Curb Appeal and Window Box Planters

I rented a small house in San Francisco, just two blocks from the beach when I was about twenty years old. The house was simply modest, however, it did have a small front yard. There was little else growing there besides a beautiful dark reddish daisy perennial and an profusion of cineraria. The house featured two windows facing the street, a porch and a couple of windowbox planters which were falling apart. There was not even dirt in them. I found it charming, just the same. I was delighted with my diamond in the rough, after having lived in a third story Victorian apartment that offered no gardens. All this new place needed was some tender loving care in order to thrive.

I decided that my first improvement would be filling those window box planters. My budget was as modest as the house, so I wanted maximum bang for my buck. The window boxes were a natural starting point. A little potting soil and some flowers and I'd be in business.

Because it was early winter when I moved in, my thoughts immediately went to daffodils and tulips, which could be easily planted for lots of spring color in just a few months. I could easily visualize this burst of color surrounding the front door. Once my bulbs were in, I could set my mind to planning for the summer occupants of my window box planters. The microclimate of San Francisco's beach area was fairly restrictive. Fog, fog and more fog. This foggy climate was made even more monochromatic by the gray wooden walls of the house, gray composition roof and yes, you guessed it, gray window box planters. Someone had no imagination.

Magenta paint was my choice, and I painted the front door and trim and your guessed it, even the window boxes. It did look much better, even if I say so myself. The cineraria stood out very stunningly, as the exterior of the house livened up drastically.

I was thrilled beyond measure as the daffodils and tulips began surfacing and coming into bloom, yes, I even talked to them. I had already been planning for the summer and fall, the flowers I would plant in my amazing colored windowbox planter. When the time came, I delicately began to interplant begonias, magenta and purple fuchsias in between each of the bulbs and then chose some dark turquoise trailing lobelias for good measure. These new flowers were well underway, by the time summer took the bulbs. All these flowers thrived in such a moist and darkened environment. For even more color I chose a variegated coleus. My visitors found this as charming as I did, while they complimented its beautiful display of colors.

Eventually, fall became winter and pink, white and red cyclamens quickly replaced the summer flowers. I brought my begonias inside to wait out the winter in pots. However, ferns and spider plants began taking over the underside of the roof of the porch, as they hung from their hooks, so reminiscent of delightful ballroom belles. It is interestingly amazing how much difference a couple of four foot window box planters can give a house such wonderful curb appeal.