CONIFERS FOR WINDOW BOXES ?

Looking to plant some "slow growing" conifers in my window boxes.
They are at 1st floor level, south facing, coastal location but not exposed.
Have done the summer bedding plants, and whilst they look good, they need a lot of maintenance etc. and am at the age when its becoming hard work if you see what I mean !
Am thinking that with the right selection they can be left in all year with say some variegated ivy with far less maint.
What do you think and what would you recommend ??
Thanks

 

Hiya earthy...I think it's a great idea,there's some lovely dwarf conifers that look great in containers,sorry don't know any of their names though.Even dwarf conifers although slow growing may get too large for containers in time but if you get the right variety you'll get a good few years out of them.There is also some nice Varigated Euonymus that would go well too but may need trimming from time to time to keep them in check and ofcourse there's still the watering to do but they will look nice all year round

 

Lemon cypress is quite a nice and small conifer. But why limit yourself to conifers I wonder? For evergreen and low maintenance you can't go for wrong with the likes of rosemary and lavender, and then you get the flowers and fragrance too. Or curry plant, with its nice silvery almost white foliage. Stinks a bit though. Thyme is lovely. It comes it many different shades of grey, green and yellow, decked out with clusters of white or sometimes pink flowers in late spring. All of these plants are low maintenance, drought tolerant, tolerant of coastal conditions (salty air and occassional battering gales) and will thrive in a south facing position, all while looking good and oozing fragrance.

 

Thanks Lolimac

 

Are all of these ok for winter temp. ?
Thanks for your advice, think I will mix/match !

 

I guess it depends where you are. I'm on the North East coast and I've never lost any of the plants I listed. They even survived those two unusually harsh winters we had in a row a couple of years or so ago.