Flower Box

A flower box (sometimes called a window box, window flower box, or window box planter) is a planter box that is usually placed outdoors and used for displaying live plants and flowers, but it may also be used for growing herbs or other edible plants.

Window boxes are a great way to decorate for the different seasons as well. In the summer you can grown brightly, colored flowers and vegetables; then in the fall replace the summer plants with fall mums,small pumpkins and gourds.

It is usually placed or affixed to an accessible location so the resident of a home may easily work with the plants in the container. A flower box may be installed under a window and supported in place by brackets on the wall below, in which case it may be called a window box. Some materials such as PVC or fiberglass use a cleat mounting system from behind to attach to the house or can be directly bolted to the home without the use of support brackets below. Flower boxes may also be used to line decks, patios, porches, steps, and sidewalks and they can even be hung from railings.

Wood, brick, metal, fibreglass, vinyl, and cellular PVC can all be used in flower box construction, with wood being a classical material of choice. A typical wooden window box will last 3–5 years before showing signs of rot. With painting and maintenance they can sometimes last 10–15 years. Fiberglass is known to be lightweight and insect proof. Vinyl and cellular PVC are plastics which are completely rot proof alternatives to wood which are often used on homes to prevent rot or siding damage.

Window boxes are often used by apartment-dwellers on higher floors, who do not otherwise have access to a garden or place to grow flowers, and allow the plants to be readily seen by those inside the property as well as outside. Window boxes that are only 6"-8" (15–20 cm) deep will support many flowers but not tall plants. Larger boxes 10-12" in height can be used to plant items that need more root space and to allow you to layer flowers and plants in multiple rows to create more intricate flower displays. Access for planting and maintenance can be via the window from indoors.

Sometimes a box is placed inside a kitchen window in order to grow herbs or other supplies for a chef as an easily accessed miniature kitchen garden.

J. Linderski has argued that Pliny described flower boxes in his Naturalis Historia, at 19.59. However, Linderski could only find one other allusion to this practice in Martial 11.18.