what are some good flowers to plant in a flower box for zone 5? and Sweetgum bud, opened, showing both new leaves and flowers

what are some good flowers to plant in a flower box for zone 5?

I live in the Chicago land area, zone 5 I believe. I want to plant a window box on the east side of my house, and would like to get some flower ideas that are tried and true suggestions. I also need flowers for patio containers. I need advice from some flower container experts. Ha! My patio is on the West side of my house. Lots of sun.


flower best answer:

Answer by Lori H
First of all you need to look up your zone for sure. I don't think you are a 5. Then you need to decide do you want them to come back every year or not. The ones that come back are perennial and the others last only one season and are called annuals.
You can do a combo of both. Plant some that come back every year, like tulips, iris etc. then around the bottom plant some that are ground cover they will cover the dirt close to the bottom of your other flowers. Early annuals that you can plant when still kinda cool are pansy, then you could add petunia. Both of this continue to bloom and are pretty easy to take care of.

flower

Sweetgum bud, opened, showing both new leaves and flowers


OK. The mystery (for me) is solved. Sweetgum buds open up to release new leaves and flowers, from one and the same bud. You can clearly see new leaves in this photo, plus one or two very immature flowers. (See notes on photo.) To top it off, there's a 2008 fruit hanging on the same tree, in the background. Thank God that, after admiring these trees for decades, for their beautiful autumn leaves, (see our sweetgum set) I finally paid attention to the buds.

I believe that the entire bud complex on the right was about an inch and a half/5 cm in length.

Larger sizes available.

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