How to Plant Flowers: Step-by-Step Guide to Planting a Window Box

You’ll want to avoid just using potting soil in your window planter boxes, as this soil will quickly lose the needed water and nutrients for your window box plants.
It cascades down from window boxes and planters and has these lovely penny-shaped leaves in a really vibrant shade of green.

How to plant flowers in a planter box

The Snapdragon flowers are vibrant and eye-catching and they grow quite tall so they’re a nice choice for window planter boxes because you can see them from inside.
The following are some of the best plants for window planter boxes placed under the front window that can instantly add that luscious curb appeal: coleus, petunias, creeping jenny, Fuschia, verbena, licorice plant, purple prince zinnia, and salvia.
The best window direction depends on the type of plant you have and its light preference. For you to be able to best determine which window direction works best for your plants, you first need to know if you java trailing plants for window boxes, shade plants for window boxes, or sun-loving plants.
This plant is also known as variegated ivy and is a wonderful choice for window boxes especially if you want something that will cascade down and that’s also super easy to maintain.

Top Tips for Planting a Window Box Planter

We planted four wave petunias, four geraniums, one creeping Jenny, and one sweet potato vine, all in 4” pots, for a total of ten plants as these are the best plants for a window box.
Make any adjustments you think you need at this point, either to the soaker hose or the plants themselves.
Luckily there’s always the DIY route.

Window Box Planting: How to Create a Beautiful Plant Window Box for Your Home

Step 1 – Empty Your Window Box from the Past Season

This extra-long box design from twotwentyone is great if you have double or triple windows and you want to unify them and keep the décor simple on the outside.
If you don’t want to build it from scratch you could choose instead to decorate an existing planter with some cut fence boards.

Step 2 – Get Your Potting Mix

To help you out we did some research and found out what the best plants for window boxes are.
Now just water regularly (every day or two, hopefully via your automatic system) and fertilize with regular flower fertilizer a couple of times a week.

Step 3 – Fill Your Window Planter Box with Potting Mix

This may seem like a lot, but the trick to a beautiful, luscious window planter box is packing them in.
Now that you’ve learned how to plant a window box and found a few ideas for plants and design, you’re ready to turn your windowsill into a lush green garden.r

A lot of flowers and plants don’t enjoy being exposed to the full sun which can be a problem in some cases. However, shade is not easy to deal with either.
Plants best suited for north-facing window are those that thrive in shaded areas. These include the following:

Step 4 – Decide on the Arrangement of Your Plants

You can find a list of the best plants for window boxes in the tutorial above but we prefer planting begonias, zinnias, and petunias as main-theme flowers, with vinca and ivy planted over the edge of the window planter box.
This is one of the most colorful and beautiful plants for the summer season.

Step 5 – Transfer the Arrangement onto the Ground

Happy planting!

We’ll show you step-by-step photos and give you tips to help you on your way to creating the most beautiful window box planters on the block.

Step 6 – Begin Planting Your Flowers and Plants

We try to aim for the dry potting mix level to hit about 1/2″-1” from the top of the box because when water is added, the potting mix will compact a bit.


You’re close to being done (we’re sure your window box looks beautiful at this point!), but there’s one final step to help your professional-looking box flourish.

As you can see, we planted the “back” row (geraniums) first, leaving enough space in the “front” row for the other plants.

Step 7 – Stagger the Plants Throughout Your Window Planter Box

Smooth out the potting mix, pressing gently to remove air pockets.
In addition to all these fancy and colorful flowers and plants for window boxes, there’s also another type that might appeal to you differently: ornamental grass.
As mentioned before, off-the-shelf window boxes have certain standard dimensions which means if you want something super long you’ll probably have to build it yourself.
We were so pleased with how this window box turned out, and we love the pop of color it adds to the exterior of the home.

Hang your planters from the brackets and start planting your flowers.

Step 8 – Fill in the Front Spaces of Your Window Box

The design featured in this tutorial on construction2style seems just right.
For spacing purposes, arrange your plants (still in their pots) in the order you think is most attractive.

With that in mind, you might want to come up with a design for your DIY window planter boxes that allows them to blend in and look natural underneath your windows.

Step 9 – Weave Your Soaker Hose Through the Plants

The size of your window planter box ultimately depends on how big your windows are since its length should complement the length of your window.
The post How to Plant Flowers: Step-by-Step Guide to Planting a Window Box appeared first on Homedit.

Step 10 – Make Any Final Adjustments to Your Window Box Planter Display

They’re also usually designed in standard sizes so you might have trouble finding one that fits.
Its flowers feature a magnificent combination of bright pink and purple which stand out in any context. It doesn’t like to be exposed to full sunlight so avoid putting it in sunny window box plants that don’t get shade throughout the day.

Step 11 – Add Extra Potting Mix as Needed

The window planter boxes themselves don’t need to stand out too much. It’s actually the contents that get that privilege.
The impatiens plant is one of few which thrive in shaded areas and also makes colorful flowers too.

Reclaimed wooden pallets are an excellent resource for lots of DIY projects, including these lovely window boxes from paradiseperspectives.

Step 12 – Add Fertilizer to Your Window Box

The coleus plant is a lovely choice if you want some color but you’re not that fond of flowering plants.

Window boxes are not necessarily designed to be placed under the windows but if you do choose to do it this way perhaps it would be nice to go with a matching design.
Its leaves look magnificent and are famous for their red and purple colors and their beautiful patterns.
Absolutely yes! But you have to keep in mind that plants that love indirect sunlight or those that are shade-loving are the ones you should put in a north-facing window.
The green and purple variants are really beautiful and stand out without being too bold about it.


Dilute it with water as per instructions and pour the fertilizer thoroughly over the plants in your window box.

Grab your sack of potting mix. Note that this isn’t the same as potting soil.

You’d think building the window planter box is the hardest part of this sort of project but choosing what plants to fill it with is not an easy process either.
It’s famous for its felted leaves which look super soft and fuzzy and have this subtle white overlay that dims their green color.
Here is an easy step-by-step guide on how to hang window planter boxes:

This photo shows the window box plants about 1.5 weeks after planting. Sunshine and warm temperatures had been scarce during that time, so the plants are maintaining but not expanding.

The best plants for window planter boxes

It’s pretty easy to get right and you can have a lot of fun combining colors and creating an interesting design for it.

Petunias

This photo shows the plant window box about four weeks after planting.
This detail is key to thriving window planter boxes – if they are not on an automatic watering system (soaker hose connected to a drip sprinkler, for example), by mid-summer your plants will likely be drying out and struggling.

Coleus

The detailed steps on how to plant in a window box can be found in the tutorial above but here’s a quick recap:
It makes these vibrant blooms which can be white, red, pink, or purple, and which you can combine if you want a multicolored display for your windows.
We use this Fertilome Blooming & Rooting fertilizer with great success – it helps with root growth, water retention in the potting mix, and slow-release fertilization over several months.

Creeping Jenny

This photo represents only a week or two after planting – similar to what the box will look like when you plant.
Isn’t this window planter just charming? The one featured on shanty-2-chic is perfect for this old brick house because it almost blends in.
Wooden window boxes are perfect for giving the exterior of your house a homely and inviting look. If the windows have shutters, that is a wonderful opportunity to add planters that match those.

Sweet potato vine

But the truth is, you’re liberating the roots so they will grow and expand faster in their new home than they otherwise would.
Does this window box from makeit-loveit remind you of picket fences?

Dusty Miller

It’s not fussy about sunlight and it’s also drought-tolerant so you don’t have to worry about it too much.
One thing to keep in mind is to never add organic material into your soil, such as wood chips or straw. You can add it onto the top if you want, but it shouldn’t go into the soil itself.

Snapdragon

Another eye-catching plant is the verbena which makes these bright pink and purple flowers with stripes on the petals that make them look like little candy canes.

Fuchsia

The dusty miller plant is famous for its exquisite silver-colored leaves which look like they’re frosty but also have this soft and delicate look as well.
That really helps the brightly-colored flowers and leaves to stand out more and to look absolutely dreamy.
The licorice plant may not be very colorful but it stands out differently.

Impatiens

This simple design from instructables shows you how to emphasize its beauty and uniqueness.

They look gorgeous in window planter boxes and they’re great filler plants if you want to combine them with something else.

Verbena

This is such a simple design but it’s also a beautiful beautiful one.
Some of the plants that can survive in a bathroom without windows include aloe vera, peace lilies, English ivy, and snake plants.
They don’t grow very tall and they do well in the heat or with limited water which means keeping them healthy is not demanding at all.

Licorice

Speaking of filler plants and beautiful colors, the creeping jenny is absolutely magnificent.

Pro Tip: Take note of these plants as these are the best plants for window boxes or as what others prefer to call, the evergreen window box plants.
Another great option for those who love foliage and interesting colors is the sweet potato vine which comes in several different varieties.

Variegata

They look delicious and they’re a great fit for window planter boxes because they have a cascading appearance.
A lovely example in that sense can be found on beneathmyheart.
Don’t be afraid to move things around, group them together, spread them apart– whatever looks balanced and appealing.

Ornamental grass

Another thing to consider when choosing the perfect size for your window box planter is the number of plants/flowers you’re planning to use.
Scrap wood, whether it’s from a pallet, some old fence boards, or leftover pieces from previous projects, is a great resource for window boxes and planters in general.
If you already have some window boxes that are still in good shape there’s no reason to replace them yet.

DIY window box planter ideas:

This is a summer plant so you might want to combine it with a few other ones if you want color all year round.
Ensure it’s nice and evenly spread throughout the window planter box, to give your plants the best environment to grow.
Window films do not generally affect or harm plants even if your plants are indoors or outdoors.

A lattice window box

Off-the-shelf window boxes are definitely convenient but don’t really offer much in terms of originality and customization, not if you want something very specific.
When you pull a plant or flower out of its pot, it’s helpful to gently break apart the bottom of the root base– this is the most important tip you need to keep in mind when learning how to plant flowers.
North-facing windows are good for plants that thrive in low-light environments, thus, it is the best spot for shaded window box plants.

A simple wood window planter box

The order we used (staggered front-to-back in the window box planter) from left to right was: wave petunia, sweet potato vine, geranium, wave petunia, geranium, wave petunia, geranium, creeping Jenny, geranium, wave petunia.
You can make your window planter boxes match the windows in color and style, like this one from remodelaholic does.
The lattice window boxes featured on prettyhandygirl are deep enough to allow the plants lots of room to grow and simple enough to allow the focus to be on the greenery.

Extra-long window box

Add in the extra potting mix where needed.
The depth of your window planter box should be appropriate to the number of plants you’re going to put on it since you need to have enough room for those plants to grow.
Stake the end of your soaker hose down with a landscape staple.

Pallet boxes

Get your hands on a fertilizer that focuses on root growth and blooming.
If you have used your window box planter during the past season, now is the time to empty it out.
Fill your window box planter to 1”-2” from the top edge with the potting mix.

Simple stained box

Colorful blooms make any space a pretty one, and a window box is no exception. (Want more? Check out our tutorial for planting bloom hanging baskets.)
The fuchsia plant, just like the color, is bold and eye-catching.
Start on one end of your box and begin planting, following the layout you’ve created on the ground nearby.

A design to match the window

Transfer this arrangement onto the ground, in the order that you determined looks the best. For your reference, this tutorial’s window box planter is about 4’ long, 5” wide, and 6” deep.
This summer, make your home’s exterior bloom and learn how to plant flowers in window boxes! (If you don’t have window boxes yet, check out this tutorial on how to make your own for an easy DIY window planter box!)

Mini fence planter

Fill in the front spaces.
The plants don’t need to be exactly evenly spaced apart.
Carefully weave your soaker hose among all the plants, taking care that each plant has water access.

Chevron boxes

Get rid of all the soil (you don’t have to throw it out, though – toss it into the garden or a flower bed) so you’re starting fresh.

You can instead just give them a makeover. How about this cool chevron pattern idea from addicted2decorating?
First, you make a simple box, then you decorate the front with boards of different sizes, shapes, and colors.

Scrap wood planter

Before we get started, we want to share with you a few of our top tips regarding the soil in your window box. As you’ll see below, we use potting mix for this project today.

No matter where you live, whether it’s in a house or an apartment, or even a hotel room, there is no reason for you not to be able to create your own flourishing garden. All you need is the right planter, tools, and plants. Once you have those things, all that’s left is to get down to work.

A design that blends in

A window planter box is so easy to refresh each season, and you can add new flowers and plants to keep up with the changing colors. For anyone with only a small garden space, you’ll still be able to add extra flowers to your home this year without taking up much room at all.
It’ll probably make a ripping sound, and you might feel like you’re damaging the plant.

Window Planter Tips

How to hang window planter boxes?

Warmer temperatures helped the geraniums bloom and the petunias explode. The creeping Jenny and sweet potato vine (trailing plant for window boxes) should follow suit.

• Measure the window frame where you want to hang your window planter box and mark the spots where the brackets need to be. 
• Drill holes in the marked spots.
• Attach the brackets to your window frame with screws and secure them firmly in place. 

How to plant in a window box?

Use the pallet wood if you want to keep the cost of the project low but also if you want to give the boxes a rustic and worn look for more authenticity.

• Pick a window planter box that complements your window or if you have one from the past season, simply clean it out. 
• Fill your window box planter with soil that is appropriate for your chosen plants. 
• Carefully plant your flowers on your window planter box. 
• Water the plants and add some fertilizer.

What plants are good for a north-facing window?

Potting soil is specifically designed for areas such as flower beds, while the potting mix is designed for things such as planters, hanging baskets, and window planter boxes.

• Snapdragon
• English daisy
• Cardinal flower
• Wax begonia
• Astilbe
• Creeping myrtle 
• Fuschia

Conclusion:

It’s such a simple project, and creating your own window box planter is very easy to do as well.
You can use it as a filler plant or just to add texture and color to a window box.
Well, that’s because it was made from cedar fence planks.
Well, there you have it! Everything you could possibly want to know about window boxes.