Late Summer - Winter Window Boxes; What to Plant?

by Terry
(NYS)

I enjoy your website - my first visit. I live in NYS and would like to plant something in the window boxes of the house I just moved into, preferably something that would offer some beauty from now thru the winter months. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks.

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Aug 07, 2010
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What to Plant from Late Summer to Winter in Window Boxes
by: Countryfarm Lifestyles

Dear Terry

This is a bit of a tough one as most flowers are seasonal and most window boxes really need to be replanted as the seasons begin and end.

However, having said that there are some plants that you can use as evergreens or as the backbone to your window box, and then leaving pockets for color to replace as the seasons pass. I love cyclamens for winter shows, violas, as well as all the lovely bulbs.

The green and variegated euonymus, and some Aucuba vera, with their clusters of red berries, will last through the whole winter until they can be replaced by the spring or summer plants.

The green and golden privet is also a most useful evergreen for window-boxes, the golden variety being most effective. A row of these placed at the back of the box, with a row of solanum (winter cherry) in the front, or red China asters, make a really bright filling for boxes, and can replace the geraniums, etc., which have faded in the early autumn.

When the asters have done flowering, a row of short euonymus can be planted in their stead.

Another autumn arrangement is to use yellow to bronze chrysanthemums at the back of the box, with a tall cryptomeria or juniper at each corner, and solanum in the front; the red-coloured berries tone very well with the autumn-tinted shades of the chrysanthemums.

Another suitable combination of plants is physalis (Cape gooseberry) mixed with silver euonymus, which is very showy with its larger leaf, and a row of asplenium ferns, all of which will last and look well until the frost appears, when they can be replaced by the hardy winter evergreens and berries, or dwarf variegated holly-bushes can be used instead of the shrubs mentioned.

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