Coco baskets are more expensive than plastic and may be slightly more water retentive but the watering requirements depends more on the type of soil you use than the container. Use a soil formulated for hanging baskets. It does have more water retention than other soil. However all baskets require more water than those in the ground. It also depends the type of plants you use. Geraniums can go for quite a while between watering because they like to dry out but don't pair them with a plant that requires a lot of water. You can get the best advice on which plants to use from your local greenhouse. Not the big box stores but one that grows their own plants from seed. Because they grow them from seed they are knowledgeable and can give you good advice so pick their brains. I did a lot of that years ago when I first started and was never disappointed in the advice they gave me.

Just about any mounding or draping annual will work. My wife likes petunias, so I use waves-3 in each. Main thing is to not let the media get too dry. Depending on the weather, every 3-5 days I'll sit the baskets in a pail water for 10 minutes to make sure they're well hydrated and hang them back up.

tj

most of us learning.. either by duplicating what we saw to at the nursery ...

or just winged it ...

you need 3 basic things ... something with a little height ... something that droops down ... and something that lays on the ground ...

just wing it ... they are annuals... if it doesnt work out.. you try something else next year ...

for a week after you plant them.. leave them in full bright shade ... you cant blast a new transplant into full blinding sun.. until their roots settle back down ..

again .. just visit a nursery ... rather than bigboxstore.. and look at their hangers.. and then just buy the plants that they used ...

the most important thing in your pot.. will be the media.. not the plants .. use good media ...

first year cost will be high with media and pots ... but in the long run.. you will save money .. learn.. and have fun ...

ken

As long as the site receives at least 6 hours of direct sun, you cannot beat Calibrachoa, also called Million Bells. Unlike petunias, which it is related to by family, Calibrachoa thrives in the full sun, summer heat, and requires no deadheading.

They make a superb hanging basket, all on their own, remaining full and maintaining their bright colors until frost.

The prettiest that I've seen have been in Lowe's, as finished baskets or smaller pots for you to plant and grow on.

I don't know if it is true for the US but here garden centres do hanging basket making sessions in late Spring where you are taught how to make them up and look after them. Of course you have to buy the ingredients from them but it's handy for first timers. Anything like that near you? Or maybe it's too late in the season?

Many of the nurseries in my area do this as well as part of their spring open house weekend. Some even plant the plants you choose and keep in their greenhouse until the weather is nice enough to grow outside.

I no longer grow hanging baskets as found that large pots need less watering. Here most hanging baskets need watering once or twice daily.

Tip, buy the biggest hanging basket that you can display. Make sure all plants have the same watering requirements. I found that geraniums do not like to be watered as much as needed by many common annuals.

Plants I really liked were trailing geraniums, angelonia, heliopsis, petunias, supertunias which are also self cleaning, small ivy plants, etc. While I like the looks of calibrochia, million bells, and trailing verbena and bacopa I found them not to survive an occasionally dried out pot where other plants will revive when the pot has a deep soaking.

For shade, fuchsia, small ferns, ivy, hanging begonia, trailing coleus, etc.

Second the idea to check out hanging baskets at nurseries for ideas and also look online for suggestions, google hanging basket ideas. Some nurseries have sheets with hanging basket designs and a list of plants needed and instructions to put it together.

Some annuals will need replacing as weather gets too hot, nemesia, violas, pansies, are examples. You can still use them, just expect to dig them out and replace with something else later.

Can you save money? Not sure as the plants I liked to put in baskets are still expensive and it adds up.

I liked to experiment, trying different plants that I found attractive. Have fun.

Also don't over look small perennials. Heucheras look great in mixed hanging baskets.

Good suggestions already, a couple of others that are very easy keepers, and thrive in heat:

Moss Rose--

Bougainvillea--

I water them every other day (I'm in Tx), well worth the few minutes it takes.

wonder what john ever did?

ken

I love the grill idea! But doesn't the metal get too hot? Did you make lots of holes for drainage?

TYVM! In the sun it would get hot. It's hanging in a tree where it's in the shade. The way the grill is designed, it already had holes in the bottom. I left the small grate at the bottom that the charcoal would have laid on and put a piece of window screen over it, then the soil on top of that.

I find that Spider plants and hanging geranium are both drought tolerant. I help them my placing a 1" deep plastic container in the bottom of the pot to hold water. Deli containers work well for me. Any over flow will drain up and over the submerged lip and out the bottom.

I rarely remember to water any of these. They have a North West exposure and receive full sun noon to dusk.

Can you explain more about how you sink the plastic pot? Is the top of the container level with the soil so it forms a pond in the container? Thanks for sharing the great idea!

I guess I was bit vague. It works if you are repotting or building your own potted plant rather than using a store bought one. I place the bowl into the pot first then add the soil. Choose a bowl that is wide enough to meet the sides without making a seal. I found these inserts in The Dollar Store. Deli containers also work but do not fit as well. The round ones fit the classic white hanging pot.

In sort of a lazy way, I removed a plant, used a saw to take off the bottom third of the soil/roots. I then placed the bowl, refilled with new potting soil and placed the original plant back in.

There are hanging pots that have something like this already, I just made a larger reservoir.