Preparation And Care Of Window Boxes

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31196, 21 October 1966, Page 6

Preparation And Care Of Window Boxes

Window boxes seem to be less popular today than they were some years ago. In this modern age, when more and more people are living in flats and have no garden, the window box does offer flat dwellers a chance to grow plants for themselves. The window box can provide a colourful display for many months of the year, and can brighten up the ,face of a house, block of flats or office buildings. The window box must be well made, of good durable timber and must have the corners dovetailed or screwed. The base of the box should only be as wide as the window sill on which it will rest. Its depth is usually between 9in and 12in and if desired the top can be made to slope outwards.

Holes drilled in the bottom of the box will allow for drainage. Two shallow battens tacked on to the base of the box will lift it sufficiently to allow the water to run away freely and prevent an accumulation of moisture from damaging the wood. Drip from the drainage water could prove to be an annoyance and this can be avoided by using larger battens on the base and sliding a tray under the box to catch the water.

The whole of the inside of the box should be treated with a wood preservative. It is not advisable to use creosote as the fumes linger for a long time and these will kill off many plants. Copper or zinc naphthanate can be used with safety or the inside of the box can even be painted. The outside of the box is usually painted in some bright colour.

It is advisable to use some means of fixing the box in position to prevent it from falling off the sill. It can be to the window frame or it can be secured by wire ■which is fastened to rings cemented into the wall.

They may be used to display pot plants. These are stood in the box and packed around with moss or sawdust. If flowering plants are used these can be changed as they pass out of flower. During the winter months it may be necessary to use potted trees or shrubs that have ornamental foliage to provide a display until the spring bulbs are ready to flower. This method is very efficient in keeping a continuous display but it is very expensive of upkeep and it needs a constant supply of plants. More commonly the box is filled with soil and plants are grown in this. The bottom of

the box is covered with coarse gravel, small stones or crocks to aid drainage. Over this are placed inverted turves or rotted compost, and the box is then filled up with a good soil mix. This can consist of 3 parts of good soil, 2 parts of well-rotted manure, leaf mould or compost, and 1 part of sharp sand. Allow’ about 4 ounces of blood and bone to the contents of each window box. Fill to within an inch of the top of the box and then firm the soil with the fingers. The boxes are now ready for planting. It must be remembered that window boxes are in very exposed positions and contain relatively small amounts of soil and yet very little rainfall usually reaches them. It is important that regular attention is paid to watering. This is particularly important in hot and windy weather.

Remove weeds as soon as they appear. If this is done soon after planting weeds should never present any problem, for once the plants grow away they will choke further weed growth. Green fly and caterpillars can prove troublesome and these can be controlled by dusting with lindane. Removal of dead flowers will prolong

flowering as well as improve the general appearance. Where evergreens are used, especially in the city, the leaves should be occasionally washed to remove deposits of dust and grime which will settle on them. It is usual to plant the box with bedding plants which will give a spring display, to be replaced when this is finished by plants to produce a display throughout the summer. This system provides flowers for about 8 months of the year.

Spring display would be planted at the same time as the spring bedding. The box may be filled with such bedding plants as wallflowers, polyanthus, myosotis, calendulas, Iceland poppies, stocks, arabis, aubretia, or double daisies. These can be planted on their own or there can be bulbs planted amongst them. Bulbs to be used will depend on the size of the main planting but crocus, snowdrops, chiondoxa, scilla, daffodils, narcissi, iris, hyacinths and ranunculus are used. Not only are these interplanted on their own but more than one kind is often used to prolong the display.

In favourable districts good spring displays can be had from cinerarias and primula malacoides.

For the summer display, some annuals such as Californian poppies may be sown direct into the box, but it is usual for the summer bedding tobe planted. It is common practice to have the taller plants at the back and smaller plants along the front.

Often the plants along the front of the box may be trailing or climbing plants which will hang down over the edge of the box. Taller plants that are suitable for a window box are geraniums, bonfire salvias, African marigolds, gloriosa daisies, cushion chysanthemums, dwarf bedding dahlias and zinnias.

Smaller plants for the front of the box are lobelia (including the trailing variety sapphire), nasturtiums, both the dwarf types and the climbing sorts, alyssum, verbena, gazanias, portulacca and ivy-leaved geraniums. For boxes that are in the

shade and protected from wind, all kinds of begonia can be used, especially the cascade types of tuberous begonia. Fuchsias can also be used. Again the weeping varieties are particularly suitable. Permanent plantings can be achieved by using low growing shrubs which can stay in the box for several years without change. Ericas, ceratostigma wilmottiana, linum narbonense, dwarf lavenders, dwarf rosemary, santolina, dwarf manukas as well as dwarf conifers, are plants that can be used.

Special soil mixture mayl be necessary to grow these! plants, depending on those! that are to be grown. First.' a few rocks should be bedded firmly into the box to stimulate a miniature rock garden and then the alpine can be chosen. Most of the more common rock garden plants are too vigorous and would quickly outgrow their space and swamp each other. Some dwarf bulbs could be used, such as the smaller species of narcissus, some of the crocus species, galanthus, and dwarf iris species and leucojum autumnale. Some of the other alpine plants that can be used, depending on the position of the window box and the skill and enthusiasm of the grower, are kascha saxifrages, gentiana verna, dianthus neglectus, primula marginata and its varieties, thalictrum kuisianum and some of the species of androsace.