Choosing Flowers for Your Window Box

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

15 May 2008 03:53 AM

A window box can add a great deal of curb appeal to your home and create a beautiful foreground when you gaze out of the window. Window boxes can really transform a plain window. In fact, that is what window boxes have been doing for centuries.

Although window boxes are easy to install, you can truly make yours stand out from the crowd and the curb if you just know a few tricks. Here they are.

For a window box that has dimension instead of looking flat, build the flowers up using a combination of three different heights and shapes. Experts call these three different types of flowers spillers, thrillers and fillers.

Spillers soften the edges of your window box by spilling over the front and sides of the box. The cascade of flowers or vines can be very romantic and attractive. Examples of spillers include the following: Periwinkle, licorice vine, bacopa, ivy geranium and lobelia among others.

Next up are the fillers. These flowers are a very important part of the window box. They add bulk to the box, filling in the space and hiding the bare soil. In my first window box, I didn't know about fillers, and the box looked pretty but skimpy and one-dimensional. Choices for fillers might be one or more of the following: Impatiens, pansy, sweet alyssum, begonia, geranium and begonia.

Thrillers add drama to your window box. These are the plants that grab attention from the curb and draw the eye. Thrillers also add height and texture to your window box. Thrillers can be chosen among the following: Snapdragon, salvia, blue fescue, fountain grass, amaranth and black-eyed susan.

Whichever plants you choose, you want to make sure that the maximum height of growth is no more than 10 inches. Otherwise, you may find that the plants actually block your outside view from your house.

Annual flowers and plants are usually the most commonly used choice, but don't let that stop you. Think outside of the box so to speak and experiment with alternatives, such as evergreens, grasses and tiny shrubs.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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