Purslane/Portulaca is my go-to. I have tried just about everything….which eventually fries. They don’t. Bloom all season. I finally gave up on my dream of layered, lush plantings I see in BHG…. not happening in these conditions. But purslane puts on a nice full show, too. Love how tough it is.

Oh — Texas here, small shallow planter, full brutal sun. They love it. You can add draceana spikes, I usually do, decided not to this year.

Three I planted a few weeks ago. The middle one will catch up, it was sickly, but will be fine.

I water daily in the worst heat.

I agree with the above that purslane and portulaca are great suggestions. The ones that come to mind for me are lantana and pentas. They both like full sun and heat. You may have to experiment some.

Good luck! Let us know what you choose!

@Jinx and popmama, Thank you so much for your specific recommendations! I’m excited to try the purslane/portulaca or lantana/pentas and will report back. Hopefully my local nursery will have some in stock. Is there a certain kind of soil you use for planting in a window box? Jinx, your planter box looks beautiful!

Thank you! It’s a cute little accent window in the garage, I just wish I’d bought or built a deeper planter. At my last house, I had a wide and very deep window box, it was so beautiful every year. It got afternoon shade, so I could layer all kinds of plant combos in it.

I do love decorating them for the seasons, too.

For soil, I just use good ole Miracle-Gro. :)

popmama brought up lantana … I took this pic the other night. I have it in every bed. These made it through that awful winter storm we had — days of below zero temps.

It’s such a great plant. :)

In the toughest bed — hell strip:

If you try it in a planter, I’d use the weeping/trailing varieties … they do great in containers!

I forgot to mention another hardy heat/sun lover: zinnia ’Profusions’. That variety is the only one that doesn’t fry in my containers.

Here it is with dracaena ’spike’ and sweet potato vine. On a bench in all day Texas sun:

OH yes, great additional suggestion: sweet potato vine! Would make a nice trailing accent for a scorching window box. They sometimes will wilt in the very hottest part of the day, but don't worry, they will perk back up again!

My window boxes are a bit too deep so I put a pool noodle along the bottom to take up some of the space before adding soil. I just use a good quality potting soil. I use a water soluable fertilizer weekly.

Make sure the box has drain holes…especially in Florida! If you have the wire/coir type , then you have plenty of drainage and may need moisture retentive potting mix. Don’t forget to feed your plants. If you have good drainage then tons of water will flood out every time you water and sweep away the nutrients.

Portulaca only opens blooms in full sun. They will close up a night so are less showy in my opinion. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and replant if something craps out!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! Your window boxes and containers are enviable and I can only hope for equally spectacular results! I will check out these plants this week. Jinx, I am taking your photos to the nursery with me! Pool noodle, popmama,, what a genius idea. Tootsie, the window box does have drainage. Good point about feeding the plants. I also found a Miracle Gro with moss in it that supposedly helps retain moisture. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Looking forward to seeing how it goes!

I wanted to show you another variety of portulaca … this is my favorite. I like the leaves better on this type. Comes in several colors.

Happily growing in a broken, shallow birdbath, and will eventually spread over the whole surface and spill over. :)

In a hanging basket at my former house:

Thank you for updating, L P!

Really happy to hear it’s going well! :)