Design Windowbox, eye-catching display of flowers and foliage

Vibrant boxes, alive with colour, will transform a simple windowsill into an eye-catching display of flowers and foliage — from inside and out.

Troughs laden with flowers offer a bright and cheerful welcome

Too pretty to hide, this picket- fence window box has country cottage charm. Creamy white Asarina procumbens trail through the slats in contrast with the dark red Lobelia ‘Fan Scharlach’ and chocolate cosmos.

A regiment of primulas lined up along a sill will brighten many a dull winter’s day and makes a pretty alternative to a traditional trough.

Plain colour schemes often work best in a confined space like a window box. Here, white begonias and geraniums, with a touch of lilac lobelia, make an elegant summer display.

Strong plants are needed to withstand autumn weather. Here dwarf conifers draw the eye to the glossy pink berries of Pernettya mucronata while glowing purple erica makes a miniature hedge.

A format stone trough with its winter display of clipped box can be livened up instantly in spring by tucking a few bright polyanthus in at the front.

A sizzling mass of bright fuchsias, geraniums, mimulus and nasturtiums screens this window from passers-by as effectively as a net curtain would.

A sitting snugly on a sill or fixed to the wall beneatha window, offers the chance to change your outlook with every season and to enhance the facade of your home.

The most attractive window boxes are often those in which the colours are vibrant and the vigour of the plants creates a swirling mass that obscures the box and almost envelops the window it is dressing. But if you are attaching a box below a window that opens outwards, be careful to site it low enough, so that you can still open the window when the plants mature.

Window boxes are long, thin, usually not very deep, and hold a relatively small amount of soil, so they need slow-release fertilizer granules, as well as water- retaining gel or granules incorporated into the mix.

Make sure that a window box sited on the front of the house is securely fixed with brackets or iron restraints.

This will keep it safe from theft and will prevent endangering the people walking beneath it.

If you live above other people, or if your window box overhangs a pavement, it may be a good idea to equip the box with a drip tray: it will be no fun for neighbours to be caught under a shower each time you water the flowers.

Try to fix your window box into position before you plant it up — it may be impossibly heavy to move later. If the box is for a ground-floor window it will be easy to work on it from the outside. But if you live higher up, you may need to throw the windows wide open and work from inside.

CONCENTRATED STYLE

Even in the confined space of a window box it is possible to create a variety of styles. A limited palette of one colour plus foliage plants — for example, a rich red geranium with ivy — would provide a vibrant, yet formal style and will have most impact when viewed from a distance. Pastel petunias, with lobelia in complementary colours, and trails of fuchsia, suggest a more relaxed, country style.

Silver and grey is a deservedly popular colour combination for foliage in window boxes. Add a white or cream variegated ivy or white-flowered lobelia to add highlights to a cool contemporary display.

For a south-facing window use ivy, box or busy lizzies, which all thrive in shade, as well as ferns, and cyclamen. In full sun try the floriferous diascias in a range of pastel colours.

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