PLANTING THE WINDOW BOX

It doesn’t look like much right now but in a few weeks it should be full of color and filled out.

It would be great to have mature plants to work with but that’s just not possible here, so there’s a fair amount of imagination required. Right after planting, the window box looks spartan and a little silly but in a few weeks it will be filled out.

My sketch is looking a bit worse for wear after being used while I planted the window box. It’s no Picasso, but it’s enough of a guide to get my thoughts on paper so I have a feel for what it will look like.

I start with new potting mix in the window box every year, using a combination of Fafard 3B mix, Lucky Frog potting soil, a small amount of well-rotted manure (manure can be heavy and weight is a concern with window boxes), a little chicken grit for extra drainage and some Osmocote time-release fertilizer. I use organic fertilizers on everything I plant in the ground, but I use Osmocote in my planters because it’s hard for me to stay on top of regular feeding.

• 3 Nicotiana alata lime (grown from seed)
• 2 Verbena bonareinsis Meteor Shower (Proven Winners variety due on the market next year that I’m very excited about; said to grow to 30 inches, perfect for containers)
• 2 Nassella tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
• 2 Superbena Royale Chambray
• 2 Lemon Licorice Plant
• 2 Nasturtium ‘Yeti’ (grown from seed)
• 1 Supertunia Morning Glory Charm
• 4 Signet Marigold ‘Orange Gem’ (grown from seed)

I spent a lot of time talking about the importance of texture variety in window boxes the other day and I feel like I’ve got a good variety here with coarse texture provided by the nicotiana and nasturtium, medium texture with the licorice plant, supertunia and superbena, and fine texture from the Mexican feather grass, verbena bonareinsis and signet marigolds.

 I’ll show you what it looks like in a few weeks and give you a peek at some of the other containers I planted this year.