Gardening Ideas Container Gardening Window Box Basics Learn how to make a Charleston-style window box that will spruce up any home with a splash of organic color. By Steve Bender Steve Bender Steve Bender, also known as The Grumpy Gardener, is an award-winning author, editor, columnist, and speaker with nearly 40 years experience as Garden Editor, Senior Writer, and Editor-at-Large for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on September 16, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email In This Article View All In This Article Window Boxes For The Win Drainage Watch Your Weight Variety Is the Spice of Window Boxes Plant Seasonally Keep That Box Hydrated Photo: Photo: Ralph Anderson, Window Box Design: Tracee Lund When saluting the beauty and grace of Charleston, South Carolina, one of our readers' favorite destinations, you'll soon discern the town's signature signs of welcome – window boxes overflowing with flowers. Window Boxes For The Win Charlestonians favor window boxes for two very practical reasons. One, Charleston is a tourist destination and residents like to dress up for the visitors. Two, many homes in the historic district don't have front yards. Window boxes provide the only gardening space available. There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to start a window box and then to nurture the plants you choose. Let's focus on what is right, and get those windows beautified just the way you want them. Drainage Be sure the window boxes have drainage holes. Leave at least 1/2-inch between the window box and the side of the house for water to drip through. This is especially important for houses with wood siding. You don't want your window box to be a detriment to the outdoor surface of your home. Watch Your Weight Make sure the filled window boxes won't be too heavy for the support brackets that hold them to the house. You can significantly reduce weight by using fiberglass window boxes and filling them with potting mix, not soil. Variety Is the Spice of Window Boxes One simple rule to make window boxes like these more interesting: variety. Plant a thriller (something tall), like a spiky cordyline; a spiller (something to trail over the sides), like white bacopa; and colorful fillers, like yellow million bells, coral twinspur, and orange snapdragons. Plant Seasonally For cool weather, plant million bells, lobelia, bacopa, twinspur, snapdragons, violas, nasturtiums, and flowering kale. For warm weather, switch to lantana, verbena, begonias, angelonia, impatiens, coleus, sweet potato vine, fanflower, narrowleaf zinnia, and Wave petunia. Keep That Box Hydrated Don't forget to water. Plants in window boxes dry out faster than those planted on the ground. Fertilize every two weeks with water soluble fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro. Or incorporate a granular slow-release fertilizer, such as Dynamite, into the potting mix before planting. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit