This summer we worked on our outdoor living space. We DIYed a patio, put in our own landscaping and built a couple of vegetable garden beds. As a part of the landscaping, we put up this cute window box on the outside of our garage. It faces our patio and helps set the mood to our living space. At the prime of the summer, this box was full of draping yellow, pink, purple and white flowers, matching the blue hydrangeas and magenta climbing roses that border it.
But, as soon as the weather started to get cooler, the flowers started to wilt (see photo below). And, our beautiful summer garden started to look a little sad.
Even though summer is over, we are still able to spend time outside comfortably (with a sweatshirt or blanket or both). So, I wanted to try to bring in some Fall colors, and this window box was the perfect place to start.
This past weekend, we made a morning trip to the nursery. I didn’t have a specific vision except wanting to get a variety of plants, including decorative cabbages, flowers and draping vines. I also wanted to layer contrasting colors of cooler purples and vibrant yellows and oranges. The siding of our garage and house is blue, and I knew that having some brighter colors would really make everything pop.
While shopping, I tried laying out some of the plants in the cart, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to really arrange everything until I was home with the window box in front of me. So, I got a few extra plants to be safe. I wasn’t worried because if they wound up being too much than I would just use them in our front planters.
In the end, we managed to get some decorative cabbages and kale, sweet potato vines, clover, pansies and daisy mums. Besides the plants for the window box, I also got a few mums to put in some of our front planters and hanging baskets. But, what really helped bring it all together was a last minute purchase of a couple of mini pumpkins and gourds. They are so simple but are a fun way to bring in the season. Hey, you could fill your entire window box with a display of different sized pumpkins and gourds and it would look really pretty!
Once we had the plants at home, it was time for the fun part. I first removed the dying flowers from the window box and wound up keeping the creeping jenny and diamond frost. They were still going strong, and I had a feeling they would go well with our new color scheme. I then arranged the new plants (in their containers) in the box. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I planted them one by one with a little fresh soil. I was happy with the overall look but something was just missing. I then remembered the mini pumpkins. I started playing around with them in the arrangement, switching out colors and options until I settled on the ones in the picture. I am really happy with how everything turned out! It isn’t the biggest window box, and it may be a little stuffed (hopefully not too stuffed), but it really makes it feel like Fall. And, I can’t wait to sit outside with a blanket, a hot cider and Ollie snuggles.
See a video of the window box adventure below. Note, this is one of our first videos. There are a lot of mistakes: a finger, we forgot to film in the nursery itself (was just concentrating so much on picking out the plants), I think I say color scream instead of color scheme, there’s a lot of noise…well, you get the picture. But, it can only go up from here!
