I see no reason why they wouldn't look nice.

3' length window boxes would be right and look fine. (5' would look completely dorky.) When the plants fill and spill, they'll make it look right. You need to hang the box lower than immediately below the window in order that the plants don't cover too much of the window when they grow. Hopefully, the metal containers you're considering have some volume. The trouble with nearly 100% of ready-made boxes is that they have virtually no space for soil and therefore, don't work. (They dry out in 3 hours.)

Someday, widen your walk to the full width of the porch opening.

Thank you.

You have to be majorly committed to window boxes because they dry out very very fast. Where do you live? In a hot place? Which direction does the front of the house face?

I love to garden, but I won’t take on window boxes. They are too needy.

(Do you mean actual hay troughs? Your house looks quite traditional and formal; I’m not sure hay troughs would suit.)

This is what a hay trough/hay rack window box looks like:

IMO, they go with pretty much any style home, except for perhaps very contemporary. And they are no harder to keep going than a hanging basket.

I actually prefer them to wooden or plastic or metal traditional style window boxes.

Ah! I didn’t know those window boxes were called hay troughs. And I even have some! LOL!!

Ok, never mind my last paragraph above. :)

I am not against window boxes but I think foundation plants are needed.

Thank you. I need to wait until we move to replant as we are not there to water new plants. I’m thinking of an all white landscape using limelight hydrangeas and some small hollies. I do have a new dawn climbing rose and a small wisteria I’d like to transplant from our home now. It’s definitely a work in progress.

Susan...so pretty. I like the idea of filling the window boxes with seasonal arrangements during the times it’s not practical for live plants.

Those are so lovely, Susan! Love them. :)

I like the idea for your house, Claudianne. I have had them at every house I’ve lived in, always the hay trough style. I found extra deep ones for my last house, and loved them, but couldn’t find that size for my current house. This is just the standard kind (and the window is set higher than our others) ... I think we got it at Home Depot. It came with the coconut fiber liner, too, which is nice — when I had the extra deep trough, I had to cut cf liner to fit. I do plant in mine, so have to change the liner yearly. (I recycle the old liner for other things.)

You said you’re not planting yet, so I’ll show some holiday pics of mine, as well as planted ones. Sweet potato vines are common, but they do well in shallow souls. I currently have rosemary in there, too, but will be taking them out to plant in bigger pots next spring.

I wish I could show it in context of the entire front of the house, but prefer not to for privacy reasons. I promise it looks good! And I love doing seasonal designs. :)

Jinx, I love what you’ve done. Your hay trough fits perfectly. I’ve always had at least one window box as well. The hay troughs are easiest to hang. Since I have double windows I was wondering if it would look tacky to have a smaller trough at each window, 4 total? It would be less expensive than a 60 inch wide at each window and I was also somewhat concerned about the weight of a 60 inch one. What do you think?

Thank you! :)

I just wrote a long post, but it went poof. Trying again ...

I actually think separate ones would look just fine. Sometimes extra long ones can be too visually heavy (depending on the window style, etc).

These aren’t exactly like your windows, but just to show separate planters can look great:

But I really think either way would look fine with your pretty windows. Please update us with what you decide!

ETA: I forgot my app has a window planter feature! Ignore the flowers, it’s preset and I can’t change them. :)

Maybe this will help give an idea of each way. It’s not exact of course, but I hope it helps a bit to see —

Long planters ...

Smaller ones ....

Thank you so much. That’s fantastic!