You know what I ALWAYS hear that Californians grow in some windowbox or pot in those conditions? Nasturtiums! There are some that are gorgeous, and they will fill up the container like a little bush and trail down the sides. And they bloom all summer. You could also try some of the low-growing lantana or even some million bells or mini-petunias (which I noticed alot of places around here are selling instead of the million bells). You might even try a mini bougainvillea since they seem to mainly bloom when stressed - ie., when they are hot, dry, and potbound. lol To try to reduce the watering, consider gettng some moisture-retaining crystals like SoilMoist into your soil mix and that will help.

Verbena, Ivy geranium, wave or "super" petunias, million bells, bouganvilia, tropical plumbago. Robin

soxxxx - you have a good idea. And after looking at the photos, I've grown so used to the odd window placement that I really see how it could be made to look much better. My brain is clicking again. Uh-oh. My uncle was a carpenter but did some strange things. On the back of the house (school),he merely dropped the ceilings down over the two tall windows of the half of the building he made livable. In other words he didn't cut them down or out, so the original windows are there but only the bottoms show inside. The tops are visible from the outside but are camouflaged. Hard to explain, so here is a pic, taken last Fall showing the two windows, the center one and the one on the far right. I'm actually very happy he didn't destroy them because I love the illusion plus who knows a future owner may decide to completely gut the house and restore it. You never know.

There are a lot of helichrysums, and they can be very different from one another. I have several as they do well for me. Note that when they are happy, they can be aggressive towards their neighbors. 'Limelight' is a pale chartreuse trailer, with soft succulent fuzzy leaves. Beautiful against something with big dark leaves. There is a helichrysum which has smaller, rounder leaves of fuzzy gray-green. Tends to spread sideways and get a bit bare in the center stem area. Very much a groundcover plant, it doesn't droop gracefully, the stems are long and forked, branching upwards. Can't recall its Latin name right now although it was listed as a Licorice plant, so probably a variety of H. petiolare. Helichrysum petiolare 'Variegata' is white and gray-green, fuzzy, and very vigorous. Goes upwards, downwards and sideways -- in fact, any direction it can find. Leaves are round, but a bit larger than its cousin the Licorice helichrysum listed above. The color and shape of the shrub mixes well with other plants. H. petiolare 'White Licorice' has round, clustered leaves similar to 'Limelight', but in a pale grayish-white, no variegation. It almost looks like a Plectranthus argentatus but the leaves are not toothed. There is a helichrysum known as the Curry Plant, Helichrysum angustifolium, with very fine spikey leaves and a distinct smell of curry powder (it fades when dried, but you can use it in cooking with fresh leaves). It is more of a dusty miller-type plant in shape and bloom. Helichrysum bracteatum is the strawflower plant, which of course doesn't look like any of its cousins!