Year-Round Greenery in Hanging Baskets: The Ivy Trick

No perennial blooms all year in a hanging basket, but you can keep the basket itself green year-round. Pro designers line a large basket with potting soil, plant rooted ivy cuttings just inside the rim, and pin the vines to the sides as they grow. Fill the center with seasonal annuals—pansies, impatiens, petunias, or florist hydrangeas—and swap them out each season. The ivy provides constant green backdrop; the center adds floral color.