Easy & Budget-Friendly Summer Porch

This post may contain affiliate links, please review my disclosure policy.

Looking for an easy, beautiful, and budget-friendly way to decorate your front porch for the summer? You’ve come to the right place!

For our summer porch this year, I decided to pot some easy shade/sun shrubs (since our porch receives both) for the spring and summer months. These little shrubs can be found at Home Depot for just $10 a piece.

I spent around $52 on this, and I feel great about that! This porch will get us through the Spring and Summer months, albeit a few small changes. And in September, I will plant the shrubs in our backyard.

Plants – $40
Potting Soil – $12
Pots – Thrifted/Already owned

I used the same spray painted popcorn tins that I DIY’ed over Christmas to pot these shrubs. We drilled holes at the bottom to allow drainage for the soil.

If you are trying to do this on the cheap (like I always am!), you could check out your local thrift store or dollar store to find affordable pots. And then spray paint/chalk paint to give you your desired look for your summer porch.

What you’ll need for your summer porch:

An assortment of easy-to-grow shrubs that can do well in containers. I purchased 2 Boxwoods & 2 Densiformis Yew. I found both at Home Depot for $10 a piece. They are slow growing in containers, which is what I wanted for this. Great container shrub choices: boxwood, yew, juniper, and pine.
Potting Mix (1-2 bags). I needed just a little more than 1 1/2 bags for 5 medium containers.
Containers for your plants. As mentioned previously, the two black containers are old popcorn tins that I spray-painted flat black. The others are thrift store finds. You can get so creative with this! Look around your local thrift store or facebook marketplace and see what’s available that you could give a coat of spray paint to or simply use as is.
Pretty welcome mat. Linking a few pretty options below.

Get creative with this! I enjoy the challenge of bringing together things I already own in a new way.
Other items to consider — cute chair, layering mat for underneath welcome mat, wreath, throw pillow, basket, basket, water can, etc.

How to pot plants for your summer porch:

Gather your containers. You can use almost anything, but make sure it’s deep enough for your plant. It will also need drainage holes, whether it’s made that way or you create them. If you create them, you’ll need the holes to be about 1/2 inch.
Fill containers about 1/2 to 2/3rds full with soil, depending on the size of the root ball.
Take plants from grower pots and mess up the roots. I take my gloved hand and rub the rootball roughly.
Add plants to their new containers and fill in with soil.
Follow directions on their care cards for watering.
I plan to plant these in our backyard in September.