15 Hearty Plants Perfect For Raised Planter Boxes

If you own raised planter boxes, you already know about all the benefits that they provide. These benefits include maximizing your gardening capacity, making weeding easier, and controlling the quality of your soil. Additionally, if you live in an area without a yard or garden, you can raise just about any flower, vegetable, fruit, or herb that you set your heart on. Of course, this is assuming your region supports its sunlight and temperature needs. Take a look at your favorite plants' growing requirements before planting them outdoors, so you don't have to feel the frustration of losing warm weather plants like tomatoes, rosemary, and garlic to temperature drops.

Several of the plants in this collection do well together in raised planter boxes as companion plantings. As suggested by the University of Minnesota Extension, you can plant basil, marigolds, and tomatoes together to ward off pests and promote growth. Here are the best herbs, flowers, fruit, and vegetable plants that will thrive in your raised beds.

Mint plants (mentha spp.) are aggressively growing herbaceous perennials that are extremely cold-hardy, as mentioned by Utah State University. They do well in raised planter boxes filled with slightly acidic soil that is also moist and rich in organic matter. Be careful planting mint with other, weaker garden plants as they may overpower them.

Bloom Season: Summer to fall

USDA Growing Zone: 3 to 8

Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade

Soil Type: Moist, rich, and slightly organic

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Patty pans (cucurbita pepo), also known as acorn squash, field pumpkins, or squash, are rapidly growing, warm-season vegetable plants that produce multi-colored fruit. This plant enjoys moist soil and plenty of direct sunlight, as told by North Carolina State Extension.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 3 to 11

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained loam with high organic matter

Size: 1 to 2 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide

Tomatoes (solanum lycopersicum) are a species of herbaceous perennials that are grown in average garden soil throughout the summer months in most regions. As stated by Missouri Botanical Garden, the tomato plant does well in containers, planter boxes, and garden beds with other vegetable plants.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 10 to 11

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained garden soil

Size: 3 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide

Spinach plants (spinacia oleracea) are native to southwest Asia, but now they are grown all over the world. There are many different varieties of spinach in the oleracea species, some have smooth leaves while others have tastier wrinkled leaves, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both types can be grown in raised planter beds during the spring and summer.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 1 to 11

Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade

Soil Type: Well-drained and rich in organic matter

Size: 6 inches to 1-foot tall and wide

The basil plant (ocimum basilicum) is a popular herb that can be grown indoors as a houseplant or outdoors in herb gardens or containers. Depending on the cultivar, basil plants can grow quite tall and bushy, but they are easily made compact by taking cuttings frequently. As pointed out by Missouri Botanical Garden, the plant also grows small flowers if it's left to bloom.

Bloom Season: Summer to Fall

USDA Growing Zone: 2 to 11

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Rich and well-drained

Size: Up to 2 feet tall and wide

Rosemary (salvia rosmarinus) is a tall growing, bushy plant that is a part of the lamiaceae family that also hosts lavender, catnip, and sage. This shrub should be planted in a bed with poor, well-drained soil that receives full sunlight, as explained by RHS.

Bloom Season: Spring and summer

USDA Growing Zone: 8 to 10

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained chalk, loam, clay, or sand

Size: Up to 8 feet tall and wide

If you are looking to fill a raised planter box with flowers, cosmos (cosmos spp.) is a great option. These classic flowers come in a variety of shades so your planter will be bursting with color by mid-summer. Utah State University warns that cosmos can self-seed very vigorously and become weedy. To prevent this you should deadhead spent flowers.

Bloom Season: Summer to fall

USDA Growing Zone: 2 to 11

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained loam, sand, or chalk

Size: Up to 5 feet tall

For thousands of years, garlic (allium sativum) has been cultivated for use in the culinary and medical fields, explains the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Garlic plants can be difficult to grow, but the herb you are left with is reward enough for many people. Be warned — they require quite a bit of water, heavy applications of fertilizer, and frequent removal of weeds nearby.

Bloom Season: Spring

USDA Growing Zone: 7 to 10

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained and high in organic matter

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Marigolds (tagetes spp.) are best described as cheery, long-blooming flowers that are easily grown. As pointed out by Clemson Cooperative Extension, these blooming annuals can be planted in containers, in the garden, or as a mass planting. They are sure to look great in your raised garden bed among other flowers, herbs, or vegetables.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 2 to 11 as annuals

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained and loamy

Size: 6 inches to 3 feet tall

Coreopsis (coreopsis spp.) is a cold hardy flower known for its ability to attract butterflies and ward off rabbits and deer. They are also tolerant of dry and poor soil, as per Costa Farms, so they can be planted with rosemary and lavender plants.

Bloom Season: Spring and early summer

USDA Growing Zone: 4 to 9

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Rich and well-drained

Size: 6 inches dwarf varieties to 2 feet tall

Caraway (carum carvi) is a biennial herb that produces edible fruit, flowers, and roots. Southern Seed Exchange says their fruit, which are called seeds, flavors popular foods such as rye bread, British seed cake, some soups, and sausages. Caraway is best planted in a raised planter box as a companion plant to strawberries that benefit from the herb's ability to attract parasitic wasps and flies, according to Kellogg Garden Products.

Bloom Season: Spring and summer

USDA Growing Zone: 4 to 10

Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade

Soil Type: Rich and well-drained

Size: 1 to 4 feet tall

Strawberry plants (fragaria x ananassa), which unfortunately have many problems with pests and disease, are known for their dainty white flowers that present sweet, red fruit in the summer. As described by North Carolina State Extension, the strawberry plant does well in raised beds that are supplied with water frequently.

Bloom Season: Spring

USDA Growing Zone: 5 to 9

Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade

Soil Type: Well-drained, moist clay or loam

Size: 6 inches to 1-foot tall

Zinnias (zinnia spp.) are a great choice for planting in raised garden beds because they easily attract pollinators that are necessary for vegetable plants to do well during the harvest season. Penn State Extension suggests planting zinnias between or around rows of vegetables where they can flower from summer until the first frost in the fall or winter.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 9 to 11

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained

Size: 6 inches to 3 feet tall

Lavender plants (lavandula angustifolia) have a wide range of uses, as taught by Missouri Botanical Garden. They can be harvested to flavor teas, scent lotions, or perfume an entire room from a sachet. Alternatively, you can let them flower all summer long in your raised planter boxes, so they can make your garden smell like a calm escape.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 5 to 8

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained and alkaline

Size: 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Shallots (allium cepa) are a variation of the common onion that are known to be smaller as well as sweeter and sharper in taste. North Carolina State Extension explains that the shallot is described as the flavor between onion and garlic. Before planting, remember that this vegetable prefers loose, moist soil that receives full sun.

Bloom Season: Summer

USDA Growing Zone: 5 to 10

Growing Conditions: Full sun

Soil Type: Well-drained loam, sand, or organic matter

Size: Up to 30 inches tall and 1-foot wide