The Best 20 Plants for Planter Boxes

With thousands of plants to choose from for your backyard container gardening, it’s a daunting task to narrow down your list to only 20! The choices are endless but some of the best choices for container & planter boxes are space saving fruits, veggies, and flowers. If you’re blessed with a backyard bathed in sunshine, you’ll have a variety of plants to choose from. If your backyard has has limited sunlight, enhance your garden boxes with wheels and roll on into your yard’s sunniest spot – or opt for one of the many shade-loving blooms!

Best Plants for Planter Boxes

Looking for planter box plant ideas to brighten your porch, patio, pool deck, or backyard patio structure? Wishing you could step outside and grab a fresh-picked handful of green beans for dinner? Planter box plants can be delicious or delightful whether it’s colorful blooms or juicy tomatoes. Top picks for your spot will depend on the amount of sunlight, first and last frost dates, and simply what you’d most enjoy growing!

Are you leaning towards edibles in the fruit category? As you map out your edible plants, strawberries, blueberries, or raspberry bushes top the list for fan favorite planter box fruits.

Other fruits that don’t require a lot of space initially are lemon and lime trees or dwarf apple trees. These may need to be transplanted during the next season, but you’ll be able to enjoy the beauty and taste of your harvest right away!

Find out some of the best plants to plant for your local climate and then choose a couple of your favorites, and pair them with compatible companion plants.

What to Plant in Planter Boxes for the Kitchen Table

The vegetable family has a much more extensive list of plants to choose from for container gardening. The size planter boxes you’re using for your raised garden will determine which vegetables you can plant for your backyard raised garden.

Herbs don’t require quite as much space, so if you have a small cedar planter box you could grow a decent size harvest of herbs to use in cooking. Parsley, mint, and basil are the top herbs planted for home cooked recipes. Fresh cilantro is also a palate pleaser and used in many dishes! Pair that with some home grown tomatoes and lettuce and you’ve got yourself a yummy salad that’s fresh picked.

If you are planting in the veggie or fruit category, you’ll want to make sure the type of wood is suitable for planting edible plants.

There are extensive choices for all types of plants, but blooming plants are so plentiful it’s often hard to decide!

Top 20 Planter Box Plants for Backyard Gardening

There are so many beautiful blooms to choose from when planting a flowerbed, container garden, or planter box! We’ve tried to narrow the list down and broke it down into edible and flowering. Here are our top 10 for fruits & veggies and top 10 for flowers, but don’t limit your choice to these. Have fun and make it pretty!

Top 10 fruits & veggies for planter boxes are picks that can be grown in a variety of climates. Are any of these on your list? Maybe you’ll try some during your next gardening season.

• Basil
• Blueberries
• Green beans
• Parsley
• Peas
• Peppers
• Potatoes
• Radishes
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes

When gathering the top 10 flowering plants, we noticed that the top blooming planter box plants also show up on lists as hearty plants for pots or gardens. Many also are butterfly favorites! Are any of these your favorites too? Many of these are time-tested annuals that will thrive in many parts of the country!

• Begonia
• Celosia
• Coleus
• Creeping phlox
• Geraniums
• Impatiens
• Marigolds
• Petunia
• Salvia
• Zinnia

If you’ve already built your planter boxes or are planting in pots, this is a quick way to add color to your backyard patio, front porch, or underneath the gorgeous space created with one of our pergola kits, such as our wood pergola kits, do it yourself pergola kits, or custom pergola kits, on your pool deck. Still in the planning stages for getting your garden going?

Sketch out your vision and put your plan into action! Or maybe you’re looking for a new DIY project to tackle that results in a pretty new view out your window each morning.

There are many plants that’ll make you smile when you look out your window each morning. We hope you find a couple new favorites when you browse all the brightly colored blooms out there that are ready to plant! During your search, you might also find a combination that makes you think of someone special that you’d like to share your new hobby with as a gardening gift or to include as a helper in planning your planter box project!

How to Plan a Planter Box

Here are a couple simple steps to find a home for your planter box plant ideas. Some of the best planter boxes are those that are already measured and cut for you to assemble! A planter box kit that’s pre-measured & cut with steps to put together is a great way to get started. It’ll satisfy your DIY urge but also take some of the guesswork out of having the right size wood for your garden box.

Then you can spend more of your time choosing the soil and plants for your patio garden.

First, check out the space you have available for growing your garden box plants. Do you have a sunny spot chosen? If so, take some quick measurements so you’ll know how much space you have and what size box will fit. If your space needs shade, you could install a garden pergola kit.

Second, decide on generally what types of plants you want to grow. Will they grow tall or wide? This will determine what size boxes you’ll want to build for your backyard garden. If you’re building large planter boxes to hold your garden, be sure to think about the placement before you fill the boxes with soil and plants.

Lastly, and I think the most fun – pick your plants! Will you have a colorful array of blooms in your wooden garden boxes, or luscious fruits to enjoy with your morning coffee? Perhaps you can have one with brightly colored flowers and one for growing a nice crop of salad greens?

Hope you enjoy adding some edibles or colorful plants to your planter box and other containers!