Window boxes provide an easy way to add color to a home
By Stacy Downs, Tribune Media Services
They add so much pizazz and so much flash,ä said Jan Vinyard,
a landscape designer and co-owner of Longview Gardens in south
Kansas City.
On small houses, the boxes are fastened beneath lots of windows
for an English garden cottage look. On bigger houses, owners
are planting one or two large boxes for dramatic impact. And
apartment dwellers are adding them to balconies.
Perhaps the best aspect of adding a window box is that the plants
can be enjoyed from inside and outside the house.
Window boxes range in price from as little as $8 to more than
$200.
Wooden planters, both natural and painted, tend to be the most
popular window boxes, Vinyard said. Many people also buy terra-cotta
boxes and wire baskets filled with sphagnum moss.
Here are some window box tips:
Feature cascading plants, such as petunias or the celery-
and burgundy-colored sweet-potato vines.
Mix in dwarf plant varieties for a lush, garden look.
Use strong-colored accent plants such as silver licorice
and gold-leafed moneywort.
Topiaries of vines, such as English ivy or morning glory,
create interesting focal points.
