What is it?
Window boxes are usually rectangular, plastic, iron or ceramic boxes filled with soil and sat on a window ledge or hung over a fence or railing. Pots and larger box planters, including homemade wooden planters, can also work beautifully on the floor of your balcony. They should all be fixed in place to protect them from wind and storms.
Whatever the vessel, the key ingredients to bring it to life include compost, gravel, water-retaining granules and a topping of mulch.
What does it do?
Your pots and planters could be vital, even life-saving, refuelling stops for insects on the wing. This is most obvious on hot, dry days and in areas without much planting or green space. Plant a mix of pollinator-friendly flowers such as lavender, marigolds, and zinnias in your containers, and include drought-tolerant plants both to save effort watering them and to ensure they survive and support wildlife when less hardy plants are struggling. Including a water feature amongst the planting can help even more. Less obvious, but just as important, is when your plants flower and fruit. Neighbours that coordinate their planting can provide a year-round supply of food,cover and nesting material to local populations of wildlife that might otherwise die out or have to move away in the lean months. Include some evergreen plants for year-round cover and consider adding some that will generate seeds and berries for birds and bugs to eat too. Plants like holly, ivy, teasle, echinacea and of course sunflowers are good examples.
Who benefits?
Your pots and planters could be vital, even life-saving, refuelling stops for insects on the wing. This is most obvious on hot, dry days and in areas without much planting or green space. Plant a mix of pollinator-friendly flowers such as lavender, marigolds, and zinnias in your containers, and include drought-tolerant plants both to save effort watering them and to ensure they survive and support wildlife when less hardy plants are struggling. Including a water feature amongst the planting can help even more. Less obvious, but just as important, is when your plants flower and fruit. Neighbours that coordinate their planting can provide a year-round supply of food,cover and nesting material to local populations of wildlife that might otherwise die out or have to move away in the lean months. Include some evergreen plants for year-round cover and consider adding some that will generate seeds and berries for birds and bugs to eat too. Plants like holly, ivy, teasle, echinacea and of course sunflowers are good examples.
Find out more
- Wildlife Gardening Forum guide to balcony and window box planting
- Wildlife Gardening Forum guide to planting pots and containers
- Natural History Museum guide to pot planting for pollinators
- House Beautiful have a wonderfully detailed page on urban window boxes
- The Cloud Gardener aka Jason Williams is an incredible inspiration to anyone wanting to green their balcony.
