Laura Walters
The days are getting shorter and cooler so that means one thing—it's time to refresh your window boxes with earthy tones for fall. Even if you designed your summer window box with perennials, it probably looks a bit overgrown and haggard right now. So for fall window boxes, you can either start over completely or just replace a few of the plants with invigorating fall colors.
The changing colors of autumn include deep shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, and green. Take your cues from nature when considering fall planter ideas, and don’t forget to scavenge the yard for creative filler materials.
For a fabulous autumn window box garden, include the warm colors of fall, using both annuals and perennials, as well as sprigs of evergreens, stems with bright berries, interesting seed pods, pine cones, small pumpkins, and gourds. To help you get inspired, I'll share my top picks for a stunning autumnal display. And if you need ideas for containers, too, there are tons of beautiful window boxes available on Amazon.
Fall Window Box Basics
When designing any window box, follow the thriller, filler, and spiller formula to easily create a lush and balanced display. Place the fall thriller plant, or tallest plant, in the center or back of the box, and move outwards with descending filler plants. For spillers, add a few vining plants such as ivy, scaevola, or trailing verbena to soften the edges of the planter.
Add some long-lived plants to your list of fall window box ideas, such as those that will survive a frost. That includes mums, petunias, ornamental kale and cabbage, pansies and violas, heuchera, dusty miller, snapdragons, evergreen ferns, and ornamental grasses and sedges. If you live in a warm winter climate, you have more options with colorful succulents and annuals.
You can pack plants fairly tight into your boxes, either in fresh soil or in their nursery pots. Since it's the end of the season and there won’t be much new growth.
Caring for Fall Window Boxes
Fall window boxes are easier to maintain than summer container gardens. The cooler weather means you may not need to water every day, unless your climate is still very warm. But if your plants are in small nursery pots, you will need to water window boxes more often.
Otherwise care is simple. Fertilizer is not usually necessary this late in the season. So just deadhead faded blooms to keep boxes looking tidy and attractive. When the fall season is over, you can plant perennials in the garden and water them until they're established or until the ground freezes.
My Must-Have Plants for Fall Window Boxes
For amazing autumn inspired window boxes, include show-stopping fall plants that will boost curb appeal with their gorgeous color and texture. For more fall flair, tuck in small pumpkins, gourds, berry stems, or evergreen branches cut from the backyard. Let's take a look at my must-have plants for elegant autumn window boxes.
1. Asters
Asters (Symphyotrichum spp.) add a brilliant pop of color to any fall window box. The New York aster and New England aster are the most common North American native varieties, but you will find plenty of hybrid and non-native types at the garden center, too.
The native varieties provide food for pollinators and are a host plant for at least two types of butterflies. But all aster varieties shine in vibrant colors such as purple, pink, white, and blue with daisy-like blooms from late summer to frost.
A taller variety, like the blue wood aster, would work as the thriller in your window box or shorter types can serve as the fillers. They are typically hardy in USDA growing zones 3 to 8 and prefer full sun to part shade and moderate water.
Shop blue wood aster plants from Walmart.
2. Mums
Mums (Chrysanthemum spp.) come in multiple sizes and all the autumn colors you can think of: burgundy, burnt orange, gold, yellow, white, red, purple, and pink.
To choose the best mums, buy plants that are mostly still in bud. This will help prolong the bloom season. When watering mums, avoid wetting the flowers and foliage, if possible. Deadheading mums will also keep plants tidy and extend flowering.
Many people treat fall-purchased mums as annuals. However, if you plant them in the ground before the soil freezes, they may return next year. You'll likely have better success, though, if you purchase plants in the spring and give them all summer to establish.
Mums like sun, but if they are already in bud when you buy them, they will bloom in the shade. Mums are generally hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9.
Get a 4-pack of mums from Costa Farms on Amazon in red, orange, or purple to fill all your window boxes this fall.
3. Blanket Flowers
Blanket flower (Gaillardia spp.) is a standout in fall window boxes because of its bicolored yellow and red flowers. Hybrids in burgundy or golden yellow are available, too.
Use blanket flower as a thriller or filler in window boxes depending on the height of your other plants. They need good drainage and full sun for the most flowers. This knockout native flower is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9.
You can order blanket flower seeds and plants from Burpee online.
4. Coral Bells
To add some colorful filler with foliage, try perennial coral bells (Heuchera spp.). Native to North America, hybrids between species bring hundreds of colors, shapes and sizes to choose from. Leaves vary from burgundy, orange, red, black, green, peach, silver, yellow, and variegated.
Tiny bell shaped flowers arrive in late spring on tall stems, but the foliage is the star of the show. Coral bells do well in part shade in a moist, well-drained soil in USDA zones 4 to 9.
Shop a gorgeous array of coral bells at the Home Depot and find the perfect one for your window boxes.
5. Ornamental Kales & Cabbages
Ornamental kale and cabbage (Brassica oleracea) are everywhere in the garden centers for fall planting because they can withstand freezing temperatures and add instant drama to any container. I prefer the kale for its showy, lacy foliage. Ornamental cabbage is flatter and looks more like, well, cabbage. But both are beautiful tucked into boxes with other fall annuals.
Cool weather brings out their vibrant colors of pink, white, purple, green, and red, so they work well if you want to extend the window box past some light freezes. They are hardy from USDA zones 2 to 11, but typically don’t perform well past early winter.
Shop beautiful ornamental cabbage and kale varieties at Walmart.
6. Evergreen Ferns
Evergreen ferns such as the autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) and Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) add greenery and height to window boxes, especially in the shade. You can use them as a thriller or tuck them in among other filler plants.
Autumn fern ‘Brilliance’ boasts coppery new fronds that change to green. Christmas fern’s leathery leaves remain green and glossy year-round. Autumn fern is hardy in USDA zones 6 to 12 and the Eastern U.S. native Christmas fern is hardy in zones 3 to 9.
Buy a Brilliance autumn fern today from Nature Hills nursery.
7. Fountain Grasses
Fountain grass (Cenchurus spp.) and other ornamental grasses with stunning fall color look great in the back of a window box to give it height and a billowy texture.
Many fountain grass varieties are moderately sized and many have colorful foliage. Their small, bottlebrush-like inflorescences are showy, ranging from white to pink to purple or copper. They all prefer full sun, but hardiness varies depending on cultivar.
Shop hundreds of fountain grasses and other ornamental grasses at the Home Depot.
