Creeping jenny are known for their bright yellow leaves and their tendency to take over the area that they are grown in. They grow great as a ground cover, but they can also be grown in a hanging basket.
Typically, they are grown along with other plants in a hanging basket. Creeping Jenny will droop over the hanging basket and act as the basket’s “filler.”
Place your hanging basket in full sun to part shade. It’ll likely survive in full shade, but won’t grow as vibrantly.
Planting Creeping jenny in a hanging basket
When growing Creeping Jenny in hanging baskets, make sure you don’t plan too many plants in the pot. Creeping Jenny are aggressive growers and will fill in whatever space you give them. Their vines will cascade far below the bottom of the basket. In fact, they can grow as long to a foot and a half.
At Homestead Gardens, we plant Creeping Jenny plants on the outer border of hanging baskets so they spill over the side. We typically also plant a “filler” and in some cases a “thriller” plant to complement the hanging basket.
Fertilizing Creeping Jenny hanging baskets
Creeping Jenny will benefit from being fed nutritionally when they are grown in a hanging basket. This is because landscape plantings can pull nutrients from the soil but in a hanging basket, they do not have that advantage.
You will know if your Creeping Jenny needs fertilizer if their growth isn’t as vibrant or the foliage becomes pale. There are other reasons that these symptoms may occur, so ensure that the plant is being properly cared for in other ways, too. Keeping your Creeping Jenny hanging basket fertilized will ensure that the plant will grow vibrantly throughout the summer.
When to water a Creeping Jenny hanging basket
Creeping Jenny leaves will noticeably wilt when they don’t have enough water in a hanging basket. To check if your Creeping Jenny hanging basket needs water, you can lift the basket from underneath. The basket will feel noticeably light if it needs water. If the basket feels heavy, no need to water.
Another indication is if the soil in the pot is dry on the first 1/2 inch of surface soil.
Growing creeping jenny in hanging baskets can create a beautiful display that enhances your home.
Already purchased a creeping jenny basket? No worries! Feel free to skip to the creeping jenny hanging basket care tips to get some tips on keeping your basket beautiful all summer long!
We put together this guide to go over some things to consider when planting your own hanging basket with creeping jenny in it.
It’s recommended that you either purchase young creeping jenny plants for your hanging basket.
We don’t recommend growing creeping jenny from seed directly in the hanging basket. You’ll first want to plant creeping jenny seeds in a smaller container and transplant the young plant into the hanging basket when the plant is ready.
This advice goes for any plants grown from seed.
First, a little bit about choosing flowers for your hanging basket.
Hanging baskets with creeping jenny
Growing creeping jenny in a hanging basket is a popular choice by gardeners. A creeping jenny plant can be grown by itself in a hanging basket or in a combination with other plants.
Plants that grow well with creeping jenny in a hanging basket
It’s important to choose plants to grow with creeping jenny that have similar growth tendencies and care.
How to plant creeping jenny hanging baskets
If you have your creeping jenny and you are ready to pot them up in a hanging basket, here’s the process.
1. Preparing your hanging basket
Grab your hanging basket and fill it up to a few inches shy of the brim with potting soil.
2. Unpacking your creeping jenny plants
Pull the creeping jenny plants from their pack or pot by squeezing the bottom of the container and gently pulling the plant out. You can turn the container upside down as you do this to get gravity on your side.
3. Staging your creeping jenny plants
Stage your plants in the hanging basket how you would like them.
Tip: If the creeping jenny plants are rootbound (meaning their root cubes are very tight and interwoven), you can do the plant a favor by gently pulling the root cube apart a few times. This encourages the plant to spread its root out in the new soil.
4. Planting the creeping jenny hanging basket
Cover the creeping jenny plugs up to match the soil line of the plants.
5. Watering the plants in
Watering creeping jenny in a hanging basket is similar to watering the plants in a pot or in landscapes.
Water the creeping jenny basket and apply slow-release fertilizer (if not already included in your potting soil).
Tips for planting creeping jenny in a hanging basket
1. Don’t overpack your basket
You don’t want to make the mistake of filling your creeping jenny basket too full when the plants are small. Many varieties of creeping jenny have the potential to overcome other plants in a hanging basket if they don’t have enough space to grow.
If planting your basket with just creeping jenny, you could get away with just one plant per hanging basket, but many will plant three to really get a nice display (stick with odd numbers). This will depend largely on your basket size, but for a general 12″ basket, 3 plants will easily be enough.
If you are planting creeping jenny with another plant in a hanging basket, be careful as to not crowd any of the plants.
2. Choose a hanging basket with good drainage
Choose a hanging basket with good drainage holes. This will help protect the creeping jenny from root rot.
3. Plant the hanging basket early
Since creeping jenny are great growers, even late plantings will flourish.
But, as it is with any annuals, the earlier you can safely plant them outside, the better. This will allow you to cure that cabin fever and get an early look at some blooms.
Be careful about planting annuals outside too early. Planting outside too early and they may freeze from a late frost. One thing to keep in mind is whether the creeping jenny plants you have are hardy enough.
Located in PA life myself? You can check what your growing zone is here, which can act as a guide to determine when to plant creeping jenny outside.
4. Fertilize throughout the summer
Even if your hanging basket’s potting soil has slow-release fertilizer in it already, we still recommend fertilizing the hanging basket throughout the summer.
Some growers recommend fertilizing hanging baskets every third watering, but this will vary on how much fertilizer the potting soil had in it, how the creeping jenny are looking, and how much sun the hanging basket is receiving.
5. Consider the sunlight requirements of the hanging basket plants
Keep in mind the sunlight requirements of all the plants in the hanging basket, not just the creeping jenny.
Without enough sun, you may notice some plants not blooming as much or getting stunted growth.
We cover hanging basket plants that grow great in shade here and other plants that grow great in full sun here.
6. Cut back the creeping jenny for fresh growth
We find that cutting back creeping jenny will promote growth and encourage future blooms.
Feel free to cut back the creeping jenny in your hanging basket if you see that it’s getting straggly or overcoming other plants in the basket.
7. Keep the hanging basket watered but don’t overwater
While creeping jenny love the sun, they’ll be relying more heavily on you for water when planted in a hanging basket. Make sure to keep the basket well-watered throughout the summer, especially over sweltering days.
For the heat of the summer, you may have to water the hanging basket once or more a day.
Be careful that you don’t overwater it.
A great way to tell if it needs some water is to see if the first inch or so of soil is moist. Or, you can lift the basket from underneath to test its weight. A creeping jenny hanging basket that is in need of watering will be noticeably light.
8. Plant with slow-release fertilizer
Since the need for a consistent supply of nutrients is so important, we recommend growing your hanging basket of creeping jenny with a slow-release fertilizer.
Slow-release fertilizer can be applied with small pebbles in the potting soil. These pebbles break down over the summer and slowly release fertilizer for the plants.
We plant our creeping jenny hanging baskets with slow-release fertilizer pebbles, but also recommend that the hanging basket is fertilized additionally as well (water-soluble fertilizer is fine).
The slow-release pebbles will help the plants along during periods when it’s not being fertilized and the additional fertilizer will help the plant prosper.
Summary
Overall, creeping jenny are great annuals to include in your hanging basket. With the proper care, creeping jenny will thrive when grown in a hanging basket.