By Guest Blogger Kelly Gunzenhauser
I consider myself a gardener—not a really good one, but I try hard. I share a raised bed garden with my neighbor, and I also have window boxes. Well, they aren’t really window boxes. For some reason, previous owners drilled holes in the brick wall of my house and put in wire window boxes between the windows. (See image to the left)
Odd, I know. And not really pretty, so far. I have found that I have no luck with these wire boxes. For one thing, they don’t hold water. When it rains, the rain just runs off the magnolia leaves that collect in them. One of my friends likes to say that “I deny watering privileges,” which means that I get busy and let the plants fend for themselves once in a while. I tried lining them with plastic before filling with dirt to hold in water, and it doesn’t sink in very fast before it runs off. And, since brick gets hot in the sun, the plants wilt quickly right next to the wall. After a few summers of crappy window boxes, I just gave up on them entirely for a while.
What I want are real window boxes that are actually under the windows, but then I found this picture on Pinterest and it inspired me to find a compromise that would suit my needs:
I didn’t want to use clay pots because of the weight, so I bought some inexpensive plastic ones with attached bottoms—they have water reservoirs in them! The ones I bought were a dull stone color, which looked dingy against the brick with the white trim on the house, so I spray-painted them white. (I did my mailbox too, while I was at it.)
Next, I looked for flowers. I have a hard time matching flowers with brick. I would love to know what flowers readers think suit a red brick house! I ended up with pink and white begonias. Now, I had a begonia once. I don’t normally think they are especially pretty, and the one I had died as fast as it possibly could, too. So this is a risk for me. What they did have going for them was that they were the right size, they can tolerate partial shade (magnolia tree!), and they stand out against the house since they are light pink and white.
After I planted them, I stood back and snapped a picture. Results? I like my wiry, weird, between-the-windows window boxes A LOT better now than during my previous attempts. And this was way easier and less expensive than tearing those out, filling the holes, and replacing them with new ones. I still want some nice ones under the windows one day, but I am pretty happy with my project for now—which probably means it’s there to stay!
What do you think of this idea? Will you try it or not? Have you done something similar that you liked? Share in the comments below!
