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Window
Boxes -
Charming
and very practical
What you can do with a window box is only limited by your imagination
(Unless, of course, you have an unlimited imagination). Window boxes
can be made of copper (tres chic!) or other metals, wood (redwood
or cedar being the most durable), or plastic. They can be simple
boxes, totally unadorned, or you can stencil them, glue on wooden
appliques, or add little pickets to give the look of a tiny fence.
A popular window
box style for colonial houses is the hayrack style. You've probably
seen pictures of these attached to the windows of European houses.
Since they are open structured, things are likely to plop right
out of them unless you line them with sphagnum moss and use pots
to hold the plants. Other than hayracks, window boxes tend to be
enclosed containers.
If your window
box is too beautiful to endanger, then use it as a holder for multiple
small pots of plants. But if it's sturdy and practical, make sure
you have drainage holes in the bottom and some wire mesh to keep
in the potting mix, and treat it as a miniature garden.
The key to a
really good-looking window box is proportion. A good rule of thumb
is to make them 25% of the height of a short window and 20% the
height of a tall one. Too skimpy and they'll look like badly applied
false eyelashes.
Check out the
Windowboxes section
for a wide selection.
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