10 Fall Window Box Ideas

No matter your plant choices, you can’t go wrong using the thriller, filler, spiller recipe when building out any window box. With this formula, select impressive thriller plants to draw the eye. Fillers pack the container with color. Spillers are those plants that drape out of the window box and down toward the ground.

When you're looking for thrillers for your fall window box, look for flowering kale and flowering cabbage for maximum impact. Both flowering kale and flowering cabbage bring color and texture to your fall window box designs.

Tip: You get a lot of mileage out of these brassicas. Flowering kale and cabbage are cold hardy and can survive light frosts.

Mums, the nickname for chrysanthemums, are everywhere in fall for a reason. You can’t beat the visual impact of a mass of mum blooms in white, red, yellow, orange or purple.

When planting mums in a window box, it's easiest to keep them in their nursery pots. Place mums in the window box, leaving them in the pots they came in. Group the pots as close as you can and cover any bare spots with moss or burlap.

Tip: Water can make mum blooms mushy. It's best to water the plants at the soil level, doing your best to keep moisture off of the flowers.

Kick it up a notch with ornamental peppers. These red and yellow gems bring fire alongside the icy coolness of flowering kale. Just nestle them in their containers into the window box.

Tip: Ornamental peppers are bred for looks, not taste. Keep these peppers on the vine and away from kids and pets.

Classics are called that for a reason. They will almost always work for you in any design. In this case, violas and pansies are classics. These all-purpose All Stars consistently delight with bright colors and happy faces as nights grow colder. Violas and pansies are cold-hardy and take brief temperature dips into the 20s and still bloom.

Tip: Extend the life of pansies by insulating them with straw or mulch when the weather cools. When they're damaged by temporary cold snaps, trim them back and you'll likely get a second flush of blooms.

Heuchera is a perennial known for its lovely fall colors and interesting leaf shapes. Heuchera, also known as coral bells, thrives in containers. When you're ready to move it into your landscape, choose a container in a shady part of your garden or plant directly in the ground in well-draining soil.

Edibles like Swiss chard make perfect plants for a harvest-themed fall window box. The stems of these greens, particularly rainbow chard, light up in morning and afternoon sun.

In the Garden Center, look for brassicas like mustard greens and kales for a touch of the fall harvest in your window box designs.

Coleus is the foliage plant that brings all the colors you'd ever want in flowers. This annual's leaves are brilliant shades of lime, peach, burgundy, pink and purple and there are new cultivars released every year. Plant coleus for later summer impact right up until the first frost.

Additionally, coleus is easy to grow, and bonus, pollinators love it. In a fall window box, keep an eye on it and water when the soil feels dry.

Tip: In late fall, before you compost your spent coleus plants, save a few stems and root them in a vase of water placed in a sunny windowsill. The stems will root and can be planted in potting soil for a houseplant. In spring, place them in the garden for another season.

Vibrant and exotic crotons are pitch perfect for fall window boxes. With large, glossy leaves in shades of red, yellow, and green, these plants are sure to catch the eye and add visual interest to your harvest display.

Crotons are easy to care for and adaptable to various light and soil conditions, Their compact size makes them ideal for window boxes; they won't outgrow the space in a season.

As wonderful as crotons are, they're not winter hardy. Before frost hits your area, pot up the plants and bring them indoors to live out winter as houseplants. If you're in hardiness zones 9 or warmer, no worries, crotons can live outside all year long in your area.

If you're a dry climate gardener, you probably already have succulents in your containers and window boxes. These low-water favorites make spectacular combinations for the front of your house.

Rose-shaped echeveria and bold crassula are naturals for your window box thrillers and fillers. Look to sedums like "Lemon Coral" groundcover and sempervivum, the stonecrop known as “hens and chicks” for spillers.

Give herbs a try in your fall window boxes. Besides great color and texture, you get fragrant, touchable leaves and culinary delights for your kitchen.

Many herbs are sized just right for window boxes, especially if you have light shade. Basil grows beautifully in containers, as long as you can keep it watered (drip irrigation makes that a snap).

Position lemon thyme plants so they spill over the edge of your planter. You can use small rosemary plants for thrillers and plant them in your garden at the end of the season.