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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