Any well-landscaped home includes some show-stoppingly beautiful hanging flower baskets. Come summer, inspiration is all around. Shopping centers, neighborhoods, amusement parks, and restaurants all seem to have perfect hanging planters, overflowing with blooms that seem as if they are just about to spill out and spread down the street. 

You may think you need to resort to buying pre-planted flower baskets, or ask a professional to help you out to achieve this look. But that’s not the case, in fact it’s easier than you may think to create your own gorgeous DIY hanging planters at home!

Yep, you really can have those lush, full, awe-inspiring hanging flower baskets in your own garden with these tips and tricks! Keep reading for all the secrets to perfect hanging flower baskets, some great inspiration for DIY hanging flower baskets, and tips on how to make a hanging basket look full. Let’s go!

Secrets to Creating Gorgeous DIY Hanging Flower Baskets

The first thing that you have to remember is that if you want those professional-looking, lush hanging baskets, all of these secrets are equally important and work together. If one part of the “system” fails, chances are good that none of the other secrets are gonna save you. But no worries, none of these are tough, fellow gardeners! 

Secret #1 – Choose Right Hanging Pot, Basket, or Container for Your Desired Look

There are quite a few different ways to hang your planters, including options if you don’t want to put nails in your front porch. Your chosen container will change the overall look of your hanging planter, so you may want to come back to this if you decide your favorite flowers might work better in a different format.

Classic Hanging Planters

If you want simple cascading planters, choose regular hanging pots. There are plenty of options available at home improvement stores in the garden center, or on Amazon if you are looking for more variety.

Flower Globes

If you want those amazing living flower globes that hang from the streets in those awe-inspiring European hamlets, then you need a specific type of planter. Look for a container that is either wire with a fiber liner, or that has holes throughout its body specifically for this purpose. This allows you to place plants all through the sides and bottom of the container. This photo from Fine Gardening shows how to cut holes in the liner and place plants for a globe look.

Hanging Flower Basket Stands

Perhaps you don’t want to drill into the side of your house or porch. Totally understandable! Consider using stands that stick in the ground to hang your flower baskets along a walkway or alongside your porch. There are lots of options online, like these from Amazon. Just make sure they are in dense soil and standing sturdily before leaving them with your baskets hanging.

DIY Macrame Hanging Flower Planters

Add a little extra craftiness to your diy planter project by making your own diy macrame hanging planter for your flower baskets! These are a great way to add a little boho flair to front porch. Here is a great tutorial and example by Craftivity Designs.

Secret #2 – The Best Soil for Hanging Flower Baskets

Using a high-quality potting mix is vital to successful hanging baskets. It is very important to use a lightweight potting wix that will help manage the water retention of the planter. The best way to achieve this is by mixing your own soil, which is actually super easy! 

Any good recipe should include vermiculite and perlite as these are essential to keeping soil light, aerated, and moist. Equal parts vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss or coco coir is a good, basic recipe.

Old World Garden Farms recommends this recipe that they swear by:

• 4 Parts – Pulverized Soil/Top Soil
• 4 Parts – Compost
• 1 Part – Worm Castings
• 1 Part – Perlite
• 1/2 Part – Spent Coffee Ground

Secret #3 – Feed and Water Hanging Flower Baskets Well

Hanging baskets run out of nutrients much faster than regular containers for a couple reasons. For one, water flows freely through them, pulling nutrients out in the process. And hanging baskets require frequent watering, too. Aside from that, the plants are also taking up the nutrients, of course. Since hanging baskets are usually planted densely, there’s a lot more roots sucking up a limited amount of fertilizer. 

Add a slow-release granular fertilizer to the potting mix when you plant, then use a liquid fertilizer at half strength once a week, such as Miracle Grow for Flowers. Use both, your plants will thank you with lush growth and many blooms! The town of Victoria on Vancouver Island, B.C. is famous for their hanging flower pots, below. They water their baskets every night and include liquid fertilizer at every feeding.

Hanging flower baskets require a lot more water than planters, especially the ones with fiber liners, as they are constantly losing moisture from all sides. Do not let your planters dry out. Once you do, the root systems will be damaged, and while you may be able revive them, they will never reach their full potential. Here’s a helpful video guide to walk you through the correct way to water hanging baskets.

Once you get used to how heavy your planters are when fully watered, you can just lift up on the bottom and tell if they are getting light, then they are getting dry. They like to be evenly moist. Consider taking them down weekly to do a full and deep soaking, allow to drain, then rehang. In the most intense heat of the summer, some flower baskets may need water as often as twice a day.

Secret #4 – Find the Best Plants for Hanging Baskets

Just like when planting in your garden, you have to choose the right plants for the right spot. Not only do you need to pay attention to whether your basket will hang in sun or shade, also note if it will be subject to drying winds, heavy rains, or excessive heat. 

Then, consider the shape and overall design you want for your baskets. Choose trailing plants for the sides and bottom of the container, and more upright varieties for the middle of the container. 

Think about your color scheme here, too. Do you want 3-5 different varieties with different textures, colors, and bloom shapes for more close-up interest? OR, do you want a single color and type to make a mass statement? Here’s a good example of a single-color flower basket using Supertunia “Raspberry Blast” courtesy of “Wojos”.

Consider the location of your planter when deciding on color schemes. Bolder colors will draw the eye in from farther away, perfect if your house is set back from the street a bit. Meanwhile, more subdued color choices allow the basket to add to the gardenscape and overall aesthetic of your house instead of becoming a focal point. 

Secret #5 – Pack ‘Em In!

Our last little trick from the pros is pretty important… You have to pack the plants into these containers to get the full and lush look you want. Hanging baskets have a short amount of time to get to their full intended size, so you may need more plants than you would think.

Wondering how to make hanging baskets look full? Start them as early in spring as you can, weather permitting, for the best result by mid-summer. Photo above from Proven Winners includes their Superbells calibrachoa and two types of verbena.

Here’s a helpful tip when it comes to tightly planting your hanging baskets- once your flowers get fully grown, the root competition will slow down their growth. If your planters look like they are starting to struggle, try thinning the plants a bit. They should spring back to life!

Inspiration and Hanging Basket Plant Ideas

Now that you know how to make hanging baskets look full and our other hanging basket tips, here are some beautiful inspiration photos to help you bring the whole picture together. Remember you can always change the the container or plants you’ve chosen to work with if you see something here you like better! And if you can’t get enough ideas for your hanging flower baskets, check out our favorite flowers for hanging baskets here!

All Greenery Hanging Baskets (Hanging Basket Ideas without Flowers)

Believe it or not, you don’t have to have flowers for a beautiful hanging basket design! Lots of foliage plants boast beautiful colors beyond just green. Plus, hanging basket ideas without flowers look spectacular all year – not just when they bloom!

Hanging succulent orbs are bit different than the concepts we’ve been covering, but super cool nonetheless. Learn how to make a succulent sphere for a really unique hanging basket from YouTube channel “Garden Answer”.

Even if succulents aren’t your thing (or don’t suit your climate), there are plenty of other hanging basket ideas without flowers you can explore. If in doubt, stick with more classic plants in the greenery category like ferns for a lush addition to your porch.

Fragrant Hanging Basket Plant Ideas

Consider focusing your hanging baskets on one specific purpose- creating a beautiful fragrance for the front entrance of your home. This creates the most pleasant first impression for guests.

Jasmine would be my top choice here, I just think this has got to be the best-smelling flower there is. Gardenias provide a similar scent but with larger flowers.

Pick Your Favorite Colors 

Don’t overthink your hanging basket plant ideas, just pick your favorite colors and a few flowers that vary in growth habits (trailing vs mounding etc) and go for it!

Base Your Hanging Basket Ideas on the Season

Photo courtesy of ‘Proven Winners‘. These hanging flowers are blue lobelia, red ivy geranium and annuals. This design would be the perfect way to add a patriotic touch to your front porch for the 4th of July!

Monochrome and Single-Variety Hanging Baskets for Flowers

Sticking to a single variety or color is a great way to create a big, bold impact. For the biggest impact, keep it really uniform with just one color like this.

Alternatively, use a range of shades of one color for a subtly monochrome color scheme. Here’s an example using purple again for comparison.

Where to Buy Supplies to Make Hanging Baskets for Flowers

Your choices for hanging planters and other supplies for making your flower baskets might be limited where you live. We found a few picks that might help you plant exactly the kind of hanging basket that you are dreaming about! 

If you want to be able to not worry about watering your hanging baskets every single day, then try the “Pollyanna Self-Watering Resin Hanging Planter”. Not only does it come in three modern colors and two sizes, it has a water reservoir that keeps the soil in the planter moist. I love its faux cement finish to go with other favorite cement and concrete garden decor projects like our cement garden globes.

Looking for something a little more unique? The “Convivial VI Hanging Planter” from West Elm features a lovely geometric design in a crisp porcelain ivory glaze complete with coconut coir liner. Perfect for all kinds of plants.

Last, we love, love, love the look of this “Handmade Globe Copper and Steel Hanging Planter”.   Yes, it’s a little pricey and it isn’t like traditional hanging baskets for flowers, but can you imagine the charm if you filled this with trailing flowers?… or anything for that matter!

Take Your DIY Hanging Baskets for Flowers to New Heights

So now you have all the hanging basket tips and ideas you need for stunning, flowing baskets. I just know you’re going to create some amazing, gorgeous DIY hanging flower planters at home!  I’d love to see the results, feel free to reply to any TGG email (subscribe here) to show me what you’ve created any time! Or send your hanging flower planters our way on Instagram or Facebook! 

If you want more DIY garden projects, check out our post on How to Plant Fantastic Flower Beds or DIY Hummingbird Feeders, Nectar, and Swings. Looking for more ways to dress up your porches and patios? Check out our post on DIY planters and DIY patio cover projects.