Flower Boxes That Thrive in the Sun (2024)

Gardening

Gardening Basics

Container Gardening

• 01 of 11

  The Edible Window Box

  

  Home grown salads just got prettier. Vining cherry tomatoes and mini pepper plants act as colorful and tasty anchors for a window box bursting with marigolds and herbs. Keep flowering vegetable window boxes moist and fed with a liquid fish emulsion every week to keep them productive throughout the season.

• 02 of 11

  Grow Vines in Window Boxes

  

  Cultivating vines in window boxes is an interesting twist for a container garden. Many window box designs employ trailing plants; the addition of vines draws the eye up. You can use a small trellis to support vines in window boxes, or take advantage of architecture as in the shutters used here. Even a few strategically placed strings can support a delicate vine. Choose small flowering vines that will not take over the limited space in a window box, like cypress vine, cardinal climber, or morning glory.

• 03 of 11

  Trailing Window Box Flowers

  

  A window box gives gardeners the opportunity to make ample use of delicate trailing flowers that might succumb to mud splatters and insect pests on the ground. While petunias will always be popular, explore unusual trailing flowers like the tropical red chenille plant (pictured).

  Other trailing flowers that will spill handsomely over the edges of your sunny window box planter include trailing ivy-leafed pelargoniums, black-eyed susan vine, and euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'. Intersperse your trailing flowers with trailing foliage plants like sweet potato vine or creeping jenny for textural interest.

• 04 of 11

  Window Boxes for Urban Gardens

  

  With the help of a window box exploding with flowers and trailing plants, even an urban garden without an in-ground planting area can be transformed into a stare-worthy garden. To achieve this densely planted look, choose a moss-lined wire window box or hayrack planter, and plant top, sides, and bottom with closely spaced pelargoniums (annual geraniums). Add a few licorice plants at the bottom for foliage interest.

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  See Also

  65 Beautiful Flower Box Ideas (Pictures)

• 05 of 11

  Window Box Full of Color and Texture

  

  You can design a window box that is a triumph of color, texture, and form. Chartreuse sweet potato vine and the spiky purple foliage of false red dracaena ensure visual interest even when the flowers of blue lobelia and yellow million bells are between blooming cycles. The pink leaves of showy perilla plants are coleus look-alikes, but are much more vigorous and sun-loving.

  15 Gorgeous Flowering Window Box Ideas for Spring

• 06 of 11

  Fall Flowering Window Box

  

  When the gardening season winds down, do not let your window box display end with a whimper. Rip out tired summer annuals and replace with autumn flowers like mums. You can create your fall finale withgourds and ornamental kale as filler or create a densely blossomed look with other mums and asters.

• 07 of 11

  Winter Window Box

  

  The gardening season does not have to end when the snow flies. Pansies are the quintessential cold weather flower, and they are even hardier in a window box. No need to wait for half-frozen soggy winter soil to yield to your trowel with a window box planting. Even when a hard freeze is expected, pansies can bounce back, meaning you can display the first flowers on the block in early spring. Pansies will rebound from temperatures of 26 F with ease. Pair them with equally cold hardy violas, ornamental cabbage, scented stock, or sweet peas.

• 08 of 11

  Window Box Care and Maintenance

  

  The prominent position of a window box makes it important to give the flowers a bit of extra TLC. Some flowers, like vinca and profusion zinnias, need little or no deadheading, but petunias always look better with a weekly snipping to remove spent blossoms and to maintain a compact plant. You should also fertilize every other week, and remove yellowing or dead foliage as needed.

  Why You Should Be Deadheading Plants

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• 09 of 11

  Hay Rack Window Box Planters

  

  You may have thought you would never say the “M” word again if snails and pill bugs make Swiss cheese out of yourmarigoldsyear after year, but growing these plants above ground level will give you a new appreciation for this classic bedding plant. A trio of hayrack planters adds elegance to the monochromatic planting and provides excellent drainage as well.

• 10 of 11

  Starting Seeds in a Window Box

  

  If you have hesitated to start flowers from seed in the past, try direct seeding in your window box with a flower that resents transplanting, like the forgiving nasturtium. The large seeds are easy to work with, and some varieties have bluish ('Empress of India') or variegated ('Alaska') foliage. As the flowers appear, you will not be able to resist cracking the window to take a few blossoms for a peppery salad addition, or for a small nosegay bouquet.

• 11 of 11

  Seaside Window Box

  

  Coastal gardens benefit from floral cheer, but you must pick hardy plants that can withstand never-ending sun, wind, and salt spray. This window box features the white flowers of sea thrift (Armeria maritima 'Alba' paired withFestuca glauca 'Sea Urchin' and Artemisia 'Nana').