A flower box is a type of

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

in the form of a planter or

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

that is usually placed outdoors and used for displaying live plants and flowers, but it may also be used for growing herbs or other edible plants. It is usually placed or affixed to an accessible location so the resident of a home may easily work with the plants in the container. A flower box may be installed under a window and supported in place by

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

s on the wall below, in which case it may be called a

window box A window box (sometimes called a window flower box or window box planter) is a type of flower container for live flowers or plants in the form of a box attached on or just below the sill of a window. It may also be used for growing herbs or othe ...

. Flower boxes may also be used to line decks, patios, porches, steps, and sidewalks and they can even be hung from railings. Wood, brick, metal, fiberglass and cellular PVC can all be used in flower box construction, with wood being a classical material of choice. A typical wooden container will last 3–5 years before showing signs of rot. With painting and maintenance they can sometimes last 10–15 years. Fiberglass has the advantage of being lightweight and insect proof. PVC is a plastic that is a rot proof alternative to wood, and is often used on homes to prevent rot or siding damage. Sometimes a box is placed inside a kitchen window in order to grow herbs or other supplies for a chef as an easily accessed miniature

kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

. J. Linderski has argued that

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

described flower boxes in his ''

Naturalis Historia The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...

'', at 19.59. However, Linderski could only find one other allusion to this practice in

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

11.18.J. Linderski
"Imago Hortorum": Pliny the Elder and the Gardens of the Urban Poor", ''Classical Philology''
96 (2001), pp. 305-308

References

{{Lawn and garden ornaments Garden vases Types of garden Garden features Gardening aids Urban agriculture

See also

References