Beautiful, but too expensive. I need 6 or so for my deck and was looking in the 30-40 dollar range. Does anyone have an opinion about the gardeners supply ones versus the plow and hearth ones? The p&h ones are on more of a discount, but are still a bit more than the gs ones.

I'm curious to know which is the lowest zone in which you can actively grow things in window boxes during Winter? Does anybody know? Being a zone 10, dry Mediterranean, I have the opposite problem - I usually remove the contents of my window boxes for *Summer*, as I can't get them watered enough. Winter is a good time for window boxes here. I love boxes with pansies, like Marilyn suggests, and my favorite combo for Christmas time is red cyclamen mixed with red kalanchoe. Talk about a conversation point! I have seen pictures of window boxes done with small heathers and culinary herbs and these look lovely as well. I also have a small round container, which is technically not very different from a window box, with muscari and cyclamen in two shades of pink. Not sure whether you can replicate this in your zone, but it may be worth a try. I like the suggestion of the branches with berry shrubs in the middle for cold climates. I bet it looks very festive with snow. The link below, posted without explicit permission, contains pictures of a lady who used to infrequently post here and has the most amazing decorations for all seasons, outside and inside, that you can think of. Including window boxes, so I hope she doesn't mind I paste the link to her albums below. Eduarda Here is a link that might be useful: Decorkween's amazing decorations

Both covers were opaque, one blue and the other white, so I couldn't use them. They would have been snug enough and much easier. Actually I needed to open mine every few days (which is a pain with those bungee cords) to let some fresh air in. They don't have to be totally sealed, just have to keep the humidity as high as possible. I don't know if a translucent one would let enough light through or not. That one poster who put me on to the idea appeared to use the translucent cover that came with his box, and he might have had his lights a lot closer. He also misted his. I did mist a little in the beginning but figured it was just more likely to blow nasty spores around and might do more harm than good. George Mander uses clear plastic, said it should be heavy. I think mine was too heavy which made it a little harder to work with but otherwise ok. Talk about a dim bulb lol. One of my lights was very dim, and I thought maybe that's the way they were supposed to be with the warm and cool. Then I got the second set of tubes when I set up the other pair of shop lights, and they both lit up real bright, so I figured something was wrong with that other one. I fiddled with it, and didn't have it screwed in tightly enough. Then it brightened up like it should have been. That could account for some of my losses. Some of my cuttings I left too many leaves on. I forgot one of those did root but I did lose that one in transplanting, a very odd alba with the most unusual leaves I'd ever seen on a rose. I posted photos of it last year. No matter how well you have thought it out or how carefully you read what somebody else did, I find I always end up having to wing it a little. The ones I wanted the most were the ones I lost all of them. The lady let me have just 6 cuttings before she trimmed her bushes down. I could kick myself for not asking her to call me and let me come get all the trimmings. Now one has died over the winter, and she isn't going to want to let me have any more until her bushes spring back, if they do. I don't have room for all the roses I attempt anyway so it doesn't matter if I lose a lot. I don't have room for many more, plus I'm still buying some. I do feel good that I think I saved one old rose. Mine is growing happily in the back yard (I rooted that outside with bottles 2 seasons ago), and it is going to form a colony if it stays healthy. Just slight tip dieback. My Austins took a real beating this winter. I don't like to swipe stuff, but I did this one, and drove by the other day and the bush appears to be history.

Glad to share stories, if only we had a crystal ball, huh? Sending good vibes to your pepper plants. I've never heard of a really old pepper plant, but don't have nearly enough experience speaking with those in much warmer climates. Maybe they're trees in Ecuador, IDK. I'm sure you already thought about saving some seeds. In my experience with moving stuff around the yard to different spots, or digging-up anything to put in a pot, If you can scoop the whole rootball mostly undisturbed, that should give you the best chance. The problem with taking things from the ground is the 'dirt.' It's too dense/heavy/water retentive from the predominance of tiny particles of sand and clay. For a long-term planting, this will almost always kill any plant. But as long as the roots aren't kept too soggy, this can work for such a short time. Some plants don't need a drink at all for up to 2 months if brought in this way. Clay pots can help make sure excess water isn't retained also if you think you'll need to water much while potted. If the soil falls right off of the roots, I'd use a more appropriate mix for potted plants. Most plants I don't do that to though, unless I need to stick them in pots with other plants. Putting a 'plug' of ground dirt in a pot with completely different mix could soon be/cause a problem. Some plants don't mind having naked roots and being placed in completely different stuff. Some do. Someone else would have to tell you how pepper plants respond to such. Sounds like your attitude is similar to mine though. If it was doomed to die anyway, no harm in attempting to save if it sounds like fun to you. I don't always end up with every individual attempt living through winter in a house, but every year I've tried 'saving things' I end up with more plants in general to put outside the next year. I always still spend my meager garden budget though, nothing for stores to worry about. This is a different kind of window box from what you're talking about, but similar idea I think. Instead of accidentally knocking 9 tiny individual pots (of many identical individuals smushed too closely together) off of the windowsill all winter, drying at different rates, I think this will be easier to handle, prettier to look at.