<p>My fiance and I just signed a lease on a new apartment in the 'burbs (yay!), and we’ll be moving at the end of May.</p>
<p>Our new apartment will have a small porch, and I was hoping to start a little mini-garden on the porch, perhaps in windowboxes. </p>
<p>Could anybody suggest some flowers that would be good for a windowbox garden? I know I probably can’t grow flowers that are very tall, but what sorts of flowers are good? (I’m happy with anything, as long as the flowers are brightly-colored!) The porch is on the west side of the building, if it matters, and we’re in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Hi Mollie, I have window boxes in the front of my house and I always have the same plants there: swedish variegated ivy (white and green leaves), bright pink geraniums, and pretty sky-blue trailing lobelia (though that does better in semi-sun).</p>
<p>Try this: red or pink geraniums, small ivy plants to trail over the edge, and one other flower, perhaps petunias. It would look better if you don’t put too many different kinds in your boxes. The repetition of a group of the same plants is pleasing to the eye. I think geraniums are just a great flower for a beginner. They are not fussy and bloom all summer. Pick off the dead blossoms to encourage new growth.</p>
<p>And not to argue with marite…but impatiens are for shady areas and pansies are a cooler weather flower for early spring or fall.</p>
<p>bookiemom:
Oh, please do argue with me. I’m no great shakes at gardening. I did not take into account the issue of sun. Mollie will be in the same area as I, so I can learn from responses to her post. I thought of pansies because we’re finally getting some spring weather (after snow flurries yesterday). I agree with all your suggestions, especially the one about not mixing in too many colors and types of flowers. Trailing ivy is great. </p>
<p>Mollie: If you’re serious about gardening, Mahoneys in Winchester is wonderful. The branch in Cambridge was only a small patch of it.</p>
<p>mollie - trailing coleus is a great plant for boxes and should be fine in your zone. There are many varieties with brightly colored leaves and varieties for every exposure from shade to filtered sun to full sun. I just put together my big urns with a mix of trailing coleus, variegated English Ivy, wave petunias, African Iris and deep purple sweet potato vine. </p>
<p>Here is a good website for researching plants</p>
<p>Also, a nice flowering plant for a pot is knockout roses. I particularly like double knockouts as they tend to stay smaller than singles and make more blooms. Beautiful bush that can be easily kept trimmed to fit a medium to large pot.</p>
<p>Click on combinations, pick your season, and scroll through pages and pages of beautiful images. Find one you like, click on it to see exactly how to recreate that container planting.</p>
<p>Also, remember to ‘feed’ your container garden. I’m trying to go all organic…and Microlife is a good organic feed. But Colorstar is fantastic for getting a great show of color.</p>
<p>Get a book on annuals from the library, curl up with it and decide which colors, then which conditions etc… I have had luck with impatiens facing west. Check with the local nursery, ask questions when the bedding plants are in. Remember to pay attention to frost dates, you may get by with things on a porch, however. I use Miracle Grow potting soil with fertilizer and moisture retention- the good stuff. Think of the big bags, and be sure your planters have drainage holes. Keep it simple, such as a maximum of 3 plant colors or types. Think design geometry- eg 1-3-1 for a 5 plant box. not just alternating plants… You can waste/spend a lot of time doing this. At least the critter factor should be negligible on a porch. Have fun!</p>
<p>Love 'em. I have a light colored stucco home and really needed a splash of color in the beds. Last weekend, I pulled a bunch of sick wheeler dwarf pitts and replaced them with double knockouts (which immediately commenced blooming profusely). Also have used the single knockouts in pots for years; doubles should be even easier to manage and the double bloom is especially bold in color. (And they even smell like big roses.)</p>
<p>Use rose soil, and lightly feed the containers on a frequent basis.</p>
<p>All great suggestions. I’m averse (to put it mildly ) to dead-heading. So I like verbena a lot because you don’t have to dead-head them for them to look continuously good. Comes in several colors, so you can have a white/blue/red/deep pink scheme or any combination thereof. Lobelia fits that criterion, too, I think. Just a thought.</p>
<p>For shade, impatiens don’t need dead-heading either.</p>
<p>Good point jmmom! I hate deadheading too (stay away from profusion zinnias is my advice on that front).</p>
<p>re: my recommendations. Knockouts and doubles don’t require deadheading to bloom. BUT, some coleus do require pinching for shape. The trailing coleus is pretty maintenance free, but I’m kinda fussy about shape, so I occasionally pinch to keep it going where I want.</p>
<p>I LOVE verbena. I put in the most beautiful lilac verbena last spring and it was gorgeous just in time for the big prom picture/limo pickup at our house last year. Here in Texas, we don’t usually get a whole summer out of verbena or petunias, despite all the ‘press’ about their heat tolerance. Heat stress and lacebugs usually get them around June. We tend to do three color plantings a year because of the extreme heat…Spring, Summer and Fall/Winter.</p>
<p>In Mass, I would think you could go to town from Spring to Summer with the petunias. There are many great varieties/‘cousins’. Supertunia, Million Bells, blanket, wave…all great in containers. And verbena has Superbena which is wonderful too.</p>
<p>(Btw…if you go looking for Million Bells or Superbells, they aren’t truly a petunia, but a Calibrachoa, kind of a trailing petunia cousin.)</p>
<p>Trouble with petunias is you have to dead head them,or they get spindly and tall.
Mass. would be perfect for impatiens,and for a beginner they dont take much care and give a feeling of success.Mix with some tall green spiky plants behind them (name anyone?) and it’ll look vey pretty.If you cant have anything too tall(blocking a window view) some ivy or other green trailing plant in front of the impatiens.Pretty and no upkeep for sucha busy young lady like Mollie!
Even pretty geraniums you have to deadhead!</p>
<p>Someone has come out with a plant that they’re marketing as a “mini” petunia - although it’s not technically a petunia, but it does have the same shaped blossoms, just much smaller. They come in several colors and are great for cascading down the side of containers. I had some in hanging baskets last year, mixing a dark purple one with a medium orange. no dead-heading needed.
Georgiamom</p>
<p>^ yes…think those are the Million Bells and SuperBells…marketed as a ‘mini’ or a ‘trailing’ petunia. Like I mentioned, not really genetically a petunia, but the blooms and leaves are almost identical, just much smaller. Great because deadheading is not necessary since they have more of a ground cover habit. Excellent for everything from colorbeds where height is a problem to containers like tall urns, window boxes and hanging baskets.</p>
<p>Surfinia and supertunia are true petunias also billed as ‘mini’s’ that have the spreading habit and don’t require deadheading…</p>
<p>mollie - I am a gardening know-nothing but it occurred to me that maybe you could plant herbs and then use those gorgeous purple cabbages instead of flowers. That way the bunny could eat them as well. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Hmm… I’d plant the cabbage in a pot for the bunny, and go with some of the other suggestions on here for your window boxes. A mixture of flowers and green vines – (asparagus fern, vinca, and/or ivy) makes sure the boxes are always full looking. I suggest coming up with a color theme…red/yellow, red/purple/while, yellow/white, coral/purple with your flower choices. Makes the boxes look more interesting. Mostly, don’t worry about what you plant, If something starts looking spindly and crummy, you can yank it out and put something else in its place. I’ve also found over the years that to attain that look you see in magazines in a short amount of time, don’t be afraid to really put lots of flowers in the boxes. Just make sure you are willing to be diligent about watering…that will keep them happy…and use miracle-gro. Good luck! (Also, that far north, you need to be careful about some of the flowers–when I lived in Chicago and Philly, there was a “don’t plant before mother’s day” general rule of thumb). (Or bring the boxes inside if it’s going to get below 40 at night).</p>
<p>Hee, I was definitely thinking of growing a separate herb box/pot for the bunny. She will pretty much eat any kind of herb you can imagine, except that she turns her furry little nose up at mint.</p>
<p>As a bonus, I have plenty of bunny poop to use as fertilizer! :D</p>
<p>Thanks, everybody, for the suggestions. I am so excited to move and have my little garden – we’ll also have a pantry, a breakfast bar, and a spare room. Living the American dream!</p>
<p>re: that sweet potato vine…what a prolific easy plant to grow. I trimmed a bunch of pots last year and threw the cuttings (literally) into an empty bed where I had planned to put summer color. Within a week the cuttings had rooted themselves with no assistance from me. I left them to see what would happen and within a month, the bed was nearly filled with a gorgeous bank of deep purple/red leaved ivy. It’s now my new favorite plant. (Also comes in light limy green, bronze, red and variegated varieties.)</p>
I’m no great shakes at gardening. I did not take into account the issue of sun. Mollie will be in the same area as I, so I can learn from responses to her post. I thought of pansies because we’re finally getting some spring weather (after snow flurries yesterday). I agree with all your suggestions, especially the one about not mixing in too many colors and types of flowers. Trailing ivy is great. </p>
) to dead-heading. So I like verbena a lot because you don’t have to dead-head them for them to look continuously good. Comes in several colors, so you can have a white/blue/red/deep pink scheme or any combination thereof. Lobelia fits that criterion, too, I think. Just a thought.</p>![http://www.starroses.com/images/roses/Double%20KO3plantsweb.jpg[/url]](http://www.starroses.com/images/roses/Double%20KO3plantsweb.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
