Eleanor Clarke

GARDEN DESIGN

Be Inspired to Plant an Autumn Window Box

With the nights lengthening and far too many dull, grey days, there’s only one way to turn: to plants! We reckon a lovely autumn planter or window box is about as cheering as it gets at this time of year. Whether you opt for late-flowering perennials, some classic winter bedding plants like pansies or violas, or embrace the colour of heucheras and grasses, it’s all good.

First pick a planter. Grab a neglected window box, a sad looking pot or search around for something you can upcycle. As long as you punch some drainage holes in the bottom, pretty much anything will do. Or create a little terrarium in a big glass jar. Here are three few seasonal ideas to brighten up the last few weeks of the year…

1 Terrarium in a jar

You’ll need:

Big glass jar with a wide neck
Gravel or horticultural grit
Activated charcoal (to stop funghi and bacteria growing)
Multipurpose compost
Plants. Choose something in keeping with the size of your jar: violas, mini hellebores and small ferns are good (it’s worth looking for seedlings growing in the cracks of walls and pavements and gently teasing them out). Use 3 or 5 plants, depending on the size of your jar
Moss

Make sure the jar’s nice and clean, carefully add a layer of gravel/grit, then charcoal, then a much deeper layer of compost, to come nearly a quarter of the way up the jar.
Next add you’re your plants, largest first, arranging them so that the jar looks good from all angles and firming them in well. Water, then cover with a layer of moss – or more gravel/grit. Clean the inside of the jar with a soft brush and place somewhere cool and not too bright. Keep it looking good by watering sparingly and regularly deadheading/removing any brown foliage.

Jewel-toned heuchera

A pot of jewel-toned heucheras and grasses

You’ll need:

Nice big pot/planter at least 40 x 60cm
Old crocks/polystyrene chunks
Multipurpose potting compost
Gravel/horticultural grit
Plants. Choose grasses such as red fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’), carex and pheasant tail grass (Stipa arundinaceae) are all good options – 3 is a good number. Plus 2 or 3 toning heucheras in red/orange/green shades

Put a shallow layer of crocks/polystyrene at the bottom of the planter to help with drainage, then fill with compost and a few handfuls of gravel/grit. Add the plants, tallest towards the back, heucheras at the front. Water and mulch with a layer of grit/gravel. Place outside, in semi-shade.

Colourful window box into winter

You’ll need:

Window box
Old crocks/polystyrene chunks
Multipurpose potting compost
Gravel/horticultural grit
Plants. 1-3 hellebores. 1-3 ferns. Pansies and /or violas in toning colours (if your hellebores are white, maybe go for white pansies too, for an all-white scheme).

Put a shallow layer of crocks/polystyrene at the bottom of the window box to help with drainage, then fill with compost and a few handfuls of gravel/grit. Add the plants, interspersing the tallest with the smallest pansies/violas. Water and mulch with a layer of grit/gravel. Place outside, on your windowsill. Deadhead the violas/pansies regularly.

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