A very good place to see large, bold, and lush container gardens, window boxes, and even green roofs — providing you can get high enough– is the city. Makes perfect sense because there is very little, to no soil or ground space in front or behind private homes, and if there’s a secret garden in a courtyard, it may not be visible to the person walking by.

So as I walked the streets of Boston, Massachusetts recently, I took photos of some beautiful planters spotted in various locations such as Beacon Hill and near the Prudential building.  Whether maintained by a lucky city dweller, or business owner, all that were seen on my journeys were very healthy and impressive.

Maybe with no space for gardens, owners take more time to water the containers filled with lush plants because they don’t have a garden to tend. Whatever the reason, it is a special treat to the city visitor taking notice, and perhaps the only method to add color, foliage, and flowers to the tight spaces in the city.

No visit is complete without walking the historic Beacon Hill area. Lots of gorgeous window boxes

These by the Prudential were huge!  You can see tropicals are popular in the city.

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Cambridge by a restaurant

Canna plants with Mandevillas. And other tropicals. My style. Large and lush.

Pennisetum grasses with sweet potato vines full and trailing. Just abundant for the street side.

Begonias can take the heat well as seen here

Huge blue pots add vivid punch to the combo of plants here. Not just one pot, but many along this walkway area.

Simple but again, healthy and adding movement with the tall thriller, and spiller sweet potatoe vine.

These were just the few i captured. I would write more but working on my Ipad to post is a lttle tricky. Will update with plant names in a later revision. For now, enjoy and let these be some inspiration for the large and showy containers in your environment.

Written by Cathy Testa