Gardening is one of the most rewarding actions, but not everyone has a whole yard’s worth of space (or the time to be a full-time gardener).
Potted porch plants are a great way to bring a little bit of nature right up to your front door.
Porch plants are easier to maintain than an entire garden, and if you choose the right plants, you create the perfect environment on your front porch.
Table of Contents
- About Front Porch Plants
- Why Grow Potted Front Porch Plants
- The Best Potted Front Porch Plants
- Conclusion: Potted Porch Plants
The best potted plants for the porch are ones that require little to moderate watering, and ones that can grow happily in a pot if they require.
For ideal porch plants, many people choose to plant flowers, while others prefer to stick to herbs (or a mixture of both).
Want to grow plants on your front porch? Front porch plants are not difficult to grow and it can be very rewarding for any gardener to have their own little garden on their front porch plants.
Here’s your ultimate guide to growing potted front porch plants with ease.
About Front Porch Plants
Front porch plants are any plants that you can grow in hanging baskets or in pots.
For effective porch planting, many gardeners prefer to use evergreen flowers and herbs so that no space in their garden is ever a blank page.
Why Grow Potted Front Porch Plants
It’s a great idea to grow potted front porch plants because they are, mostly, easy to maintain.
Most pot plants don’t require as much care as you would think, and simple watering and trimming is enough to keep most small potted plants happy.
The addition of potted porch plants also brings a welcome natural warmth to any space, and brings nature right up to your doorstep.
If you have never grown plants before (or you have a reputation for not managing to grow a full garden), then potted porch plants could be the way to go.
This article contains some of the best potted porch plants you can choose for the garden.
Here’s how to find the best potted porch plants that match your style.
The Best Potted Front Porch Plants
Agapanthus
Agapanthus is a popular flowering plant grown throughout most of the world, but native to the African continent.
A common perennial, the agapanthus does not need as much care – and it does fine with daily watering.
The agapanthus can be grown in any garden, but also adapts just fine when it gets grown in a pot.
Basil
Basil is one of the most versatile herbs in the world, and one of the perfect herbs you can add to Italian dishes. It’s also one of the absolute best plants you can choose as a pot plant for your porch.
Basil brings a great smell, and it’s one of the herbs that doesn’t require all-day care to flourish.
For the best results, basil requires at least some harassment. Get up and close and personal with your basil plants if you want them to look great for the whole year.
Note that there are different types of basil, from the most common type to purple basil. Some gardeners choose to plant a selection of several.
Begonia
The begonia is a popular perennial plant, known for making vibrant flowers in the most brilliant shades.
The begonia’s root system is strong, and anchors itself just fine when you have a large enough pot that allows for ample space for the roots.
Begonias are not difficult to grow, nor to maintain.
Bleeding Heart
The bleeding heart is so named because of the appearance of its brilliantly colored flowers, which hang from the branches like little hearts.
While it can be found in larger gardens, it can also be adapted to make a great plant for your front porch.
Like most plants you want to grow in a pot, keep soil moist, but do not overwater.
Cypress
Cypress is traditionally thought of as only a tree that can be grown in larger gardens, but it can grow just as happily in a pot.
The cypress makes a perfect pot plant for the front porch, and it can be trained to grow out in almost any shape if you trim it throughout the growth period.
Grow the cypress in any area that gets a fair amount of sun in the morning, and at least the same amount of shade for the rest of the day.
While cypresses can flourish in almost any conditions, they won’t take well to overwatering or full sun all day.
Fuschia
Fuschia is one of the most popular flowering plants, known for throwing its most colorful flowers throughout the whole year.
The fuschia can grow happily in a pot, with enough access to a mixture of light and shade.
Again, do not overwater or you might cause damage to the roots (or affect the flowers).
English Ivy
One of the easiest plants to grow, and his plant is often a first recommendation for new gardeners – or gardeners who have successfully killed any of their other plants before.
English Ivy needs very little day-to-day care other than watering.
This particular plant brings an evergreen color to the rest of your plants, and it can grow happily in a pot in both sun and shade.
Flowering Tobacco
Tobacco isn’t just a plant that’s meant to be dried and smoked, but it also makes for a great potted plant that’s kept around for purely ornamental reasons.
Ornamental tobacco plants are common, and grow happily in a pot without a lot of care.
Hens and Chicks
Hens-and-chicks are one of the first plants that are recommended to new gardeners, especially ones who have had unsuccessful experiences with other plants.
Hens-and-chicks are great when they are grown in smaller pots, and they are almost impossible to kill.
Even with just very occasional watering a few times per week, hens-and-chicks can floursh as a potted porch plant.
Hydrangeas
A great plant that can grow just as well in sun or shade.
Popular in floral arrangements, but just as beautiful to grow as a potted plant on your porch.
Hydrangease are another great flowering perennial that can add some color to your porch all year ’round.
Impatiens
The common impatiens blooms in spring, and makes one of the greatest floral additions to any garden – especially as a pot plant for your porch together with other colorful flowers.
The impatiens does not require as much close care as you would imagine, and flourishes when sprayed once per day and left alone for most of the rest.
This great flowering plant can be found in several colors, and offers several ways to spruce up the pot plant garden you want to put together on your porch.
Like most plants that grow in pots, you want to avoid overwatering and go for moist soil at best.
Ivy
The ivy family is one of the best plants you can grow on your porch if you’d like to bring some green to your garden.
There are only about 12 true ivy species, though there are many other plants that are ivy-like and share some of the most common characteristics (like attaching to the closest structure).
Most ivy plants are hardy and do not require much care, though should at least be trained in the direction that you would want them to grow.
Japanese Painted Fern
The Japanese Painted Fern is a great perennial plant that grows happily as a potted porch plant.
Most ferns grow happily as potted porch plants, and the Japanese Painted Fern is great for the amount of variety its silvery leaves can bring to your garden.
Ferns should be trimmed as soon as dead leaves become apparent, though live growth can happily be allowed to grow out of the edges of the pot.
Lavender
Lavender is a great perennial plant that brings some variety, color and scent to your garden.
Thanks to the calming effects associated with lavender and the great smell the flowers provide, the different types of lavender are a great potted addition to your potted porch garden.
While there are a lot of myths that say lavender plants are difficult to grow, the truth is that lavender plants actually require very little fuss to flourish.
Lavender is great because it flowers for most of the year, and also because it grows even in difficult climates – and thus, will be fine as a pot plant for your porch.
Know at least more or less which type of lavender plant you intend to work with. There are many different types, though most of them can still work.
Some lavender types are edible, though most of them are not. ‘Known for its relaxing benefits, but also a great feature as a potted porch plant.
Moneywort
Sometimes also known as Creeping Jenny. This is great as a plant grown in pots, but can be quite an aggressive grower so it’s best kept out of the rest of your garden.
When grown in pots, the moneywort plant is a happy creeper that can bring some shade to your garden whilst spilling out of the pot just enough for a great visual effect.
Moneywort can grow just as well in sun or shade, though will prefer a fair mixture of the two throughout the day.
Rhododendron
The rhododendron is one of the best garden flower plants you can grow, and it’s perfect as a potted plant for your porch.
This type of flowering plant is great in spring, though should be planted or moved at least one season before this if you want to ensure it flourishes at the right time.
Keep the rhododedron in the area on your porch that gets a mixed concentration of both sunlight and shade throughout the week.
Rosemary
There are many chefs who can’t prepare their most favorite dishes without the use of some rosemary.
Rosemary also has many other benefits for the health.
That’s not the only reason to include rosemary as a potted herb plant for your porch!
Rosemary is a natural anti-critter plant, which can keep some types of insects that can harm your garden far away from it.
Grows happily all year, one of the most fun herbs to include in your garden.
Spring Onion
While the most common variety of spring onion isn’t thought of by most people to be great for a porch pot plant, it’s one of the best ones you can choose.
Spring onion isn’t just fragrant and something beautiful to look at, but makes a great potted plant.
Spring onion can be grown happily together with most other herbs and plants, even in one pot.
One more benefit of growing spring onion on your porch is that it keeps any bugs that can damage the rest of your plants far away.
Peppermint
Peppermint is another great perennial herb that can be a feature for your porch garden.
Mint is a versatile plant family that includes several types of plants. The mint family includes peppermint, but also branches out to other plants like spearmint.
The types of mint are similar, but there are subtle differences in the way they grow (and how they taste when used as a food accessory).
Some gardeners choose to grow both spearmint and peppermint. Other gardeners just settle on one of their favorite types.
Sprinter Boxwood
Sprinter boxwood is easy to grow with moderate shade.
It requires relatively regular trimming throughout the year and can be shaped to make a hedge or any other shape you want.
One of the first recommended plants for new hedge growers due to its shape, which is easy to trim and grows happily.
Thyme
Thyme is one more type of plant that makes a great accompaniment for potted plants on your porch.
Thyme is fragrant, but is also easy to grow and adapts to a garden or pot just as easily.
If you want to grow thyme, don’t overwater and make sure that your plants have a fair mixture of both shade and light.
Toffee Twist
Toffee twist is great for a rare feature to look at, and more gardeners are seeking it out as a plant for their gardens.
This is technically a type of twisting grass, though it can be grown as a great accompanying porch plant in a pot.
The great thing about toffee twist is its hardiness. It requires very little active care to flourish, even in a pot, and only asks for occasional watering and trimming.
Conclusion: Potted Porch Plants
Most potted porch plants are easy to grow, if you mix together the right plants for a happy garden. Start with a few plants, and build your way up to include more companion plants as you go.
