The Hanging Baskets That Will Cut Back On Your Water Bill For Summer

Hanging plants are a great way to bring a pop of freshness to your home while maximizing your vertical space, but if you're trying to be more environmentally conscious or conserve water in your home, constantly watering them can feel wasteful. Outdoor hanging plant pots usually have bottoms that drain to prevent the pooling of excess water and root rot, but this drainage means you end up using more water than you have to.

Under normal circumstances, this isn't a major problem, but if you're from an area impacted by a now 23-year-long drought, every drop counts. Now, however, there's a solution that can allow your plant to use all of the water available without facing any of the issues of poor drainage: self-watering hanging baskets.

A self-watering basket allows your plant to have constant access to a water source, meaning you no longer have to guess when it's time to come by with the hose. Instead, you can set it and forget it — no guesswork or wasted water necessary.

Typical baskets and pots only have one chamber, usually with drainage, where you place your plant. Self-watering pots, on the other hand, have two. One section is for your plant's roots, but the other serves as a reservoir to hold on to excess water without constantly soaking the soil. Normally, the water your plant doesn't absorb would drip through the pot and onto your lawn or front porch, but this approach keeps it all in one place.

When your plant needs water, it will absorb it from this reservoir through a process known as capillary action. This process is similar to a dry sponge soaking up water when left on a damp surface. Once the soil is saturated enough, the absorption stops, meaning your plant will avoid being both too dry and too wet. All you have to do to keep them healthy is to fill the reservoir once it gets low. Beyond that, there's very little maintenance necessary if your plant is getting the correct amount of sunlight.

If you plan to buy your own self-watering baskets, you have plenty of options available, both in-store and online. Your local garden supply or hardware store will likely have some in stock, but if you want to explore a larger variety, Walmart, Target, and Amazon also sell self-watering hanging planters. This 12 by 6-inch hanging self-watering planter pot from Target is a solid basic option for just $10, and this SNUGBERI two-pack self-watering hanging planter from Amazon is a bolder choice for fans of more maximalist décor.

If you don't want to go through the difficult process of repotting your plants, however, there is another option you can explore that can also help you save water. Self-watering bulbs like these Fashionclubs Aqua Globes from Amazon work on the same basic principle, but they don't require you to replace your existing hanging planters. These do, however, have to be filled up more frequently than most self-watering planters thanks to their size limitations.