Try 5 Easy DIY Hanging Basket Ideas (2024)

A hanging basket is an excellent way to display the most vibrant flowers and plants. While many associate these baskets with summertime, you can easily curate eye-catching displays of colorful blooms and lush foliage in the winter.

Pretty baskets bring cheerfulness and color to your gardens when all the other plants and flowers have gone dormant. Get creative with DIY ideas and play around with hanging basket ideas that banish the drab, dull grays of winter.

1 Plant Pansies for a Burst of Color

Pansies bloom in a variety of colors to brighten up every space

Pansies bloom intermittently during mild winter spells, giving you a riot of colors. These flowers are generally easy to take care of and hang beautifully from raised planters.

Place hanging baskets with plants or flowers in areas that receive full or partial sunlight to allow them to make the most of the rare winter sun. Occasionally, some of the blooms can get damaged by frost. In that case, snip off the flower.

To ensure you enjoy the brilliant display, plant the flowers in well-drained soil with organic matter to improve drainage. Water pansies in the morning to allow the water to dry off from leaves before nighttime.

2 Grow Crocus for Cold-Tolerant Beauty

A hardy flower that hangs beautifully

You can mix and match flowers of different colors to add a splash of pizzazz to the bleak winter backdrop. If you are not confident about combining different flowering species, go for different colors of the same flowering plant.

Crocus is a perennial flowering plant with blooms that resemble tiny tulips. It can survive the harshest winter and is available in various hues, including purple, pink, red, yellow, orange, and blue. They are extremely cold-hardy, which makes them perfect for winter.

These flowers are also relatively small, just 2 to 4 inches tall, making crocus ideal for bringing hanging basket ideas to life.

Take care of this flower's watering schedule during the growing season (late winter and early spring). Crocuses should get ½ to 1 inch of water weekly. In the absence of snow cover, you need to water it throughout winter.

3 Focus on Foliage for Beautiful Color

Flowers are not the only way to bring beauty to winter spaces

Besides flowers, you can also add some refreshing greenery to your garden by placing foliage of different colors and textures in your hanging container.

Heucheras Leaves Bring the Drama

Heucheras, or coral bells, are an excellent choice. They have evergreen, variegated leaves in deep purple, maroon, orange, and lime green colors. The plant can also bloom tiny flowers on wire stems that spike upwards.

• The pale-shaded varieties thrive in partial shade, while the darker leaves can tolerate more sun.
• When watering the plant, apply water directly to the soil and avoid wetting the leaves to avoid fungus and rot.
• Heucheras plants grow in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 9.

Skimmia Plants Are Evergreen

Skimmias are handsome evergreen shrubs that are exceptionally easy to maintain and work perfectly in hanging baskets in winter. They grow well in USDA Hardiness Zones 6 and 7. Plant skimmia in well-drained, nutrient-rich soil.

Some varieties also produce berries that last through the winter, which adds another decorative effect. The leaves have dark green or reddish green leaves that look striking in any basket. The plant thrives in partial shade and well-draining soil with an acidic pH.

4 Opt for Evergreen Trailing Plants

Plants that trail downward bring a burst of green

Trailing plants are ideal for hanging baskets, as they cascade down to create a lush display. These plants bring freshness to your backyard and many low-maintenance species don't require a lot of care.

English ivy is a gorgeous trailing plant. It is a fast-growing plant with dense foliage of dark green leaves on climbing vines that grow 50 to 100 inches in height.

The plant is shade-tolerant and survives in most soil conditions, as long as the soil is alkaline and not waterlogged. Water the plant only once the top half inch of soil feels dry, and avoid wetting the leaves.

5 Get Creative by Mixing and Matching

Mix different plants and flowers together in a display

Instead of sticking to one plant per pot, let your creative juices flow. Add various flowers, ferns, trailing ivy, and shrubs that can survive the winter to a single hanging basket.

The best way to go about it is to opt for plants with similar water, soil, and light needs. Most plants that survive outdoors in cold, severe conditions are low maintenance, as they can tolerate partial light and occasional watering.

Choose a winter flowering plant for the center of the pot, like pansies, cyclamens, or winter-flowering heather. Surround the pot with foliage and complete your masterpiece with trailing ivy.

Hanging Basket Ideas Brighten the Winter Blues

There is no reason why you cannot enjoy some stunning flower arrangements and lush foliage when you look out the window this winter. Get your hanging planters and create the most epic plant arrangements for a cheery backyard that's full of bright colors even in the depths of winter.

Play around with different hanging basket ideas and use your DIY skills to create a colorful landscape any time of year.