7 Heat-Tolerant Hanging Basket Plants That Thrive All Summer
These tough flowers and foliage plants can handle scorching temperatures and still look great in hanging baskets and window boxes.
Hanging baskets and window boxes add another layer of beauty to your garden. There’s nothing like gorgeous colors spilling out of hanging pots or tumbling over the edges of window boxes. If you hang the baskets on shepherd’s hooks, you can add a splash of color anywhere you need it in your garden.
But hanging pots dry out quickly, so it’s crucial to choose hardy plants that can take the heat. The truth is you absolutely must keep hanging baskets watered. You’ll often need to water full sun planters daily—and sometimes twice a day—in the heat of summer. You may only need to water shade planters every other day or so.
You’ll also need to fertilize your baskets regularly because nutrients leach through quickly when watering. If you don’t fertilize, your flowers will stop blooming. I typically like to use an all-purpose slow-release granular type at planting time, then supplement with water-soluble fertilizer later in the season if blooms start to slow down.
Ahead, our favorite hanging basket plants that can take the heat:
Lantana
Light: Full sun
Lantana comes in an array of gorgeous colors from pure white to deep pinks and oranges. Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love it, while it doesn’t mind the hottest, driest summer weather. It also doesn’t need deadheading to keep blooming.
Fan Flower
Light: Full sun
Pretty fan-shaped flowers of pink, white, or blue cover this trailing plant. It is a vigorous grower and will attract bees all summer. It works well as a spiller or filler plant and does not need deadheading.
Bacopa
Light: Part to full sun
Small white, pale pink, or bluish flowers cover the stems of this plant in profusion. It looks wonderful tumbling out of baskets with its trailing stems. Bonus: It doesn’t need deadheading.
Jamesbrittenia
Light: Full sun
This lesser-known annual, also called South African phlox, is a sturdy plant that is related to bacopa. It has gorgeous pink, red-orange, or purple-pink flowers that stand up to the heat and keep blooming. It doesn’t need deadheading.
Dichondra
Light: Part to full sun
Long, dangling, silvery vines make this elegant plant a lovely addition to baskets. Plant it alone and let it shine, or combine it with other heat-tolerant flowers.
Sweet Potato Vine
Light: Part sun to sun
With palm-leaf or heart-shaped leaves, this pretty foliage plant comes in striking shades of lime green to dark burgundy that’s nearly black. It’s a vigorous grower, so give it its own container so it doesn’t crowd out other plantings.
Verbena
Light: Part to full sun
Verbena trails over the edges of baskets and comes in beautiful, deep shades of red, purple, fuchsia or pale pinks, lavender and white. It’s one of the toughest annuals around and blooms continuously without deadheading. Butterflies like this pretty plant as much as you will.
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