Green Acre: Last-Minute Miracle

If the winter weather is mild, cyclamen can fill a window box or provide a colorful accent.

By Stephanie Cavanaugh

WINDOW boxes, Part Two.

Oh, you didn’t know last week was Part One? Neither did I.

But I was passing a house in Washington DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood that I photographed last year for a real estate agent, a cute little place (though you’d never say that in real estate speak), with two coir-lined wire window boxes upstairs and one below. 

They looked sweet (another word you never use) stuffed with red geraniums, with more stuffed into the little (oof!) patch of garden beside the front door.

I don’t know who bought the place—my work ends when the brochures are printed—but whoever it was didn’t give two petunias for window boxes. They’ve been empty since the geraniums dropped at the first frost. 

This is dreary, when window boxes bring such pleasure to the house, the owner, and the passersby. One (meaning me) imagines a sour-faced bureaucrat grumping home from a job with some mean-minded member of Congress, after another day spent cutting benefits and polluting streams, to this cold and stingy . . . can I even say home? There is no excuse for this.

If you don’t have window boxes, we’ll deal with you next spring. 

For those with boxes that sit empty from frost to spring, this may be the perfect time to plant the bones of a year-round display. Simple solution: a centerpiece that stands tall(ish) and trailing plants for the corners and maybe along the front. Leave space on either side of the centerpiece for seasonal flowers. 

If you act fast, there are plenty of possibilities.

With the holidays coming around, many garden centers, florists, and online garden purveyors offer live miniature bushes that are often tarted up like Christmas trees, and can serve as a centerpiece. Look for dwarf conifers, boxwood, spruce, cypress, holly, or juniper. Any of these should last for years—and can be moved to the garden if they grow too big. 

For trailing plants in the corners, or along the front border, nothing is simpler or more easily found than ivy. Sturdy, evergreen, and drapable, it will keep growing for decades. 

The empty spots that flank that centerpiece are a bit trickier in cold weather. Pansies, if you can find them, will last well into spring, even with a hard freeze. Don’t be put off if you find some wilted-looking offerings on sale somewhere;  these will usually perk up with water or after a little talking to.* 

Ornamental cabbages and kale will too, though good luck finding smallish ones, which you may need if you’re space- challenged. These tend to sell out early in the season. 

If the weather remains mild, meaning not much below freezing, cyclamen will bring color through the holidays. Rosemary and lavender are great for added fragrance, and can withstand a pretty deep chill.

You might also punt and jam those naked spots with baby’s breath, eucalyptus, or holly, or a mix, letting the stems dry in place. The eucalyptus variety called silver dollar, with its rounded leaves and graceful droop, would be spectacular. Add a scallop of dried moss for extra oomph. 

In fact, you can just pack the whole box with stuff that can dry in place and forget about it until spring. Check out the bunches in the flower section of Trader Joe’s, which has what they call filler greens for a one-stop-and-it’s-martini-time shop.  

*If you haven’t seen the series Good Omens with David Tennant and Michael Sheen on Amazon . . . well, you’re missing something.