Flowers for Window Boxes

Upright Flowers

• Choose tulips, crocuses, cyclamen, or daffodils for sturdy, upright flowers. Perfect under a kitchen window, or at a distance on a deck-mounted window box, these bulb-based plants are easy to plant in the early spring. The old-fashioned favorites thrive in container gardens. It is easy to dig up and store the bulbs for winter, in preparation for the next spring planting season.

  Consider making a kitchen window box full of flowering herbs. Chives add an onion flavor to vegetable dishes, and when left to bloom, produce a beautiful purple flower. Thick green leaves of oregano are a perfect edible accent.

Vines and Cascading Flowers

• For a subtle look, plant cascading vines of ivy in your window box. The container can be full of ivy or simply accented with ivy at the edges, allowing room for tall or bushy flowers to fill the center of the container with color. These low-maintenance plants can be planted permanently in window boxes.

  Lobelia is available in colors ranging from white to various blues and lavenders. This popular cascading window box flower needs to be replanted annually.

Short Bushy Flowers

• Clusters of red-and-pink geraniums are short, sturdy, and perfect for a container garden. Alone, or used in a display with taller and cascading foliage, geraniums are a popular annual in climates with cool evenings.

  Inpatients grow well in window boxes shrouded in shade. The annuals are available in colors ranging from red to white and pink. The clusters of blooms replenish themselves all summer long, keeping the miniature garden filled with color.

  Available in a rainbow of fall hues, mums grow well in window boxes. The bushy perennial plants retain their blooms long into cool weather.