Add charm and style to your home by installing a window box planter. This article will show you how to install a window box and what types of flowers are best for window box displays.
Since the day we moved into our house over three years ago, I’ve been wanting to install a window box on our home. We have the perfect spot for one. Well, this past week I finally made it happen!
I purchased a 48″ white vinyl window box from Wayfair. It’s awesome because it has a hidden reservoir in the bottom so I won’t have to water the flowers as often. It came with great directions on how to install it. The same self-watering window box also comes in 36″ and 60″ lengths and several different color options. There are tons of other amazing types of outdoor planters too, so definitely browse around Wayfair’s site.
- Decide on placement and mark where the L-brackets should go.
- Mark the holes where you’ll drill.
- If you are attaching it to brick, you’ll need to buy masonry screws and a special masonry bit. I bought these at my local home improvement store.
- Carefully pre-drill holes, keeping the drill at a 90 degree angle.
- Attach the two outside brackets using masonry screws.
- Use a level to ensure the two center brackets are correctly placed and attach them too.
- Slip the window box onto the brackets and make sure everything clicks tightly into place.
- Ta-dah! That’s all it takes to hang a window box!
Now that the window box is up, the big question is what to plant in it.
To make a stunning flower display, you’ll want to plant three types of plants: thrillers, fillers and spillers. Thrillers are the tallest plants in the box, ranging in size from 12-18 inches. Fillers have smaller flowers, don’t grow as tall and fill in the gaps around the larger thriller plants. Spillers are trailing plants that will “spill” out the sides and add volume and drama to your window box. Including all three types of plants is a proven way to design a gorgeous planter.
Best Flowers For Window Boxes
Thrillers
- Geraniums
- Snapdragons
- Dianthus
- Bachelor’s Button
- Calendula
- Lobelia
- Begonia
- Diascia
- Godetia
- Coleus
- Impatiens
Fillers
- Sweet Alyssum
- Pansies
- Marigolds
- Baby’s Breath
- Texas Bluebonnett
- Painted Tongue
- Dusty Miller
- Licorice Plant
Spillers
- Verbena
- Sweet Potato Vine
- Vinca Vine
- Wave Petunias
- Lantana
- Calibrachoa
- Bacopa
- Nasturtium
- California Bluebells
- Creeping Zinnias
- Creeping Jenny
There’s a printable version of this list available at the bottom of this post.
The easiest way I’ve found to learn more about each plant listed above is to look them up in the Better Homes and Gardens Plant Encyclopedia. It’s a great resource to see what the plants look like and get specific growing instructions.
And this is one of those cases when MORE IS MORE. Ignore the spacing suggestions on the tags and fill your window boxes up! They look so much prettier when they’re overflowing with flowers. Too few flowers will just look scraggly and sad.
For my window box, I chose geraniums as my thriller, sweet allysum as my filler and verbena as my spiller. They don’t look like much right now, but once they grow and fill in, it’s going to be so pretty!
We still have a ton of work to do on the outside of our house. The faded brown paint in the eaves has got to go and I want to repaint the balcony railing. And get a new front door. And add more flowers to the flower beds. And replace the two slot windows with one big picture window. And while we’re at it, I’d love to just re-side the entire house and get a new roof… and the list goes on. But look at what a difference it makes just adding the window box, pulling weeds and filling the flower beds with fresh bark…
Baby steps! We’ll get there some day!
Click here to get a free printable list of thrillers, fillers and spillers for window boxes.
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