What’s in a window box? A lot more than pretty posies, if you play it right. Window boxes are the perfect gardening answer for the mobs of us who live in confined spaces where a standard garden is slap dab out of the question.
For those with the space to plant in terra firma, keep reading. You can use window boxes as decorative accessories.
If you opt for a standard window box made of wood, dress it up with painted plywood cutouts of flowers or veggies, depending on what you’ll be growing in the box. Add painted cutouts of sailboats or starfish if you live at the beach, or wish you did.
If you’re not into cutting and painting freehand, buy a stencil kit featuring a design you’d like on your window box and simply follow the directions. Kind of like paint by numbers. You do the daubing.
Traditional wood boxes also can be the base for more design-conscious elements. Try intricate wood moldings or medallions that can be glued or nailed to the box and then painted contrasting colors like the famous Painted Lady Victorian houses of San Francisco. Brick facing, shakes or patterned shingles are also a highly acceptable addition and can coordinate with your home’s finish.
Alternatives to the traditional wood box abound.
For a woodsy mountain-cabin look smack in the middle of tract city, choose wicker fishing creels lined with sheet plastic with holes poked in for drainage.
A hayrack is a rack or frame made of steel and weatherproof plastic from which cattle and horses eat hay. So when was the last time a herd of famished cattle stampeded across your condo patio? Lined with moss, hayracks make window boxes reminiscent of wrought-iron planters seen in Europe.
Copper, too, has its place beneath a window. Copper window boxes were inspired by the abundant use of flowers in “sitting boxes” on homes, chalets, shops and cafes in the European countryside. The shiny copper finish will slowly age to a rich green patina. Tres chic.
Because they are heavy, window boxes call for strong support. The folks at Sun Gro Horticulture Inc., who know all about window boxes and what grows in them, recommend drilling holes in the back of the window box and using wood screws drilled into wall studs.
If you want to remove the box for cleaning, storage or replanting, drill larger holes in the box and hang the box on the screws, like hooks. Window boxes should be mounted so the top edge is just below the windowsill.
When planting flowers, arrange them like you would one of those nasty old school pictures we’ve all been in. Tall plants in the back, shorter ones in the front.
A well-balanced box should include plants in the back that grow upright — marigolds, miniature roses, asters. Mounding plants such as asparagus fern should go in the middle, followed in the front by plants that trail, perhaps ivy or lobelia.
For more information on window boxes, call 800-665-4592 and ask for the 16-page booklet “Creative Ideas for Window Boxes.” It’s free.
