8 of the best trailing plants for outdoors – all the inspiration you need for breathtaking garden displays

The best trailing plants for outdoors provide beautiful cascading blooms and foliage, offering showstopping garden displays season after season.

Knowing how to plant a hanging basket is one thing, but there are so many other ways you can display your trailing plants. You might choose to let them cascade out of planters, over walls, or in windowsill boxes, for example.

'Trailing plants can also be paired really nicely with climbing plants on pergolas,' says Andy Ellis, former professional gardener and founder of Posh.co.uk. 'It brings even the smallest features to life.'

We've rounded up the best trailing plants for outdoors to inspire your most captivating garden displays yet.

1. Fuchsia

Fuchsia is one of the best plants for hanging baskets, so it's no wonder it's on our list of the best trailing plants for outdoors.

'These vibrant dangling blooms are a gorgeous addition to any garden,' says Andy. 'They like partial shade and need well-draining soil to thrive. You can also deadhead them to promote blooming and pinch the growing tips to help them become bushier.'

Learning how to take a fuchsia cutting will allow you to expand your collection, or even gift copies of your plants to friends and family.

Where to buy fuchsia:

• Thompson & Morgan: a beautiful selection of fuchsia plants.
• Gardening Express: fuchsia plants available in a range of colours.

Andy Ellis

Andy Ellis is a former professional gardener turned interior designer and the founder of Posh.co.uk, home to an array of garden supplies and bathroom fittings. In his spare time, he can be found tending to his plants and continuing to work to make his garden the envy of the neighbourhood (he succeeded). 

2. Bacopa

Also known as water hyssop, bacopa is a creeping perennial which puts out small, delicate flowers from spring to autumn. It's a great choice if you're looking for the best trailing plants for outdoors that work well with cottage garden ideas.

'During the summer, one of my favourite trailing annuals is white bacopa,' says garden designer Harriet Worsley. 'I plant it at the front of window boxes and around the rootball of larger plants in pots. It's a crowd-pleaser, as it flowers all summer and grows quite quickly.

'The pale pink version is pretty, too, as it’s frothy and romantic, and it looks lovely alongside roses for a more traditional English garden.'

Bacopa is also perfect for urban garden ideas. 'The best thing about bacopa is that it tolerates light shade, so it works brilliantly for city gardens where there are always high walls or houses or overhanging trees creating shade,' Harriet adds.

3. Calibrachoa

Calibrachoa, commonly known as million bells due to its profusion of bell-shaped flowers, is another trailing perennial favourite. Available in a spectrum of colours, it's widely used as a pretty planting idea for window boxes.

'Calibrachoa is all about cascading colour, and it is one of the most stunning trailing plants,' says Andy. 'It prefers full sun and will need well-draining soil alongside regular watering. Deadheading is important for continuous blooming and to take advantage of all that colour.'

Where to buy calibrachoa:

• Thompson & Morgan: we love this Calibrachoa 'Million Bells Blue' plant.
• Crocus: take your pick from this vibrant range of calibrachoa plants.

4. Pelargonium

Though many varieties of pelargonium have an upright habit, there are plenty of trailing varieties to experiment with.

'Pelargoniums grow wild in South Africa – I’ve seen them on Table Mountain – so they are used to very dry conditions,' says Harriet. 'As a result, they can take a dose of neglect, and you don’t have to water them every day.

'Of the type you can buy in every garden centre, I think the white ones look the smartest, but I also use the deep, dark maroon varieties. For a cheerful alpine Sound of Music look, go for bright red in your window boxes.

'The pelargoniums in my warm city window boxes have lasted for five years and are still going strong, but in colder areas, they won’t make it through the winter, so treat them as an annual. These plants need masses of sun, so you won’t get the full effects in shade.'

Where to buy pelargoniums:

• Crocus: we love this stunning Pelargonium 'Pink Capricorn' plant.

Harriet Worsley

Garden designer Harriet Worsley set up Worsley Design & Consultancy after studying garden design, planting design and studying for her RHS Certificate of Horticulture. She worked as Landscape Designer for a firm in Notting Hill, and as a weekly volunteer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where she honed her plant knowledge. She has designed everything from small London roof terraces to large country gardens, and enjoys combining minimalist landscaping using natural materials with swathes of relaxed loose planting.

5. Creeping Jenny

You might have seen this creeping perennial feature in tapestry lawns, but it's also one of the best trailing plants for outdoors, providing long cascades of heart-shaped leaves and yellow flowers when grown in containers.

'Easy to grow, creeping Jenny produces roots at every leaf joint and will happily grow over low walls, in baskets, over the edges of borders and trailing from window boxes, and will even flourish in shade,' says Lucie Bradley, gardening expert at Two Wests & Elliott.

'Remaining evergreen all year round, the most popular varieties are those with gold leaves as they are a good contrast against the greens in your garden.'

Where to buy creeping Jenny:

• Crocus: add this stunning golden creeping Jenny plant to your garden.

6. Begonia

Widely available in an array of vivid shades, trailing begonias make stunning centrepieces in the garden. You can buy established plants or learn how to grow begonias from tubers for a rewarding pastime.

'These plants tend to prefer being in partial shade, and they will need moist soil at all times,' says Andy. 'They should be pinched back to maintain their shape, and give them plenty of fertiliser. They make for some of the most beautiful and versatile trailing plants.'

Where to buy trailing begonias:

• Thompson & Morgan: add beautiful apricot shades to your garden with this begonia plant.
• Suttons: try begonia 'Parisienne Trailing' for captivating colour and fragrance.

7. Necklace vine

Muehlenbeckia complexa, more commonly known as maidenhair vine or necklace vine, is one of garden designer Harriet's favourite outdoor trailing plants.

'I used to just use it as a climber, but you can buy trays of small plants to work as trailing plants in window boxes and pots,' says Harriet.

'Don’t plant it with anything else that’s small and delicate, or, like ivy, it will envelope its neighbours. Plant it on its own and you will be rewarded with a crazy frizzbomb of foliage, an exciting explosion of tiny black stems and miniature round leaves that froth up and also trail down. It’s wild and fun, but keep it contained or it’ll take over.

'Muehlenbeckia looks fabulous planted by water with Zantedeschia aethiopica and tolerates light shade wonderfully.'

8. Aubrieta

Last but not least on our list of the best trailing plants for outdoors, aubrieta is a low-growing evergreen plant that produces masses of delicate flowers.

'Aubrieta will grow almost anywhere,' says Lucie from Two Wests & Elliott. 'It's ideal for cascading over walls or even growing in wall crevices.'

'Although it will grow best in a sunny spot, it will still perform well in semi-shade. A great, easy-to-grow ground cover, this low-growing, evergreen perennial's greyish-green foliage remains once its flowers have faded.'

Where to buy aubrieta:

• J Parker's: buy this stunning aubrieta collection.
• Sarah Raven: try the Aubrieta deltoidea 'Cascade Mix'.

FAQs

What hanging plants last the longest?

If you want hanging plants that last for a long time, opt for evergreen plants like aubrieta and creeping Jenny. These provide trailing foliage all year round and put out beautiful floral displays each spring and summer.

What are the best cascading hanging plants?

As well as the above plants, try lobelia for beautiful cascading flowers throughout summer and into the autumn. You could also grow petunias and trailing verbenas for sweeping displays.

If our list of the best trailing plants for outdoors has inspired you, what varieties will you be filling your garden with?