One of the first things I noticed while strolling around Charleston was that almost all of the historic homes have beautiful window boxes overflowing with flowers. Few of the homes in the historic district have yards since they are built so close together, therefore planters are pretty much all the gardening space Charlestonians have available. Talk about my kind of landscaping!
While there are window boxes everywhere you look, I found it rather odd that we never saw anyone outside watering them during our entire stay in Charleston, especially since planters tend to dry out really quickly. Finally, I noticed that most of the window boxes have a drip-irrigation system (which you can see in some of the photos if you look closely). Again, totally my type of gardening!
At one point, Jason commented that the locals must have read my blog post about choosing plants that are thrillers, spillers, and fillers to create interesting planters. Well, of course they did….and then took it up a notch!
I noted which plants seemed to be thriving happily in Charleston window boxes in late June despite the steamy summer temps:
- Warm-weather Thrillers (tall centerpiece plants) – caladium, cordyline, mandevilla, nandina, nephrolepis fern, phormium
- Warm-weather Fillers (mounding plants) – angelonia, begonia, coleus, geranium, heuchera, impatiens, petunia
- Warm-weather Spillers (cascading plants) – callibrachoa,
creeping jenny, dichondra, ivy geranium, lantana, sweet potato vine,
variegated english ivy, verbena
In the fall, Charlestonians replant their window boxes with cool-weather flowers in preparation for spring. If you visit Charleston during these months, you can expect to see the following:
- Cool-weather Thrillers (tall centerpiece plants) – delphinium, foxglove,
geraniums, hollyfern, hyacinths, snapdragons, tulips,
variegated english boxwood - Cool-weather Fillers (mounding plants) – calendula, candytuft,
diascia, dusty miller, english daisy, ornamental cabbage,
ornamental kale, osteospermum, pansy, petunia, primrose, snapdragon,
tuberous begonia, viola - Cool-weather Spillers (cascading plants) – bacopa, callibrachoa,
edging lobelia, english ivy, ivy geranium, nasturtium, spotted dead nettle
No matter the time of year, something is always in bloom. I promise it’s worth a visit to Charleston just to see the window boxes!
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3 Comments
Hi Shayla. I wanted to comment on your blogs. Eman has been lettin me read them, they are really great. You must be a Gardener at heart, you were very detailed with the summer and fall plants. I’m glad you guys had a great time in Charleston, it was so nice to meet you both. Take care and I look forward to reading more of your blogs!
Ashley
@Ashley: Hi, Ashley! Jason is actually the one with the green thumb around our house! I’m thinking I could handle a window box, though…especially one that waters itself.
I’m so glad we were able to meet up with you in Charleston. Thanks for all the great recommendations! Please let us know next time you find yourself in Oklahoma.
Oh my goodness, I wish I knew as much about gardening as you. I just have NO CLUE about gardening of any sort. I wish I had more of a desire to learn, but it was always too hot in Texas to consider it. I envy your plant knowledge!! I am trying my best with my porch flower boxes, but there are no more blooms on the flowers
Who knows what happend. But the ivy and leaves on the plants are still doing fine so I’ll take what I can get. I may refer to your list later when I need to refill those boxes!