WINDOW BOXES FOR YOUR APARTMENT PATIO

The easiest way to add color

Calling all readers with a green thumb! This post is for you. Over the last weekend of summer we re-planted our window box planters on our patio, and am so happy with the result. The goal was to add more color and greenery to the patio. We took inspiration from the window boxes and colorful florals on the streets of Charleston. I knew that if we could recreate the look of these window boxes they would be a perfect start to transform our balcony!

My Inspiration

I do want to preface this post by saying that neither one of us have a green thumb. When I say that, I mean that we’ve killed multiple cacti in our apartment before. So, instead of jumping in head first and putting a lot of plants on the patio, we decided to start with these hanging window boxes. Like the type-A person I am, I started researching where to even begin with a window box. Our apartment is east facing. We get really great direct morning light and only afternoon shade. So, we went to Home Depot with that in mind and aimlessly walked around the gardening center.

THE WINDOW BOX STYLE

Next, we compared the different annual and perennial plants. I knew that we wanted the majority of the plants to be annuals. We wanted to be able to continue to tend to the garden boxes each season. I also wanted to have some perennials in the box. This way when the annuals die, the window boxes never looked completely empty. We ended up having 10 plants in each box, with only three of them being perennials.

Picking the right plants

Here came the best part, picking out the flowers. We both were in the garden center vigorously googling if the flowers available would work best in window boxes. From this research, we learned that lavender, petunias, geraniums, zinnias, and begonias are good choices for a main flower. More subtle choices were coleus, heliotrope, and salvia. However, not all of these choices were available or in season! I learned this time around to pick the flower combinations that look best together. With more frequent watering just about any small potted floral will do well in a window box.

PLANTING THE LOT

Next came time to plant. We got home, installed the window boxes, filled with soil, and this time around we laid out the garden boxes on the ground prior to hanging. Matt was the tenuous here with the sequencing of the florals. He wanted the flower boxes to be placed together, as one big planter box. He also wanted each planter box to be mirrored. I think his idea turned out great! Since planting our last planter box I’ve learned that you are supposed to pack the planter with flowers and pack in the soil around each floral bed. Check out what a difference this makes between our planter boxes last year and this year!

Our first time planing planter boxes, definitely not as full!

Our planter boxes now! A big improvement!

NEXT STEPS..

I can’t wait to see them bloom and test out my gardening skills! If these window boxes go well the next steps for the patio will be to get some tall planted shrubs around the perimeter! I’m thinking maybe some planted boxwoods or evergreens - thoughts?