Window Boxes: Indoors & Out - Hardcover

James Cramer; Dean Johnson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579651240 ISBN 13: 9781579651244

Publisher: Artisan, 1999

Synopsis

When design magazines want new and fresh ideas, they turn to James Cramer and Dean Johnson. In Window Boxes, Indoors & Out these two gardeners, designers, artists, and stylists bring a wealth of talent and the freshest eye to the close-up pleasures of window boxes. The book spans a year of invention and innovation at Seven Gates Farm, the authors' nineteenth-century homestead and studio. The results are inspired ideas, hard-working advice, and more than 150 dazzling photographs of these delightful still lifes.

Given four seasons in which to flourish, this once spring/summer-only pleasure goes well beyond traditional garden planters and herb baskets. Found objects are given new life as containers for these beautiful tableaux, and everything from wreaths and swags to simple rustic groupings becomes an indoor design element for every room. A full source guide for locating containers, plants, and flowers rounds out this exceptional volume.

About this title

About the Author

James Cramer and Dean Johnson's work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, and Country Living. They live in Maryland.

From the Back Cover

When design magazines want new and fresh ideas, they turn to James Cramer and Dean Johnson. In Window Boxes, Indoors and Out, these two gardeners, designers, artists, and stylists bring a wealth of talent and the freshest eye to the close-up pleasures of window boxes. The book spans a year of invention and innovation at Seven Gates Farm, the authors' nineteenth-century homestead and studio. The results are inspired ideas, hard-working advice, and more than 150 dazzling photographs of these delightful still lifes.

Given four seasons in which to flourish, this once spring/summer-only pleasure goes well beyond traditional garden planters and herb baskets. Found objects are given new life as containers for these beautiful tableaux, and everything from wreaths and swags to simple rustic groupings becomes design elements outdoors and in. A full source guide for locating containers, plants, seeds, bulbs, and flowers rounds out this exceptional volume.

Given four seasons in which to flourish, this once spring/summer-only pleasure goes well beyond traditional garden planters and herb baskets. Found objects are given new life as containers for these beautiful tableaux, and everything from wreaths and swags to simple rustic groupings becomes design elements outdoors and in. A full source guide for locating containers, plants, seeds, bulbs, and flowers rounds out this exceptional volume.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

SUN & SHADE

Soil Mixture

1 cup builder's sand

1 cup potting soil

1 cup perlite

4 cups small stones

There's always a place for a window box, no matter how sunny or shady the location. Cacti and succulents are made for intensely sunny areas; we keep a bag of sandy soil premixed in the potting shed se we can create a quick display whenever we come across some interesting new varieties.

Every bit as beautiful are shady glens and nooks, where foliage is more effective than flowers. In fact, the newest thing in gardening today is big foliage, few flowers, and sometimes no flowers at all. The colors of leaves and their shapes and sizes are the focus, and the contrast between dark and light creates a serene effect that's soothing to the eye.

In late summer, we feed the window boxes and the gardens with 20-20-20 fertilizer, to force the last blooms from the flowers and grant us a final display of color and greenery. Then as the curtain falls on the season, everything gets a good pruning. We used to do this promptly, bringing on fall as soon as we could. But with every passing year, we're slowing the pace, holding on to the glory of summer for as long as we possibly can.

Excerpted from Window Boxes: Indoors & Out. Copyright (c) 1999 by Mary Seehafer Sears. Reprinted with permission by Artisan.

Edition details

• Publisher: Artisan
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1579651240
• ISBN 13: 9781579651244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 175