The best trailing plants for most British gardens are trailing lobelia, calibrachoa (Million Bells), bacopa and ivy-leaved pelargonium for sun, and trailing fuchsia, trailing begonia and busy Lizzie for shade. For greenery that comes back every year, plant ivy, creeping jenny or aubrieta. The trick is to match the plant to three things: where it will hang, how much sun it gets, and whether you want it to last one summer or many.
What follows is a single, honest guide to the trailing plants worth growing, grouped by where you will use them — hanging baskets, walls and raised beds, and window boxes — and cross-checked against two questions the garden centre labels rarely answer plainly: sun or shade, and one season or several. There is a comparison table you can scan in ten seconds, a note on which showy “perennials” are really grown as annuals here, and the cheap routes for anyone who would rather not buy a tray of bedding every May.
Key takeaways
- For sun: trailing lobelia, calibrachoa, bacopa, trailing verbena, ivy-leaved pelargonium (trailing geranium), nasturtium and bidens flower hardest in full sun.
- For shade: trailing fuchsia, trailing begonia, busy Lizzie (impatiens), trailing lobelia and ivy cope with a north or east aspect.
- Comes back every year: ivy, creeping jenny, aubrieta, ivy-leaved cyclamen and trailing rosemary are hardy in most of the UK. Most of the flashy summer trailers (petunia, calibrachoa, bacopa, dichondra) are tender and grown as annuals.
- The design rule: one upright “thriller”, three or four “fillers”, three to five trailing “spillers” — about 7 to 9 plants in a 35cm basket.
- The work: daily watering in high summer and a weekly high-potash feed are what separate a full basket from a sad one.
How to choose: use, light and lifespan
Three questions settle almost every choice. Answer them before you reach for the trolley and you will not waste money on plants that scorch, sulk in shade, or die in the first frost when you expected them back next year.
Where will it hang? A hanging basket is exposed on every side and dries out fastest, so it needs plants that trail freely and cope with wind. A wall or raised bed lets a plant tumble down stone or brick and is more sheltered. A window box is shallow and narrow, so compact, well-behaved trailers earn their place over rampant ones.
How much sun does the spot get? South and west aspects are sun; north and east, or anywhere overhung by a tree, are shade. Sun-lovers in shade grow leggy and shy of flower; shade-lovers in full sun scorch. This is the single most common reason a basket disappoints.
One summer or many? Most of the brightest summer trailers are tender and treated as annuals here, replaced each May. A smaller group is genuinely hardy and returns year after year. Knowing which is which is the difference between a yearly bill and a planting you do once.
Best trailing plants for hanging baskets
Hanging baskets dry out faster than any other container and are buffeted on all sides, so the best basket plants trail willingly and shrug off a missed watering better than most. Split the choice by aspect, because the wrong light is what undoes a basket.
For a sunny basket
Trailing lobelia (Lobelia erinus) is the dependable workhorse: a haze of small blue, white, pink or violet flowers from early summer to the first frosts. It is a tender annual raised from seed or bought as plugs. Calibrachoa, sold as Million Bells, throws out hundreds of small petunia-like trumpets and asks only for sun and a regular feed; it is a tender perennial grown as an annual here. Bacopa (Sutera) carries a froth of tiny white, pink or blue flowers from June to October and knits a basket together. Trailing petunia and Surfinia give the boldest colour and the longest trails, though they hate a wet summer and resent neglect. Trailing verbena and bidens (small yellow daisies) bring bees and shrug off heat. For foliage rather than flower, sweet-potato vine (Ipomoea batatas) trails fast in lime-green or near-black and fills a basket in weeks. All of these are tender and finished by the first hard frost.
For a shady basket
Trailing fuchsia is the queen of the shady basket — pendant, bell-shaped flowers in pink, red, purple and white that nod all summer. Trailing or pendula begonias give large, blowsy blooms and cope with a north wall. Busy Lizzie (Impatiens walleriana) flowers reliably in partial shade from late spring to autumn and needs no deadheading. Trailing lobelia takes light shade happily, and ivy threads green through the gaps and softens the rim. A shady basket will never be as flower-heavy as a sunny one, so lean on foliage and the fuchsia’s reliable nodding heads.
A basket is exposed on every side and dries out fastest, so reach first for plants that trail willingly and forgive a missed watering.
Best trailing plants for walls and raised beds
A wall or the lip of a raised bed lets a plant cascade down stone or brick, and because the root run is in the ground or in deeper soil, the choice opens up to tougher, longer-lived plants — including ones that come back every year and earn their keep without replanting. Trailing plants are also one of the cleverest ways to add height and greenery where there is no ground to spare, which is why they feature in our guide to small garden ideas for a tiny plot.
Aubrieta is the classic: a spreading evergreen perennial that foams over a sunny wall in sheets of purple, mauve or pink in April and May, then keeps its low green mat year-round. Creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) is a vigorous evergreen perennial, hardy to about minus fifteen, with rounded leaves and cup-shaped yellow flowers in summer; the golden-leaved form ‘Aurea’ lights up a shady ledge. Ivy-leaved cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) is a hardy tuberous perennial that does the opposite of everything else here — it flowers in autumn, in pink or white, then carries marbled leaves through winter, ideal trailing from the top of a shady wall. Trailing rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus, prostrate forms) tumbles evergreen and aromatic over a hot, dry, sunny wall and gives you something for the roast lamb. For pure greenery, ivy (Hedera helix) will clothe a wall in any aspect, sun or shade, and asks almost nothing. Vinca (periwinkle) is another hardy evergreen perennial that trails over a wall in sun or shade and carries blue or white flowers in spring; the larger Vinca major can be vigorous, so the more restrained Vinca minor suits a small space better.
Best trailing plants for window boxes
A window box is shallow and narrow, on view at close range, and often above a busy pavement, so it rewards compact, well-mannered trailers over rampant ones that will swamp the box and the window behind it.
For a sunny sill, calibrachoa, bacopa and compact trailing verbena stay tidy while still spilling over the front edge. Ivy-leaved pelargonium — the proper trailing geranium, not the upright bedding kind — is made for window boxes: drought-tolerant, free-flowering in red, pink, mauve or white, and unbothered by a sunny wall radiating heat. Nasturtium is the cheapest option of all, grown from a packet of large seeds sown straight into the box, trailing and edible into the bargain. For a shady box, lean on trailing lobelia, small trailing fuchsias and ivy. The silver-leaved dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ makes a striking, restrained curtain of foliage for a sunny box, though it is tender and grown as an annual here despite being a perennial in its native warm climate.
Trailing plants at a glance
The fastest way to choose is to scan the lot in one view. This table gives the light each plant wants, how thirsty it is, its main flowering or interest season, whether it survives a UK winter outdoors, and the one care note that matters most.
| Plant | Light | Water | Season | Comes back? | Care note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trailing lobelia | Sun / light shade | High | Early summer–first frost | No (annual) | Trim mid-summer if it tires |
| Calibrachoa (Million Bells) | Full sun | Medium–high | May–October | No (tender) | Loves a high-potash feed; self-cleaning |
| Bacopa | Sun / part shade | High | June–October | No (tender) | Never let it dry out fully |
| Trailing petunia / Surfinia | Full sun | Medium | June–October | No (tender) | Deadhead; dislikes a wet summer |
| Trailing verbena | Full sun | Medium | June–October | No (tender) | Good for bees; drought-tolerant once set |
| Bidens | Full sun | Low–medium | June–October | No (tender) | Shrugs off heat; very free-flowering |
| Ivy-leaved pelargonium (geranium) | Full sun | Low | May–October | No here (tender) | Forgives missed watering best of all |
| Trailing fuchsia | Part shade | Medium–high | June–October | No (mostly tender) | The pick for a shady basket |
| Trailing begonia | Part shade | Medium | June–October | No (tender) | Lift tubers to overwinter if you wish |
| Busy Lizzie (impatiens) | Part / full shade | High | Late spring–autumn | No (tender) | No deadheading needed |
| Nasturtium | Full sun | Low | June–first frost | No (annual, self-seeds) | Cheapest of all; sow from seed |
| Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ | Full sun | Low | Foliage all season | No here (tender) | Long silver curtain; drought-tolerant |
| Ivy (Hedera helix) | Sun or shade | Low | Evergreen, year-round | Yes (hardy) | Keep to a container; vigorous |
| Creeping jenny | Sun / shade | Medium | Yellow flowers in summer; evergreen | Yes (RHS H5) | Golden ‘Aurea’ for shade |
| Aubrieta | Full sun | Low | April–May; evergreen mat | Yes (hardy) | Shear after flowering to keep neat |
| Ivy-leaved cyclamen | Part shade | Low | Flowers autumn; leaves through winter | Yes (hardy) | Plant the tuber shallow |
| Trailing rosemary | Full sun | Low | Evergreen; blue flowers spring | Yes (hardy in mild areas) | Needs sharp drainage; herb too |
| Vinca (periwinkle) | Sun or shade | Low | Evergreen; flowers spring | Yes (hardy) | Choose Vinca minor for small spaces |
Annual, perennial or evergreen: what actually comes back
Garden-centre labels blur this, so here is the plain version. Most of the brightest summer trailers — petunia and Surfinia, calibrachoa, bacopa, bidens, trailing verbena, trailing begonia, busy Lizzie and dichondra — are tender. Several are technically perennials in a warm climate, but they do not survive a British winter outdoors, so we grow them as annuals and replace them each May. There is no failure in that; it is how summer bedding works, and a fresh planting each May is part of the pleasure.
A smaller, useful group is genuinely hardy and perennial here and comes back on its own: ivy, creeping jenny, aubrieta, ivy-leaved cyclamen, lamium and, in milder gardens with sharp drainage, trailing rosemary. Evergreen means it also keeps its leaves through winter — ivy, creeping jenny, aubrieta and trailing rosemary all do, which is why they carry a wall or a winter basket when everything else has gone over. If you want one planting that earns its place all year, build the bones from these and let the summer annuals be the seasonal colour on top.
Tubers and overwintering. Trailing begonias grow from tubers you can lift, dry and store frost-free over winter, then start again in spring — a thrifty halfway house between annual and perennial. Fuchsias can sometimes be overwintered in a frost-free greenhouse or porch, though many gardeners treat the trailing kinds as annuals and start fresh.
The cheap route: seed, cuttings and low-maintenance picks
A full set of basket bedding adds up, and you do not have to buy it. Several of the best trailers are among the easiest plants to raise yourself, which keeps the cost close to nothing.
From seed. Nasturtiums have large seeds a child can sow, germinate in days and trail and flower all summer for the price of a packet. Trailing lobelia is also cheap and easy from seed sown under cover in early spring, giving you dozens of plugs from one packet rather than buying trays.
From free cuttings. Ivy roots from a snipped stem in a glass of water on the windowsill — the same trick that works for many of the best house plants for every room indoors. Trailing fuchsia and ivy-leaved pelargonium (geranium) both root readily from soft cuttings taken in summer, so one plant becomes many for next year. Creeping jenny spreads by itself and can be lifted and divided.
Lowest-maintenance and renter-friendly
If you cannot water every day, or you are in a rented flat and want pots you can take with you, choose the drought-tolerant trailers: ivy-leaved pelargonium, bidens, nasturtium, dichondra and trailing rosemary all cope with a missed watering far better than thirsty bacopa or lobelia. A water-retaining gel or a self-watering basket liner buys you another day or two. None of this needs to be expensive: one packet of nasturtium seed and a couple of rooted ivy cuttings will fill a window box for a few pounds.
Planting and care: how to keep a basket full all summer
The plants are only half of it. A basket that looks tired by July almost always has the same two causes — too little water and too little food — and both are easily fixed.
When to plant up
Plant summer baskets and window boxes from late April, but keep them somewhere frost-free until the risk of frost has passed, which in most of the UK means late May or early June — putting baskets together is one of the classic gardening jobs for May. Tender trailers will be cut down by a late frost, so harden plants off and do not hang them out too early. Hardy perennials and evergreens can go out earlier. For more on what to sow and plant as the season turns, see our month-by-month guides to what to plant in June and July.
The thriller, filler, spiller rule
The reliable recipe for a full display is one upright “thriller” in the centre, three or four “fillers” to bulk it out, and three to five trailing “spillers” round the edge to cascade over the rim. As a rough guide, a 35cm basket takes seven to nine plants and a 45cm basket eleven to fourteen — pack them more tightly than you would in the ground, because the aim is overflow.
Watering and feeding
From late June to mid-September, water hanging baskets every day, and twice a day in a heatwave above the high twenties; a south-facing basket dries roughly twice as fast as a north-facing one. Water in the cool of the morning or evening, not the midday sun. Start a weekly high-potash liquid feed — the kind sold for tomatoes works perfectly — about three weeks after planting; potash drives flower rather than leaf, and a fed basket carries far more bloom than an unfed one. Deadhead petunias and pelargoniums to keep them going; calibrachoa, bacopa and busy Lizzie are self-cleaning and need no deadheading.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best trailing plants for a hanging basket?
For a sunny basket, trailing lobelia, calibrachoa (Million Bells), bacopa, trailing petunia and ivy-leaved pelargonium are the most reliable. For a shady basket, trailing fuchsia, trailing begonia and busy Lizzie flower best. Mix three to five trailers with an upright centrepiece and a few fillers.
Which trailing plants come back every year?
Ivy, creeping jenny, aubrieta, ivy-leaved cyclamen and trailing rosemary are hardy in most of the UK and return year after year. Most summer trailers — petunia, calibrachoa, bacopa, lobelia, begonia and busy Lizzie — are tender and grown as annuals, replaced each spring.
What are the best evergreen trailing plants?
Ivy (Hedera helix), creeping jenny, aubrieta and trailing rosemary keep their leaves through winter, so they carry a wall or a winter basket when summer bedding has finished. Ivy-leaved cyclamen holds marbled leaves through winter and flowers in autumn.
What are the best trailing plants for shade?
Trailing fuchsia, trailing begonia and busy Lizzie (impatiens) flower well in partial shade, while trailing lobelia takes light shade. For foliage in shade, use ivy, creeping jenny’s golden form, lamium and ivy-leaved cyclamen.
What is the fastest-growing trailing plant?
Calibrachoa, bacopa and trailing verbena establish and spill over the sides quickly, giving a full look within weeks. Nasturtium and sweet-potato vine are also fast once the weather warms. Ivy and dichondra make the longest trails over a season.
How many trailing plants do I need per basket?
About seven to nine plants for a 35cm basket and eleven to fourteen for a 45cm one. Pack them more tightly than you would plant in open ground; the aim is an overflowing display rather than tidy spacing.
How often should I water and feed a hanging basket?
Water daily from late June to mid-September, and twice daily in a heatwave; south-facing baskets dry fastest. Feed weekly with a high-potash liquid feed (a tomato feed is ideal) from about three weeks after planting to keep the flowers coming.
Written by Linda Garrould · Updated 15 June 2026 · This is general gardening guidance for UK conditions; check plant labels and your local frost dates before planting out.
Gardening Container plants Hanging baskets Trailing plants
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