15+ Best Window Box Planter Ideas
In many ways, window boxes are a hallmark of urban living. These charming miniature gardens allow city dwellers to bring a touch of nature indoors and out, creating a visually appealing display that adds character to their homes. The appeal of floral decoration is undeniable – from artists’ renderings on canvas to the intricate weavings of Persian rugs, fragrant perfumes infused with floral essences, and the simple yet effective use of petals in salads and potpourri.
In this sense, window boxes are a natural extension of this appreciation for beauty. Specifically designed for townhouses and city homes, these compact planters offer a manageable way to cultivate a lush oasis right outside your doorstep.
Design Elements
By combining the fundamental principles of design – color, form, texture, and light – you can create a compact yet captivating landscape that harmonizes with its surrounding interior decor while charming pedestrians on the street level. Window boxes, much like city life, serve as microcosms for exploration, adaptation, and cultural fusion.
Just as urban dwellers must adjust to their unique neighborhood conditions, including varying amounts of light, soil composition, fertilization, spatial constraints, and hydration, window box plants must similarly adapt to thrive. As the sun’s patterns shift throughout the day and across seasons, so too must your plant selection.
For example, areas receiving six or more hours of direct sunlight are ideal for sun-loving species like portulaca, nasturtium, geranium, marigold, lantana, petunia, pansy, verbena, and herbs such as parsley, sage, dill, sorrel, fennel, basil, lemon balm, and scented geraniums. Conversely, areas with partial shade are better suited for plants like hosta, asparagus fern, wax begonia, vinca, coleus, impatiens, and caladium.
Making and Maintaining the Bed
When creating a soil mix for window boxes, it’s essential to prioritize lightness in texture. A blend of equal parts potting soil, compost, sharp sand, vermiculite, and perlite will provide the ideal foundation. To simplify the process of transplanting, weeding, pruning, and making seasonal design changes, consider using plastic soil liners with drainage holes that allow you to easily remove or add plants as needed. It’s also crucial to renew the soil mix annually to maintain optimal conditions.
In terms of population density, aim for a high level of plant life in your window box. This will create a full and lush appearance. Rather than focusing on individual plant removals, strive for a crowded look and prune or remove plants as necessary. When it comes to planting, use a variety of species that vary in height, placing the tallest plants towards the back and gradually decreasing in size towards the front.
Avoid creating uniform rows, instead staggering the plants to achieve a more naturalistic feel. Container plants require frequent watering, which can lead to nutrient leaching from the soil. To combat this, fertilize your plants every 10-14 days with compost tea or an all-purpose liquid fertilizer. To determine if the soil is dry, insert your finger into the soil about an inch or two – if it feels dry, it’s time to water. During hot and dry summer months, you may need to water daily.
Finally, consider mulching your plants with grass clippings or wood chips to help retain moisture in the soil.
Box Themes
Themes have the power to shape the selection and arrangement of plants in a garden, offering an endless array of creative possibilities. From the romantic and historic to the whimsical and formal, chromatic, seasonal, fragrance-driven, culinary-inspired, or patriotic, the options are truly boundless.
For instance, a playful summer mix featuring lobelia, portulaca, nasturtium, and alyssum might give way to a vibrant fall display of chard, arugula, sorrel, cress, mustard, mache, spinach, and various lettuce varieties as the seasons change. In winter, pansies, violas, calendulas, or cyclamens can be beautifully paired with evergreen boughs, while in spring, scilla, narcissus, hyacinths, snowdrops, tulips, muscari, and crocus can collectively herald the season’s arrival at your windows.
15+ Window box planter ideas
A little wood trellis around the window box
Vintage metal box
Window box with pressure treated woods
Autumn-spiced balcony box
Using Hurricane Sandy’s twig debris
Black planter on the brick wall
European style metal window box
Boxes with American Walnut stain
Adding pots to box
Dark Walnut stain box between two red shutters
Galvanised metal window box
Iron window box on the stone wall
Classic and neutral window box
Cedar wood planter box
Rustic Cedar wood window flowerboxes
Window boxes are a simple yet effective way to add a pop of color to your outdoor space, regardless of the time of year. By placing a window box under a window or along a wall, you can create a visually appealing display that’s sure to brighten up any season.
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