Helpful tips for creating gorgeous fall window box and container displays!

These beautiful fall foliage suggestions for your containers and window boxes will carry you through Thanksgiving. 

I usually wait till the end of September to change out our window boxes and planters, as we can still get some HOT days here in the Midwest well into October. 

There are so many beautiful options beyond the typical mums, and I share some great ideas here! If you don’t have a green thumb, I share a couple of beautiful faux options as well!

Since our temps are looking great for at least the next two weeks, I decided to start working on the fall window boxes. 

For fall, filler would be your more compact plants like mums and ornamental kale. Thriller plants are usually taller options like grasses — I don’t usually use in the window boxes but they are great in containers! Spillers are typically vine plants like asparagus fern, ivy or sweet potato vines. 

Green and purple kale

This post was updated in September 2026.

They also come in green versions, but I love the deep purple tones in these. I grabbed these two versions for our window boxes. Cabbage/kale are GREAT because their ruffled leaves make them so full. 

Colorful and full fillers 

Mums are a given, of course! Chrysanthemums are perfect for the pops of color you’ll want in your planters. Make sure to water them like crazy, mums tend to dry out easily when in containers. 

I also love Coleus — there are so many beautiful options in fall shades: 

I couldn’t find any Coleus small enough for the boxes unfortunately. 

Add in some “thrillers”

For containers the thrillers are usually taller plants like ornamental grasses. But for window boxes, I think anything with colorful foliage works well. 

I loved these ornamental pepper plants that would have worked well for the thriller as well — great pops of color and tall enough to stand out!: 

Vines or asparagus fern are great for the spiller, but I don’t find they do as well in the cooler months around here. 

This time I went for these gorgeous “hot pops purple” peppers — they are so full and spill over the boxes beautifully: 

The little ornamental peppers start yellow and orange and turn into the dark purple. I saw some that turned bright orange as well. 

Here are a few more great fall flowers that would add some color: 

I combined those with the kale and orange and purple mums: 

The purple mums haven’t opened yet, which is a good thing! I’ll have to dead head all of them to keep them blooming throughout the season. 

The pepper plants will serve as my “spillers,” but herbs like thyme and creeping rosemary are other options that would do well in the cooler months. 

Here are all of the plants I used for these fall window boxes: 

 They don’t have a ton of color just yet, but they look SO much better than before!:

I plan to add some mini pumpkins here and there throughout soon as well. 

They will all open up and fill in well — I’m excited to see the color combo blooming together: 

I’ve gathered a few more window box and fall planter ideas for your front porch! These beautiful ideas from fellow bloggers will give you plenty of inspiration.

Carli added some beautiful fall touches using plants from around her yard:  

The branches give the display some pretty dimension and interest. 

This autumn planter is a perfect example of filler, thriller, spiller!: 

And I loved the height and fullness of this one from House of Hawthornes: 

I LOVE the dried hydrangea blooms in this gorgeous fall planter!: 

I may have to add some to our fall containers and boxes — and cross my fingers they don’t blow away!

If you have a covered window or porch, you can combine faux with your real plants: 

If you’re looking for something a little softer than a traditional planter, I love this idea of using a basket for your fall porch: 

Beautiful ideas, right? 

Do you have a favorite addition for fall planters or boxes? 

Pin these fall window box ideas for later with this image: