Fall Winter Front Porch Flower Boxes

Here in the south, window and porch boxes are a ritual.  I find it amazing how a little bit of green can warm up and add life to any space.

As we were building this house, and the drawings of the front porch came to life, I knew that I'd want to add significant planters to the space.  Before the house was even complete, we built these large planters.  Since we moved in a few months ago, they've sat patiently waiting to be filled.  This weekend was their time.

For me, it was so tempting to fill these guys up with fall annuals.  In the end though, I decided to go with almost all perennials, and just a few flowers that will need replacing in the spring.  The shade loving perennials will work perfectly on our front porch, that only gets an hour or so of sun a day, and they will work perfectly with our recently busy days, weeks, and months that don't allow for continuous plant replacement.  This route is better for the budget, too.

The empty boxes -

My process includes spacing the plants out before planting.

The after -

The plants I used from the outside of the container in are - Goldilocks Creeping Jenny, Myers Asparagus Fern, Cyclamen, Heuchera (Coral Bells) and Evergold Carex.  These are all from my favorite local garden center Abide-a-While.