Hanging basket flowers – 10 of the best

When it comes to hanging baskets, most of us are looking for colourful, trailing flowers that are easy to maintain to give your garden or outdoor space the 'wow' factor. The latest trend in hanging basket designs use just one flower, so feel free to experiment with different varieties and colourways of the same plant. Or, for a more classic look, choose a host of different flowers that will add plenty of colour and interest to your hanging baskets, mixing in greenery is a great way to build up a plentiful display.

Now is the perfect time to start planning your hanging baskets; get them planted up now, ready to take pride of place once the weather gets warmer. Planting them now allows them enough time for the flowers and plants to become well established and bed in, to flourish beautifully and reach their full potential for the whole of summer. Once ready be sure to keep them in a covered area, to ensure the last frosts don't get to them and kill off young buds.

Essential maintenance for hanging baskets is keeping them well watered and dead-headed regularly, to encourage fresh flowering throughout the whole of summer.

Whatever colour or style you decide on, we've selected a few tried and tested favourites that will ensure your hanging baskets look blooming lovely.

Add the unmissable scent of sweet peas to your beautiful basket display. The 'Sugar n Spice' variety comes in a spectacular range of vibrant colours including bicolours, seen here in shades of pink. The nature of this plant is to grow neat and compact, making them the ideal low maintenance hanging basket flowers.

Sweet Pea ‘Sugar n Spice’, £2.99, Thompson & Morgan

The big, colourful petals of these cheerful two-tone pansies make them a very showy addition to pots, window boxes and hanging baskets. The flowers are held on short, stout stems and the plants are renowned for their robust growth and bushy habit. Grown in individual plug cells, each plant measures about H5 - 7cm. Price show is for 40plugs

Pansy Matrix F1 Spring Select Mixed, £16.99, Waitrose Garden

We love the pendant style shape of the fuchsia flower and this colourful jumbo variety is simply stunning. They are hardy too, so perfect for hanging baskets.
This American variety is certainly bold, it’s one of the most dramatic fuchsias of all, producing a succession of huge double blooms up to 4in across. Available in four different varieties; Purple, bright red, striking orange and a stunning soft lavender pink . These fuchsias are a superb hanging basket choice, where the sheer weight of flowers gives a fully trailing mass of colour. A best-seller too, performing year in year out whatever the unpredictable British weather throws at them. Pack of 12 jumbo plugs.

Jumbo Flowered American Fuchsia Collection, £12.99, Blooming Direct

With a solid shape and a whole host of colours available, these are a great buy if you're looking to create simple, fuss-free hanging baskets.
Busy Lizzies are a popular summer-flowering outdoor plant, great for adding a splash of colour to even the shady areas of your garden. It produces vibrant flowers in solid shades and bicolours throughout summer and well into autumn. Price shown is 40 plugs.

Busy Lizzie DeZire Mix, £7.99, Blooming Direct

Flowers that grow in a bushy style are great as they help ‘fill’ your hanging baskets. Choose ornamental and medicinal lobelias (bushy types) for bright splashes of colour to gloriously spill over the top of baskets. Price show in for 40 plugs.

Lobelia Fountain Mix, £7.99, Blooming Direct

Flamboyant pendula flowers are ideal for hanging baskets. Sow in March/April to enjoy beautiful blooms from June to October. Average pack contains 100 seeds.

Johnson Seeds Begonai Basket Beauties, £4, Wilko

Very similar to the popular trailing begonia 'Champagne', but this one has yellow flowers, which are infused with a soft apricot blush. This is a wonderful new introduction that will provide several months of colour - even in shadier areas. Perfect for hanging baskets. Flowers from May to first frosts. Price per tuber.

Begonia Sunset Yellow Champagne, £3.99, Waitrose Garden

If you are not green fingered by nature fear not, you can still have glorious hanging baskets! These 100% botanically accurate artificial geranium hanging baskets will look lush, bright and healthy all year round ; no one need ever know you didn't invest gardening hours to make them. Hand-built to give them the most natural look so you have the flexibility to mix and match with any colour combination. Artificial hanging baskets are the perfect way of bringing a burst of colour into your home and garden. Unlike real ones, artificial do not need constant water and sunlight to keep them looking lush and healthy. 50cm diameter.

Artificial Geranium Hanging Basket, £59, Not On The High Street