AROUND HOME

The Window Box Book

BY ANNE M. HALPIN

(Simon and Schuster; 1989)

FROM ALL vantage points, a window box spilling over with flowers is a wonderful thing. It can brighten a room, frame a dramatic view and even dress up a drab one. From the outside, it adds charm, especially when designed in keeping with the architecture of the building. The focus of this book is “window box garden design,” and what it offers is a mini-lesson in scale, form, line, balance, proportion, color and texture. Using these design concepts one can, according to author Anne M. Halpin, create three different looks: romantic, formal and fanciful. A romantic window box, for instance, has curvy, free lines and soft, natural shapes. On the other hand, a formal window box is concerned with symmetry, balance and proportion.

Plants and photographs (100 in all) appropriate to each style are listed. Consider an elegant planting of trailing hot-pink geraniums with variegated white and gray-green ivy or a riotous composition of yellow, pink, red, white and purple annuals.

Suggestions for replanting with the seasons will help you keep the window garden alive and thriving. ($14.95)