How to Make Your Own Hanging Flower Bag

Hanging flower bags add color and beauty to your home or yard in places that it would otherwise be hard to plant a garden. A hanging flower bag, when full grown and blooming completely, can give the appearance of flowers growing out of the side of a tree, wall or anywhere else you decide to hang it. Nurseries and flower garden centers sell pre made bags that have been planted, but it is very easy and cheap to make a flower bag yourself.

Using supplies that I already own and were going unused in my home plus a few flowers, I was able to make several hanging baskets to decorate my house and give to friends for the price of a single hanging flower bag from the store. Here are very simple instructions for making your own hanging flower bag.

What You Need
Empty heavy duty bag, winter salt bags are perfect
Clean potting soil
Scissors
Twelve to Sixteen Flowers

What You Do
The first step to making a hanging flower bag is to find the perfect bag that will hold a heavy load and hang easily for a long period of time. I have found that empty and clean winter salt bags, with a handle, make the perfect and most durable choice for this project. It is also possible to make your own bags using heavy duty tarps. Making your own bag requires more work because the shape of the bag will have to be sewn and a handle attached.

Cut a straight line across the top of the bag, you will be making four to five slits to plant the flowers, and fill the bag with clean topsoil. Make sure that the bag is a little more than three quarters of the way full but no more so that there is still some space for the flowers that you are going to add. Once you have filled the bag with soil use a box cutter or a sharp pair of scissors to make four more slits that are evenly spaced down the length of the bag. Make sure to leave about an inch on either side of the slit so that the bag does not split more than you want it to.

Opening the slits that you made in the bag, add three flowers to each row. I find that the best flowers for a hanging flower bag are impatiens, petunias, and alyssum. Other flowers that work well in a hanging basket are those that drape well or create long growing vines with flowers. Get creative with your bag and mix flower types and colors to create an interesting miniature garden.

Once you have placed flowers into each and every slit add more dirt around the flowers to completely fill out your hanging bag. Water well and then find a wall or tree to hang your bag on. The best spots are those that are in full sun and in a spot that provides some protection from the wind.