How many plants do I need in a hanging basket or container?
How many plants do I need in a hanging basket or container?
It’s often difficult to judge how many plants to use per hanging basket or container. We’ve put together a table of our most popular bedding plants, showing how many you’ll need for the best display!
Planting up a hanging basket
Plant spacing
When looking at the number of plants to put in a hanging basket or in a pot you don’t need to follow the usual rules of plant spacing. The spacing normally quoted is designed to give plants the maximum amount of space to reach their full potential. However for a seasonal container display designed to flower for 4-6 months it isn’t necessary to follow these rules. You can use many more plug plants per hanging basket to create a billowing cascade of colour.
[divider]
Customer Doug Upson’s begonia ‘Apricot Shades Improved F1’ basket
A general rule of thumb when planting a hanging basket is to use one plant per inch of basket diameter – 12 plants per 30cm (12″) hanging basket.
The only exception to this is when you use strong-growing plants such as fuchsias and geraniums (pelargoniums). In this case it is best to only use 5 plants per 30cm (12″) hanging basket.
A 30cm (12″) patio container will comfortably accommodate about 6-8 plants, but fewer strong-growing plants.
Take a look at our table below to find out how many plants you will need for each of your containers.
| Plant | Flower Pouch® | Eezee Hanging Basket | 22cm (9″) basket | 30cm (12″) basket | 30cm (12″) patio container | Flower Ball | 3-tier Planter | Eezee Patio Bag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Begonia (fibrous, e.g. Organdy) | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Begonia (tuberous, e.g. Apricot Shades) | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 15 | 10 |
| Bidens | 10 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Busy Lizzies | 10 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Sunpatiens | n/a | 8 | n/a | n/a | 5 | n/a | 10 | 10 |
| Carnation (trailing) | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 8 | n/a | 20 | 10 |
| Fuchsia (upright) | 5 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 15 | 10 |
| Fuchsia (trailing and semi-trailing) | 5 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Geranium (bedding pelargoniums) | 10 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 15 | 10 |
| Geranium (trailing pelargoniums) | 10 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Lobelia | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Petunia (trailing) | 8 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Sweet Pea (trailing) | 10 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Verbena (trailing, e.g. Peaches and Cream) | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 20 | 10 |
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
Recent Comments