21 Window Box Ideas for Colorful Flowers

If you are looking for a simple, but effective way to add visual interest to your home, you will need some window box ideas. They are the perfect way to bring some seasonal color to your facade. You don't need many plants to fill them, yet they still make a substantial impact. Plus, you can enjoy them both outdoors and from inside the window.

When considering window box ideas, look for those that incorporate a variety of colors and textures by mixing flowers with other leafy plants. You can switch out the flowers and plants every season—just be sure to always choose ones that are suitable for the growing conditions around your window. For instance, if your window gets strong afternoon sun, make sure to choose plants that love lots of light. Pay attention to the last chance of frost and freezing temperatures in your USDA hardiness growing zone.

Use these window box ideas to spark your imagination.

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Contrast Colors With Your Home

Spencer Means / Flickr / CC By 2.0

The flowers in this window box pop against the black wood shutters. In the back are yellow calla lilies while fluffy yellow and white hydrangeas inhabit most of the box. Spilling over the sides and front are tiny white bacopa flowers. The different heights of the plants are visually appealing, and they help to fill out the box. These plants should start blooming in the late spring, and they must have evenly moist soil.

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Use Rich Colors in Your Window Box

Spencer Means / Flickr / CC By 2.0

Many beautiful flower box ideas use stunning deep colors, which are perfect for fall window boxes, but can still be paired with pastels in spring and summer. This one includes variegated coleus, million bells (a cousin of petunias that produces smaller flowers), vinca, and asparagus fern. Both the million bells and vinca have long bloom periods, often from spring until fall frost. A window box with this plant combination should be protected from the strong afternoon sun.

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Design a Flower Box With One Variety

ballycroy / Getty Images

A perk of planting just one kind of bulb, such as daffodils, in your window box is that they all will bloom at the same time. Daffodils bloom in the early spring, and the bulbs are quite easy to grow in containers. Just make sure you select a flower box that is fairly deep and has good drainage, as daffodil roots like to stretch downward and they dislike soggy soil.

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Pick One Plant in Different Colors

Rick Ligthelm / Flickr / CC By 2.0

Planting the same flower type in different colors will create a uniform, yet bright look. A mass of petunias in bright purples, pinks, and yellows overflows this window box. Within the petunia genus alone, there are single and double blooms; smooth and ruffled petals; striped, veined, and solid colors; and more. So you can tailor your box exactly to your preferences. Deadhead the flowers to encourage further blooming.

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Try a Simple Window Box Color Palette

Spencer Means / Flickr / CC By 2.0

Plants with white flowers, including petunias, begonias, Angelonia angustifolia "Archangel White," and sweet alyssum are arranged symmetrically in this window box. They make a statement, yet still feel soft and natural. The light chartreuse foliage is Angelina stonecrop. Waiting to flower in the center is a spring-blooming bulb—likely Ornithogalum, or Star of Bethlehem. Make sure a flower box like this has adequate soil drainage.

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Fill Your Flower Boxes Amply

Michael Sprauge / Flickr / CC By 2.0

Subscribing to the "more is more" theory, this window box bursts with pansies, geraniums, snapdragons, and a bevy of other plants. A window box like this is great if you don't already have foundation plants under your window. That way, the mass of plants in the box won't feel too busy. You can either line up the blooming time and duration of the flowers or swap them out intermittently throughout the growing season.

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Pair White With Bright Pops

Eric Gross / Flickr / CC By 2.0

In this window box idea, spilling white bacopa is paired with dusty miller, daisy-like fleabane, and purple million bells. The purple and white color palette keeps things simple, but eye-catching. And it looks especially nice against a medium blue house. These plants flower best in full sun, so make sure your box gets plenty of light.

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Plant an All-Succulent Window Box

The Spruce / Lisa Hallett Taylor

A variety of succulents packed into a window box in the fall will continue to grow throughout the cold season, making them a great early winter window box. Some varieties producing flowers. Succulents in this box include kalanchoe (felt plant), pink echeveria, crassula, and pencil cactus.

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Mix One Flower With Greenery

Garden Photo World / Georgianna Lane / Getty Images

Hydrangeas are easy to mix with some simple green foliage plants for a stunning summer window box look. Some varieties start blooming in the spring, though many are summer bloomers. And if you live in a cool climate, watch out for an unseasonably late spring frost, which can kill the flower buds. If frost is predicted, bring your window box indoors for the night, or cover it with a sheet.

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Take a Tiered Flower Box Approach

Botanical Blitz

Botanical Blitz strategically placed these bright red tulips to stand tall at the back of a window box, while dark purple heliotropes grow at the front of the box. The variation in heights creates a full look with just two flower types. It's easy to swap the tulips once they're done blooming in spring, while the heliotropes can stay in place, as they often bloom until frost. Deadheading will help the heliotropes produce more blooms.

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Pair Brights With Pastels

The Spruce / Phoebe Cheong

Try grouping a few different tulip varieties (or other flowers) in various bright and pastel shades in a window box. Depending on the variety, tulips will reach roughly 1 to 2 feet high, and their flower shape can even differ. So you can mix and match to bring lots of visual interest to your window box. Space your tulip bulbs roughly 2 to 5 inches apart when planting.

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Easter Lilies

Nao Okawa / Flickr / CC By 2.0

Two Easter lily plants, with their trumpet-shaped blooms, rise above the English ivy and pink hyacinths in this early-spring planter. Both the Easter lilies and hyacinth grow from bulbs, and they can easily be replaced with summer flowers after they're done blooming. The English ivy should stay attractive throughout the growing season, though it should be protected from the strong sun in the hot summer months.

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Pick Petunias for Your Window Boxes

Nitsan Merchav / Getty Images

You can go with petunias for an eye-catching window box idea. They come in both bright and pastel colors. The pale varieties are especially ideal in a window box if their backdrop—either your house or shutters (or both)—is a bold color. That way, you won't have any issues with too many or clashing colors. Petunias don't like dry or soggy soil, so be sure to provide an even amount of moisture.

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Use Bright Begonias

Konoplytska / Getty Images

There are several types of types of begonias. Some have a trailing habit and others are more compact with a mounded growth habit. Begonias are planted in the spring after the threat of frost has passed, and they typically start to bloom in June. Their flowers will continue to grace your window box until fall frost, making this an easy summer window box to put together with lots of payoffs. Deadhead begonias throughout the season for further blooming.

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Plant a Pollinator-Friendly Window Box

The Spruce / Autumn Wood

Million bells are known to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, plus they will bloom nonstop from spring to frost. This plant has a trailing habit and will gently spill over the sides of a window box. It has dense growth, so it won't look spindly in its trailing form. Even better, it doesn't need deadheading to continue blooming. Placing your window box in full sun is best, as too much shade can limit flowering.

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Capture a Wild Look

Photo: Stephanie Perez Designs; Design: Mark D. Sikes

These two window boxes filled with what seems to be trailing pale pink geraniums feel undone in the best way. Choosing to keep gaps unfilled and letting the flowers grow and trail without much intervention creates a look that is romantic and unfussy. Geraniums are typically late summer bloomers, so window boxes like this make perfect sense overlooking a back patio that can be enjoyed in warmer weather.

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Embrace Wildflower Window Boxes

Victoria Pearson / Getty Images

Window boxes can be very intentional, but they can also be simple in their design and still make an impact. Case in point: this window box filled with daisies. Wildflower-esque window boxes are low maintenance and easy to plant and put together, and daisies, like in this example, make a great option for spring and early summer.

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Try Trailing Tendrils

Westend61 / Getty Images

This window box features multicolored moss rose blooms along with some trailing greenery. The vines interspersed with the colorful flowers add dimension. Don’t be afraid to let them trail down to the ground. Moss roses like well-drained soil and full-sun, and they bloom from late spring all the way to the first frost.

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Go All Green

Grace Cary / Getty Images

Incorporating all green plants in various shades adds lots of texture without appearing too busy. In this case, the selection of plants, which looks like it includes boxwood and creeping jenny, with a splash of white from silver ragwort, blend well with the green shutters and flower boxes.

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Interplant Fruits and Flowers in a Window Box

Dorling Kindersley: Will Heap / Getty Images

Sunny orange calendula and pale yellow nasturtium set a bright background for small strawberries that dangle over the edge of the box. Strawberries ripen from June through July, so an arrangement like this is perfect for a summer window box. All of these flowers and plants prefer full sun.

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Add Seasonal Decor

Grace Cary / Getty Images

Especially if the plants you pick are on the neutral side, a great way to make your window box suited for the seasons is to incorporate some thoughtful decor. A few small orange and white pumpkins here contrast well with the autumn yellow mums, bright green boxwood, and creeping jenny.

FAQ

What do you put in the bottom of a window box?

Before you add your potting soil, be sure to fill your window boxes with a material that will allow drainage, like recycled wine corks or a plastic lining with holes.
How many plants should be in a window box?

In a typical 24-inch window box, five to seven plants is a good number to aim for. Odd numbers will help you create a pleasing pattern.
What can I put in a window box besides flowers?

Besides flowers, you can add green plants, succulents, herbs, and small berries to window boxes.