In a historic Cincinnati neighborhood, window boxes boom with flowers. Turn up the volume at your house, too!

A quick, beautiful addition

One of the easiest and quickest additions available to homeowners requires no architect, no building permit and only a modest budget. Spiff up a plain-Jane home just by adding window boxes you can decorate for every season.

Jay Korte, a Cincinnati gardener who got so excited about window box gardening that he started his own company 10 years ago, says you can own the best-dressed window box on the block by following a few rules of thumb.

If it's practical, Jay says, bring the box itself with you to the garden center and play around with various plant combinations until you find the look you like. Coordinate the flower colors with the color of your house.

It looks fine if your window box runs the exact width of a window. But it actually looks more balanced when the box is an inch or two wider than the window. If you have shutters, measure from the middle of the left shutter to the middle of the right shutter (at least 3 inches past the window on each side) for the best appearance.

Select the right plants for the amount of sun your window box receives. Choose flowers and textures according to your personal style.

"Petunias are the staples of window boxes, like blue jeans are the staple of a casual wardrobe," Jay says. But if you prefer high fashion, dress up your box with exotic looking plants such as 'Amazon Sunset' lotus, 'Stained Glassworks Kiwi Fern' coleus or 'Icicles' helichrysum.

For maximum color in deep shade, on the north side of a house, for example, slip pots of impatiens and begonias into the window box, then add soil for foliage plants such as spikes and asparagus ferns. When the blooming plants decline (even shade-loving plants need light for best flowering), trade the struggling bloomers for new ones that have been growing in more light.

Jay suggests that you avoid placing the plants in a row inside the box--they look too regimented and unimaginative. Aim for more shape in the design by using a mixture of plants in a zigzag pattern, varying the plants in size and texture.

Increase curb appeal by adding "big color" in boxes on the front of your house, Jay says. You can do this by starting with large plants as your main elements. Tuck in smaller sizes of trailing and companion plants around the big bloomers.

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