15+ Front Porch Planters & Window Boxes

Flower planters, container gardens, window boxes.

There are beautiful window boxes in the cute little downtown near me. Some of these window boxes are in the shade and some in full sun. I went walking one morning when it was quiet before the stores opened. The flowers in the window boxes and the planters were so pretty! These are great ideas for my (your) DIY front porch planters this year.

A few days ago, I was driving through the downtown and not many cars were lining the street. I noticed the beautiful planters! If you follow my blog regularly, you know I have a planter obsession. These are gorgeous and I know someone is spending tons of time watering, deadheading and maintaining these pretty planters. Join me as I look to these for future inspiration of my own flower containers!

Every year, the lady who owns this restaurant plants beautiful red geraniums in her window boxes. They do so well for her and always look beautiful.

{sigh} So much work! I almost gave up on doing my planters this year but, thankfully I didn't. We've had a cool, wet start to our summer and the one plus is, the plants love it! Even my plants look great.

Obviously, the geraniums are happy! This is a different type of geranium which I haven't found the name for yet. But, it's the same restaurant as the window boxes above with the big traditional red geraniums.

I am in love with the actual container below. It's in front of our new Italian/Mediterranean restaurant. The food in there is great and the planters outside are fabulous!

We have to remember that the container can also provide a point of interest. Pots and planters aren't always the options to plant flowers in.

They also have red geraniums in front. Love the trailing vines!

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Here is a little closer picture Doesn't this look very European? I love the way the trailing plants are on the sides. And the contrast in colors. So pretty! This window box follows the traditional formula of thriller, spiller, and filler.

Some of the flower boxes on the other side of the road are in shade. Normally, those aren't very interesting. But, I loved these! Just the beautiful bright green potato vines add a splash of color here. Most of these plants are non-flowering. But, the gardener chose to plant different colored plants where the leaves have different textures. Not many flowers but still very interesting!

Color and texture with mainly shade loving leafy plants. And a hint of color with a few impatiens sprinkled in.

And some orange begonias. Wow! Shade planters don't need to be boring!! I love orange plants. I think because there aren't many out there. There are so many reds and pinks and even purples now. But, orange plants stand out to me.

This coleus is obviously very happy here! OK, I saw something that I thought was genius here! When I was walking around this planter, I noticed they had built a little stand to keep the planter straight. Look at the bottom of the picture below. I think this is brilliant!

What a great idea!! The sidewalks are really sloped and this little stand keeps the planter straight. The guy who did this was really brilliant. And, perhaps a little bit type "A". But in a good way!

This guy also did well in the shade

Just around the corner, take a look at this beautiful display of flowers! The purple geraniums are gorgeous. I love seeing pots of only geraniums but if you look closely at this planter, you may be able to see why they aren't my favorite to plant. They need to be deadheaded. A lot!

The picture above is mainly containers! Can you believe it! Of course, you know I'll show you some close-ups. This adds such a splash of color between roads and sidewalks. I'm sure the dirt isn't good for the plants from all the buildup of the salt over the years (Wisconsin winter weather reality!). But, that can easily be controlled with these container gardens.

These planters line a sidewalk into a restaurant. But, it's also close to the road. I'm sure planting in the ground would be absolute frustration, hence, the container garden. These are in Wisconsin and I'm guessing because of our winters, there is a lot of salt in the ground. These petunias have been deadheaded much more than the ones in the last picture.

Below are some more of the planters in this collection.

I love the red spiky Salvia, with the purple lantana flowers draping down the container. Lontana comes in so many different colors. I use it every year in my flower planters because of that!

I've been seeing marigolds used more and more. Perhaps because the yellow and oranges are such a great contrast compared to the other flowers that are traditionally used? As I mentioned earlier, there just don't seem to be many true orange flowers out there.

Marigolds are such a tough plant and add a beautiful splash of yellow and orange! Plus, they come in so many different sizes!

And, just as I was ready to leave, I saw the planter boxes at our local library! How have I never seen these before? Of course, I love the purple fountain grass in the middle. It'll be perfect for the fall when everything else fades. The purple fountain grass can be kept and the planter can easily be changed to a fall themed one!

Obviously donated by a local bank : ). What a great way to support the community! Everyone enjoys seeing pretty planters.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these planters as much as I have! Have you discovered planters where you just never noticed them before?

I have to share one more picture. It's a picture of a tough underdog. I'm a sucker for underdogs!

Petunias aren't normally the plants I see trying to establish themselves in the crack of a curb. I'm rooting for them!

If you are feeling inspired but don't know where to start, click the 'Next Page' button below to my tutorial on how I plant my containers. It's easy! And, much cheaper than buying a pre-planted container!!