Hanging baskets are miniature gardens perfect for adding living, lush beauty to small outdoor spaces. Free from the constraints of a planting bed, which requires considerable preparation, maintenance and space, hanging plants can thrive in reduced square footage with excellent results. In order to show your hanging plants off to their best advantage, consider incorporating various elements of design when planting baskets or containers. The outcome of thoughtful planning is a pleasing, effective display all season long.
There are three basic color combination themes you can use to add interest and drama to your hanging plants basket. Monochromatic color utilizes light and dark shades of one solid color to create a serene effect. Complementary color schemes combine colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel, such as reds with greens or purples with yellows, for interesting contrast. Analogous colors are next door neighbors on the color wheel, forming a pleasing gradation effect of warm or cool colors clustered together.
Although impatiens and petunias may be the most popular hanging basket plant selections, you can easily provide a more personalized look by varying the texture of foliage and blooms in your container. Excellent plants for adding texture include the dusty miller or lamb's ear plants, which are covered with soft, silvery hairs mimicking a furry exterior that begs to be touched. Heliotrope plants provide not only a heavenly cherry-almond scent, but also dramatic, deeply veined, dark green leaves. Artemisia has soft, delicate foliage with a fine fabric texture.
Scale and Proportion
If you choose a group of plants that grow to the same height and spread, your hanging basket will look over crowded and unbalanced. Pick plants that vary in scale and proportion, or size and spread, in order to provide visual harmony in the arrangement. Geraniums grow tall with multiple, colorful blooms at the top of each cluster. Dracaena, a foliage plant, forms dramatic slender, upright blades for instant height. Lower growing plants such as alyssum and lobelia bunch and trail over the container's edge adding further dimension.