Fill Your Hanging Baskets Of Any Size With This Beautiful Low-Maintenance Flower

You don't need high-maintenance flowers in your hanging baskets to boost curb appeal or to add showiness around your backyard. Sure, some of us want specific seasonal blooms or approach intense plant care as a hobby that doubles as therapy. If consistent pruning, regular deadheading, and the complete level of devotion certain plants require isn't the kind of gardening you had in mind, there's another option that has all the drama of high-maintenance hanging plants, yet is super easy to care for. Enter the lobelia (Lobelia erinus). The vibrant lobelia spills over the edges of a hanging basket, covers itself in blooms, and swoops in to steal the show, making you fall in love with gardening all over again.

If you've seen hanging baskets bursting with flowers that cascade like a waterfall, lobelia probably helped make that happen. The flowers might be small, but there are so many that the whole basket is covered in color. Whether you like classic sky blue, lavender, pink, or white, lobelia makes an impression without a ton of effort.

One of the best things about growing lobelia is that it looks good pretty much anywhere — in hanging baskets, planters, or window boxes. It's also a great flower to include in your landscape if you're chasing the meadow garden trend, since it grows naturally in woods and fields. Here is everything you need to know to take the best care of the beautiful, low-maintenance lobelia growing in your hanging baskets.

When you're totally over the amount of blood, sweat, and tears you've poured into finicky plants, lobelia is the flower you've been waiting for. It's native to southern Africa, so it prefers subtropical climates and lots of direct sunshine (six hours or more), while spending the remainder of the day in partial shade. Lobelia is considered a tender perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 10 to 11, but an annual in other zones. This plant is rather small in stature, only reaching between 4 and 9 inches, but it produces a plethora of blooms that make it hard to ignore.

One thing you need to keep an eye on with a lobelia hanging basket is consistent watering, especially during the summer. Unlike popular house and garden plants that thrive on neglect, lobelia likes a little attention to keep its soil slightly damp. Flowers in hanging baskets can dry out quickly because they get wind and sun from all sides. A thirsty lobelia will tell you it needs water by suddenly wilting, but it can recover just as fast with an adequate sprinkle. Placing a plastic liner in a hanging basket to retain water is one tip to help you successfully grow flowers in hanging baskets.

Lobelia's two-lipped tubular flowers are a magnet for not only hummingbirds, but bees and butterflies, too. The nectar-rich blooms are like a ready-to-eat buffet. And, thanks to the plant's trailing stems, it has easy access to these beneficial little pollinators as well.