Your window box will be much nicer than your neighbors. While other window boxes have sad frost bitten displays, yours will have combinations that get better with the frost!
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Check PriceSelecting the Correct Box for Your Foundation
Success starts with the right container! Your window box should measure between 24-36 inches long, 8-10 inches wide, and with a minimum depth of 8 inches. It should also include drainage holes. This sized box will give the plants plenty of room to establish their roots and provide a strong visual impact. Shallow decorative boxes may look nicer, but will cause your plants to fail.
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The Thriller Plants (Your Vertical Drama) Layer 1
These plants offer style and vertical elements to your garden. When incorporating these plants in your box, remember to place them at the back and keep 12 to 18 inches of space between each plant. Great options include ornamental kale with ruffled leaves that deepens in color with cold, tall heuchera varieties with burgundy leaves and upright tall junipers that provide evergreen support.
12 Expert-Recommended Plant Combos
1. Charming Elegance That Works In Cold Weather: Purple pansies, ornamental cabbage, and trailing ivies are great together. Pansies are the only flowers that will bloom continuously in the cold and cabbage offers a great texture while ivy softens the edges. They all survive during the winter months.
Woodland Winter Wonder features small conifers, winter ferns, and creeping jenny that give vertical interest and seasonal structure. This combination also imitates the forest floor and does well in areas that get partial shade.
3. Bright Winter Blooms (Zones 6-9): If you want breathtaking contrasts, plant Cyclamen, tender ferns, and little daffodil bulbs. Daffodil bulbs have to be planted in October four inches deep for spring surprises.
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4. Silver & Purple Symphony: The violas, dusty millers, and dwarf ornamental grasses in our collection exhibit beautiful shades of purple and silver. This palette of colors will add an ornate touch to any home.
5. Bold Statement Display: Large ornamental cabbages complemented by colorful pansies and purple ajuga groundcover, create a restaurant-quality design.
6. Early Spring Preview (Zones 5-8): Hellebores, colorful heuchera, and snowdrops (fall perennials) will be some of the first blooms in the neighborhood.
The Secret Layering Formula
Professional designers use the thriller, filler, spiller method. For example, position a large upright (thriller) plant towards the back of the planting, then use some medium height (filler) plants around it, and include some trailing (spiller) plants to spill over the edges. This three-tiered method creates a depth and dimension that flat plantings cannot achieve.
Soil and Planting Strategy
Begin by placing an inch of shattered pieces of pottery or gravel at the bottom of the container for drainage. Fill the container with good-quality potting mix up to within two inches from the top to allow for watering. Avoid using garden soil since it will become waterlogged in the container, and during freeze/thaw cycles, it will kill the roots.
How to Maintain Order Using the Correct Scheduling
You should water your plant when the first inch of the soil is dry. This should be about 2 or 3 times a week during the fall. Once it starts getting colder, water it just once a week. You will be using half strength liquid fertilizer every two weeks until November. After November, stop feeding your plant so it can prepare for winter dormancy.
In order to help the flowers to keep blooming, the blooms must be removed on a weekly basis. Also, any worn or damaged plants should be replaced as the impact of the display will be deteriorated due to delays in replacements.
Cold Protection Strategies
Before temperatures drop below 25 degree Fahrenheit, do things like cover your boxes with a protective covering like frost cloths and move the containers to protective locations. New mulch should be added around the base of the plants, but do not cover the mulch against the stems; this could cause rotting.
Seasonal Transition Tips
From now through October, you can start planting your spring flowering bulbs. You can integrate Crocus, Daffodils, and Grape Hyacinths with your other plants. These flowers will delight you in the spring after your previous fall plantings. Best of all, you won’t have to dispose of anything after blooming.
Choosing the best plants for your window boxes is extremely important. However, many people find it difficult to choose the right plants for the winter months. Most people want to extend the summer display, so they would instead choose to use summer friendly plants over cool weather plants. If you think about the rhythms and cycles of nature instead of against them, your window boxes will be successful. With the proper mindset and approach, your window boxes can be full and winter thriving plants.
