Window boxes
How to make artificial flowers look real in a window box
Six things that give a faux window box away from the sidewalk, and how to fix each one with height, bent stems and green between the blooms.
6 min read
Most faux window boxes give themselves away from the sidewalk in the first second, and it is rarely the petals. It is the shape. Real plants lean toward the light, spill over the edge and leave small gaps where the leaves show through. A box of artificial flowers pushed straight down in rows looks like a display case, however good each flower is up close.
The fixes below come from arranging our own bundles in boxes, pots and planters. None of them needs a florist, and most take a few minutes once the box is filled.
The six things that give a faux box away
| What you see from the street | Why it happens | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| A flat top, every bloom at one height | All the bundles stand at their full height | Set taller stems at the back and push the front row deeper |
| A hard line at the rim | Nothing crosses the edge of the box | Bend the outer stems of the front bundles down over the rim |
| A wall of one color | Too many bundles of the same flower side by side | Break the run with green: eucalyptus or boxwood |
| Stems showing at the base | The foam sits too low | Fill to about two inches below the rim |
| Gaps you can see through | Bundles set in a straight row | Stagger them in two loose lines |
| Bright color in winter light | A summer mix left out after the season | Swap in a fall or evergreen mix after Labor Day |
Start with height, not color
The easiest way to make a box look grown in is to give it a slope. Lavender, at about 14 inches with seven straight stems to a bundle, goes along the back against the wall. The rounder bundles, 13.8 to 14.2 inches, go in front. Then push the front row an inch deeper than the back, so the tops step down toward the street.
If your box is deeper than 8 inches, stand the stems on a layer of foam. A 13.8-inch bundle in a 10-inch box shows only a few inches of flower above the rim, and it will look sunk rather than planted.
Bend every stem
Every stem in our outdoor bundles has wire inside, and this is the part most people skip. A bundle straight out of the box is packed tight. Open it with your hands: pull the outer stems out and down, turn a few flowers sideways, lift one or two higher than the rest. Real plants are never symmetrical, and a bundle fanned unevenly reads as a plant rather than a bouquet.
Work from the front. The stems that hang over the rim do most of the work, because from the street they hide the box itself. Bend them until the front edge is covered for about half its height.
Add green between the blooms
A box of flowers with no leaves showing looks like a flower shop bucket. In a real planter, leaves fill more space than petals. Several of our bundles already carry eucalyptus or boxwood leaves between the flowers, and that alone helps. For a mixed box, add a bundle of eucalyptus stems every foot or so.
Green also calms a loud mix. Four colors of flowers side by side can look like a paint chart. The same four with eucalyptus between them look like a garden.
Mix fewer colors than you think
Three colors are plenty for one box: a strong one, a softer one and a quiet one. Fuchsia with pink and white works. So does purple with yellow and green. A mixed pack is a good way to start because the colors are already balanced, and a single-color pack lets you repeat one shade along a row of windows so the house looks planned.
Step back and check it
Walk out to the sidewalk, or at least to the far side of the yard, and look back at the box. You will see gaps from there that you do not see at the window. Fill them by fanning the neighboring stems before reaching for another bundle. Then come back after a windy day and pull any stems that have flattened back into shape.
For counts by box length and more on what to put in the box first, see the window box planting guide.
Not sure how many bundles your box needs? Write to windowbox@bassion.org and the people at Bassion will answer.