Selecting Plants Window-boxes at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

It is important to remember when selecting plants window-boxes plants for window-boxes that they need to look attractive when seen from both indoors and out. To achieve this, a series of low, bushy plants that will make mounds of color along the top of the container is the first requirement. Intersperse these with plants that have sprawling or trailing flower stems which can be directed toward the front and sides of the box. This will help to soften its outline.

WINDOW-BOXES can transform windows throughout the year and troughs can be given the same yearly cycle of plants as window-boxes. Wood is the most common material used for window-boxes and troughs. It can be painted, stained or left untreated for a rustic, natural look. Terracotta is also popular because its texture and color harmonize naturally with plants. Because of their weight, position these containers either on strong, cement or brick window sills, or use at ground level as a trough. Reconstituted stone is also heavy and therefore best positioned at ground level. Its surface has a natural, stone-like appearance and soon mellows. Cement troughs are suitable only for use at ground level. Fiberglass and plastic are ideal: both are durable, light and rot-proof.

Roof Garden.—In some locations a city dweller can cultivate a Roof garden, if only on window ledges. The boxes should be eight inches deep and made to fit the width of the sill. The box should not be the full length of the window sill. It should be portable; a box the full size of the window ledge would be very heavy when full of soil. Wooden boxes should be creosoted inside to prevent rot. Metal boxes are likely to rust quickly; all boxes need to be raised an inch from the sill by small blocks of wood. Trellis may be fixed in such boxes so that the outside of the windows can be covered with climbing vines.