modern Hanging Container

Hanging Succulent Container
Alison Miksch

A mix of structural succulents takes center stage in a simple hanging fiberclay planter. Purple fan flower punctuates the lush greenery, which offers a refreshing contrast to the deep, dark container suspended in the air.

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Succulent Hanging Container

Sunny Hanging Basket
Southern Living

When a basket is this rich in detail, hang it low enough that you can enjoy looking at the plants that are in it, rather than the bottom of the pot. Combine rush (Juncus sp.), oyster plant (Tradescantia spathacea 'Vittata'), echeveria (Echeveria sp.), and cascading string of pearls (Senecio rowleyanus).

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Pulley Hanging Container

Hanging Container with Pulley

A cool well pulley adds an unexpected twist to this hanging basket. Start with water-soaked sheet moss inside a wire basket, and then add a layer of plastic with punched holes. Fill the container with a mixture of potting mix and composted manure, and you have the perfect pot for planting. Combine 'Diamond Frost' euphorbia, asparagus fern, pink tuberous begonia, 'Key Lime Pie' heuchera, 'Dragon Wing' pink begonia, and 'Sinbad' angel wing begonia.

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Hanging Geranium Container

Cascading Geraniums

The cascading form of ivy geraniums makes them ideal for hanging baskets and window boxes. This basket is filled with the 'Sofie Cascade' variety. The trailing evergreen loves heat, doesn't require much care, and blooms spring through fall, making it a colorful candidate for your porch.

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Hanging Begonia Container

Hanging Begonia Container

This pink 'Dragon Wing' begonia drips with flowers throughout the summer and into fall. Combine it with 'Silver Falls' dichondra for a splash of color against shimmering foliage.

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Colorful Hanging Container

Colorful Hanging Container

Calibrachoas in red, purple, and yellow fill out fast with blooms that look like miniature petunias. With blooms all summer long, these baskets will add a burst of color to any sunny spot.

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Hanging Fern Container

Classic White Porch

Add charm with hanging ferns—a quintessential feature for any Southern porch. They brighten a shady outdoor space and add welcoming appeal. 'Boston' and 'Kimberley Queen' ferns are good choices. Cheery containers also add inviting color to this porch.

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Container Hanging from a Tree

Tree Hanging Container Garden

Hang your baskets in unexpected places. A hook installed in a tree branch holds this basket featuring a sensational combination of impatiens, spider plant, begonias, ferns, and ivy, which are perfect for the shade.

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Sweet Potato Vine Hanging Basket

Sweet Potato Vine Hanging Container Basket
Hector Manuel Sanchez; Styling: Lydia Pursell

For the ultimate drama in your hanging basket, add sweet potato vine. In colors like chartreuse, lime, purple, black, and red, you can create unexpected color combinations in a container garden. These trailing plants offer as much impact and color as the flowers you combine them with. Try the classic 'Margarita' with chartreuse heart-shaped leaves or the purplish-black 'Blackie,' which is a vigorous grower with three-lobed leaves.

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Hanging Garden Group

Metal Wall Hanging Container Garden with Summer Plants
Design by Mark Thompson; Photo: Robbie Caponetto; Prop Styling: Buffy Hargett Miller

This trio of metal garden containers creates elegance in a garden corner. Ferns, shrimp plant, arrowhead vine, and 'Aquamarine' pilea spill over the outer planters. The middle planter features asparagus fern, 'Neon' pothos, and 'Triostar' stromanthe. Add drainage holes at the bottom of each planter and holes in the front for additional plants.

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