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Winning Window Boxes. |
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It is so easy to take a simple looking home front and turn it into a stunning display of color  and beauty. Window box planters are the easiest way to add some pizzaz to your home area, where you may have large window areas. Large windows both tall and wide offer the greatest possibilities for climbers scrambling all the way up the sides, tall bushy plants inside these, curbing down to ever smaller things, and possibly a few more medium height plants for added variety.
This shingled house featured a row of windows with only a narrow strip of planting area below. Windowboxes of red petunias, and a group of pots surrounding a large dracaena, well-potted geraniums on the steps, and more on the porch add much needed life, soft lines, and color.
Trailing plants - Trailers are just as vital, spilling out of the box and cascading downward to add further depth to the display. They add an exotic touch and help to balance the feature, offsetting the height of the taller plants and climbers above.
 Speaking of climbers and trailers, it's interesting to experiment with mixed plantings for unusual effects. For example, two different types of climbing plants may be placed close together to scramble up through one another. Perhaps an ivy with handsome glossy foliage, an a sweet pea to twine up through this, the flowers peeping out from amongst the ivy leaves. Or in a permanent planting of evergreens, you could use two different types of ivy, one with dark green leaves and the other a golden or silver variegated variety; or one large-leaved and the other with small leaves. Remember that ivies can be used both as climbers and as trailers.
The snow is not the only reason this house looks gloomy. A few months later burgundy shutters, and a window box brimming with variegated ivy, spiky dracaena, lpomoea 'Blackie' and Mexican hair grass warm up the scene for a look with a lot more curb appeal.
Think out side the "window" box when it comes to creating a lively display. Ask yourself if you were walking by the house what do you think would look great? Then ask yourself if you were sitting inside the house looking out what would you like to see? Make sure that all your hard work and effort can be enjoyed from both views.
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By Pam Brooks
Post Last Updated: 1/14/2013 3:43:23 PM |
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