• Home
  • ABOUT
  • VIDEOS
  • Contact
  • SHOP

The Impatient Gardener

Containers, Garden

A window box abbondanza

August 1, 2011

I cannot believe it’s August already. That fact is particularly sad given that I haven’t even weeded one section of garden for spring yet, nor edged any of the beds. Whoops.

When I was gone a couple weeks ago I was on my annual trip (via sailboat) to Mackinac Island. I didn’t have as much time on the island this year so my annual garden touring time was cut short, but as I was waiting for a taxi to the airport (you have to love a taxi that has to stop twice on the way up the hill to rest the horses), I couldn’t help but snap a few photos with my phone of the massive window box outside Doud’s Market (the island grocery store).

Douds1

This photo should run next to the word “abundance” in the dictionary.

Douds4

I love the use of nasturiums in this window box because I love the texture the leaves provide as much as the pretty flowers.

It caught my eye from far away with its bright colors and sheer volume, but also because I knew it was designed by my favorite Mackinac Island garden designer, Jack Barnwell (check out my Q&A with him here).

In fact, Jack wrote about building the window boxes for the market in spring on his Facebook page, so it was even cooler to see them planted. Because there are so many people strolling the streets of Mackinac Island, it was impossible to get a straight-on photo showing the magnitude of this window box display. The boxes are under every window of the store, so there is probably a good 25 or 30 feet of flowers.

Douds2

I think the idea of bridging the gap between window boxes with a black-eyed Susan vine is ingenious.

Douds3

Even a begonia snuck into this planting!

These are very free-form plantings, which I think works so well with the whole cottage/resort feel of the island. There must be at least 15 different varieties of plants used in the boxes and the look is one of abundance but not at all chaotic. The overall color theme is purple and orange, but that ranges from peach and yellow to even orangey reds. I especially love how Jack used the black-eyed Susan vine to bridge the spaces between boxes but also as the “thriller” of the entire planting. Genius!

barnwell containers garden design window box
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
3 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

View all posts by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

Related Posts

  • A pair of books to ring in spring
  • green planters with green foliageBig planter roundup
  • New garden design: A painterly palette
  • winter window box lit for the holidaysHow to create a winter window box
previous post: Tomato race update: Close but so far
next post: Perfecting plant combinations

Comments

  1. Anonymous says: August 1, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    What a lovely share of color and old world charm. It's wonderful that the Market took the time to personally improve their store front to welcome their customers. How could you not enjoy going there to shop!

    Reply

Leave Your Comments Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About

The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

Here's some more about me.

CONNECT

Awards

Garden Comm award

MY FAVORITE GEAR

https://www.amazon.com/shop/impatientgardener

Instagram

impatientgardener

Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Pen These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Penhill Watermelon (first picture) and Penhill Dark Monarch are the best two HUGE dahlias that I grow. They share slightly twisty petals (Watermelon more so) and, when you look closely, subtle striations that add a beautiful depth of color. Watermelon grows taller than Dark Monarch (7 feet tall or more sometimes) and they both need serious staking, but it’s worth it because they produce a lot of flowers for a large-flowering dahlia. 

I like them both but if I was forced to choose (and who would make me do that?) I’d give the edge to Dark Monarch because it’s a little easier to manage size-wise, produces more flowers and has a bigger variation in flower color so it’s always interesting. 

Which do you like better?
I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But w I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But when there’s only one tool that does that one thing really well, I’m here for it. This pottery/container knife from Sneeboer makes it possible to actually get plants out of pots without breaking or damaging the pot. It’s also really expensive. 😀
A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zi A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zinnias, pycnanthemum muticum and bronze fennel shown here.
My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love tryi My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love trying out new varieties and I feel like they just work so well in my garden from both a design standpoint and a cultural standpoint (they are happy here). Because I grow so many, the ones that self sow can be surprises. 

All of these self-sown Nicotiana are probably at least partly the children of the F1 hybrid Perfume series, which grow to be about 24” tall or so. Last year I grew purple, pink, white and lime versions and these are likely new variations on those. 

Picture 3 is, in my opinion, a good example of how these self sown second-year hybrids can go wrong. I’ll probably rip that one out. 😀

And the last photo is of my favorite colorway, lime, popping up amongst the Zinnias. I find these self-sown Nicotiana popping up all summer, so there’s always a fresh-blooming supply. 

Are you as enamored with Nicotinana as I am?
Load More Follow on Instagram

SEARCH

Popular posts

  • HOW TO MAKE A HOLIDAY WINDOW BOX
  • How to find and deal with tomato hornworms
  • A summer of bouquets
  • Plant to know: Geranium macrorrhizum

Find us on Facebook

Archives

  • ABOUT
  • TALK TO ME
  • TERMS & DISCLAIMERS
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Home

Copyright © 2023 · Prima Donna theme by Georgia Lou Studios

Copyright 2009-2021 ©The Impatient Gardener