CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLANTS FOR YOUR WINDOW BOX
Your first major decision should be to figure out the purpose for your garden; from there, you can choose the right plants for your garden.
Ornamentation
Most people's window gardens exist purely to spruce up their home and neighborhood. You may be satisfied to have just one burst of color in the spring and then allow trailing plants dominate the window garden for the remainder of the growing season.
For permanent window boxes and year-round greenery, a "winter interest" window garden can include evergreen such as:
dwarf Alberta spruce
bristlecone pine
mugho pine
small cacti
The dwarf evergreens grow at a rate of an inch per year, so they are ideally suited to long-term window gardening. Finally, trailing plants (the kind that grow down your window) are great for year-round greens.
Some examples are:
ivy
myrtle
creeping Jenny
sweet potato vine
vinca
Some spring flowers include:
pansies
tulips
daffodils
crocuses
primroses
lilies
violas
However, if you wish to continue seeing flowers through the summer, plant:
geraniums
lavender
impatiens
salvia
petunias
daisies
begonias
zinnias
fuschias
nasturtiums
(Nasturtiums have an added bonus for urban gardeners: their leaves and flowers are edible and add a peppery, cress-like taste to salads and sandwiches).
If it's fragrance you're after, choose the following fragrant plants:
sweet basil
mint
lemon balm
lemon verbana
lemon thyme
dill
peppermint
spearmint
pineapple mint
sweet alyssum
nicotania
lavender
jasmine
moonflowers
Many vegetables can be grown in window gardens:
lettuce
cabbage
tomatoes
beans
peas
scallions
kale
peppers
You can grow herbs too, such as:
sage
thyme
rosemary
basil
parsley
marjoram
mint
dill
hops
sorrel
lemon balm
bay
