How to Choose Plants for a Window Box

A window box is the perfect way to create and enjoy a stunning garden from the comfort of your home. Window boxes are a great way to add to your garden, or create a garden when you have none. The way you plant your window box is just as important as planting in a real garden, and the plants you choose can completely transform the look of your window and home.

Here are some simple tips on the plants to choose for a stunning window box design.

Combine Types of Foliage
Look for plants that have different types of foliage and mix them. Interesting foliage gives your garden texture and dimension, attracting the attention of passerby's. Try adding a vine like a vinca, mounding plant such as marigolds, and plants that will drape over the edges like alyssum.

Create Color Palettes
Before planting your flowers decide where you will be placing each plant to create the best color appeal. Avoid creating rows of color or clumping plants of the same color all together on one side of the window box. Instead combine contrasting colors that will make each flower stand out and create a pattern that follows through the length of the box.

Choose Different Types of Plants
The first thing everyone does when they are trying to fill a planter of any type is to select safe plants, and go for all flowers. Well, mixing the types of plants you will add to your window box will make things so much more interesting. Pick an herb or vegetable plant to add to your box, add some colorful flowers, and don't forget fragrant flowers. Instead of a traditional vine a tomato plant can be trained to grow down the side of a planter, small cherry tomatoes can be collected at the end of the season. Dianthus will provide your window with a beautiful display of flowers, but you will also be able to smell them from the street.

Compare Care Requirements
Because a window box is a very contained environment you need to take care when choosing the plants for your garden. Compare the water and light requirements for each plant to make sure they are similar and will all grow at the same rate. If all plants but one require full sun, the one may be outgrown by the rest of the plants. This could do two different things, kill the shade plant or change the design of your window box when the rest of the plants outgrow and overtake it.