Best of British #2: Little Boxes of Colour

One of the UK's great accomplishments is the window box or hanging basket. It may be duplicated throughout Europe for all I know, but here in England and up in Scotland (my only places of research) I can report that they are in fine form. They are all about brightening up things after the grey, dark winter. You prevent winter seeping into your soul by planting bulbs and plants to shatter the gloom with their giddy colour when Spring comes. It's a cold climate survival thing, I'm sure.

There are the basic ones, with the same flower sometimes in a differently shaped pot. These are for beginners like me, if I were to do one of these. (For me the basic skills of finding the flower, the pot and marrying the two before the end of Summer would be accomplishment enough. Then actually keeping the thing alive would be the daily struggle. If I were forced to grow what I eat I would quickly starve to death as the only plant I can successfully keep alive is Rosemary, which does not have sufficient nutrients to sustain life. But it tastes great with roast potatoes and lamb and that is important).

Then there are the more complex designs.

And some people can't choose just one, so they have... lots. And who are we to argue?

Then there are those which have evolved in the mind of a true gardener, who with acres of land and as much time and money at his or her disposal, would create a garden too magnificent for even Monet to paint. These displays are exceptional. They blend colour and shape. They draw the eye for a second glance, not for the sake of any one flower but for the total effect. If 'Art' hadn't moved on and become something quite odd and inaccessible, one would even be tempted to call them works of art.

My favourite is the one on the window near where we live. I don't even know how they got it up to where it is positioned, which is itself worthy of admiration. But it has evolved over the summer so that as flowers died away new flowers (still perfectly colour co-ordinated) have taken their place.

Actually constructing one of these in the first place is impressive. Constructing one which evolves as the seasons change is mind boggling.

This is the kind of thing which probably involves several people and they sit down and discuss during the long cold dark days of winter, while drinking hot cocoa. Probably there are debates about the best contrast of this flower with that, and when exactly a flower will reach its used-by date, and even which scent of which flower may overpower the scent of another. And all this in the spirit of civic mindedness, because window boxes are for public display. They are not closeted away in seclusion but are out there for all to see and enjoy. Aussies have their BBQ enabled back yards, the English and the Scots have planter boxers out the front. As we have commented before, this is an excellent feature of British life, and says more about its values than just the high price of land.

The window box. I commend it to you, good people. You don't need a garden. You just need a box, some earth, some seeds and a moment of inspiration. You can even grow Rosemary in it if you are completely incompetent. These boxes of colour are good for the soul. Other's souls. JMB