Gardening Gardening Basics Container Gardening

16 Fall Window Boxes to Create a Stunning Display

Plants, Pumpkins, and Other Decor to Get Ready for Fall

pumpkin window box
A window box with fall plants and pumpkins.

Lori L. Stalteri/ Flickr /CC 2.0

Front yard boxes and container plants should be well designed, with plants changed out every season or more often to keep the display fresh. It's time to learn how to arrange the right plants for your region and for the right season, so you can have a stunning fall window box all season long.

Here are 16 diverse and beautiful window boxes to give you ideas for fall.

  • 01 of 16

    Choose Urban Boxes

    fall window boxes
    Botanical Blitz

    The Minneapolis-based design firm Botanical Blitz focuses on outdoor floral arrangements and displays, creating growing works of art and changing out plants for clients each season or more often. Large planters on an urban deck featuring eye-catching plants like lime green sweet potato vine (Ipomea), ornamental grasses, mums, coreopsis, and trailing needlepoint ivy.

    Continue to 2 of 16 below
  • 02 of 16

    Mix Different Plants and Flowers

    fall window box
    Botanical Blitz

    Yellow chrysanthemums, dwarf ornamental grasses, and ornamental kale provide rich, deep tones of autumn. Small pumpkins are tucked in as a reminder that Halloween and pumpkin pies are around the corner.

    Continue to 3 of 16 below
  • 03 of 16

    Go Green

    fall window box with pumpkins
    Q is for Quandie

    Linda of Q is for Quandie mixed all different types of plants and flowers to create a luscious display. She included Jester's Crown fern, green and white caladium, cut Annabelle hydrangea flowers, dried Astilbe flowers, frilly ornamental kale, and a white pumpkin to bring in various textures. She recommends this arrangement for early fall up until frost; the first hard frost will kill the caladium.

    Continue to 4 of 16 below
  • 04 of 16

    Find Tulip Substitutes

    fall window box
    Pretty Pink Tulips

    Since tulips don't grow in the fall, Elizabeth of Pretty Pink Tulips keeps the trailing ivy and other plants in her window box, going for an easy update with mums and pumpkins.

    Continue to 5 of 16 below
  • 05 of 16

    Use Fillers

    fall window box
    Hoosier Homemade

    Liz Latham of Hoosier Homemade likes to use odd numbers (a good design rule) for her Indiana home's window boxes. For fall, she uses larger pumpkins and gourds in the middle, and at each end, Mum plants, and dried hydrangea flowers tucked into a bed of hay and dried grasses that spill over the box for a fun look.

    Continue to 6 of 16 below
  • 06 of 16

    Play With Color

    fall window box with purple
    Bria Hammel Interiors

    Bria Hammel Interiors, based in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, created a stunning lavender purple and white autumn window box using chrysanthemums, different varieties of ornamental kale and cabbage, white pumpkins, and pale gourds.

    Continue to 7 of 16 below
  • 07 of 16

    Use Your Own Garden

    cottage at crossroads window box
    Cottage at the Crossroads

    Jane and Leo Windham of Cottage at the Crossroads are do-it-yourselfers who love to make beautiful things happen in their yard. Their fall window box includes gourds grown in the garden, English ivy, creeping Jenny, foxtail fern (asparagus fern), and annual additions of orange marigolds.

    Continue to 8 of 16 below
  • 08 of 16

    Match Colors

    church street window box
    Spencer Means / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

    Snapdragons, million bells, sweet alyssum, and purple pansies grace a brick red-colored window box on Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. The matching orange flowers create an overall cohesive look.

    Continue to 9 of 16 below
  • 09 of 16

    Make It Whimsical

    pumpkin window box
    Lori L. Stalteri / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

    A few mainstays remain along with the mushroom-shaped garden ornaments, but this box is freshened up for fall with yellow-orange coreopsis, ornamental peppers, red-stemmed euphorbia (spurge), pimply yellow gourds, and cream and orange mini pumpkins.

    Continue to 10 of 16 below
  • 10 of 16

    Create a Charming Theme

    fall window box
    Botanical Blitz

    Rust-orange, yellow, and lilac mums are teamed with beautiful deep-purple million bells (Calibrachoa) and a pumpkin for a charming arrangement.

    Continue to 11 of 16 below
  • 11 of 16

    Form Structure

    bay window in fall
    Spencer Means / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

    A bay window is adorned with three window boxes, each planted identically with ornamental grasses that create a fountain effect.

    Continue to 12 of 16 below
  • 12 of 16

    Style Succulents

    succulent window box

    The Spruce / Lisa Hallett Taylor

    In some parts of the southwestern United States and other regions with mild winters, succulents thrive outdoors throughout the year. A window box planted in autumn with colorful succulents will grow during the winter and produce flowers in early spring. This box features a variegated pelargonium (the red and green leaves; not a succulent), flower-like Aeonium, blue-chalk Senecio, and Duddleya.

    Continue to 13 of 16 below
  • 13 of 16

    Assort Pumpkins

    fall window box
    Indigo Gardens and Design

    Beth Schelle of Indigo Gardens and Design in South Bend, Indiana, places gourds and pumpkins in various patterns, colors, and shapes in a long window box. Evergreens and arborvitae are tucked in to soften the look and transition to winter.

    Continue to 14 of 16 below
  • 14 of 16

    Make a Statement

    fall window box
    Botanical Blitz

    Dark pink and purple chrysanthemums are planted with tropical-looking, leather-leaf crotons, which make a striking backdrop. 

    Continue to 15 of 16 below
  • 15 of 16

    Layer Plants

    fall window box

    Flo's Gardens

    Florence and Cecelia of Brooklyn Window Boxes by Flo's Gardens layered various plants in the window box. In the back, taller grasses or shrub-like plants are placed, while two mid-size plants fill the middle. Up front, three smaller trailing or spilling plants form a mix of flowers and greenery. Their results are stunning foot traffic-stopping displays for each season.

    Continue to 16 of 16 below
  • 16 of 16

    Aim for Classics

    fall window box
    Lori L. Stalteri / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

    Geraniums are hardy and can live for decades. Pruning spent flowers will keep your geraniums looking their best—a must for window boxes that everyone passing by will see. A classic red geranium (actually a pelargonium) shares space with yellow lantana and blue salvia, which all continue to bloom in early fall.