When I installed three window boxes on my San Francisco apartment several weeks ago, I dropped in an easy mix of plants for instant gratification. I eventually got more creative and put together a nontraditional Christmas arrangement for the planters, but in between I felt antsy for a little holiday flair. To the rescue, three ingredients—clear battery-powered string lights; white hardware-store cyclamen, and dried eucalyptus pods—which I styled in the window boxes in a matter of minutes.
Photographs by Meredith Swinehart. Photography shot with the Canon EOS 70D digital SLR camera, with Dual Pixel AF technology and built-in Wi-Fi.
Above: A completed three-ingredient holiday window box.
Above: Battery-powered string lights, dried eucalyptus pods, and white cyclamen are all that is required.
Above: Around the holidays, white cyclamens are plentiful and inexpensive. Michelle grouped several to decorate indoors; see the result in A White Christmas, with Potted Cyclamen.
Above: The boxes look dressed up without being overly precious.
Above: If your December isn't very wet, you can pluck the dried pods out of your window boxes after the season and continue to decorate with them throughout the year.
Above: The bright white cyclamens are reminiscent of snow, even in sunny California.
Read about how I made the window boxes in DIY Window Boxes: Build It Yourself for a Perfect Fit, and then decked them out for the holidays (with spiky bromeliads) in DIY: Christmas Window Boxes.