PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – That looks pretty, as long as it’s full. Window boxes, large urns and other planters you keep outside all year are both an opportunity and an obligation. Nothing adds appeal to your house quite like a windowbox full of something seasonal – spring bulbs, summer geraniums, fall pansies, and something festive for winter. But if you get too busy to keep up, you’ll end up with empty planters or worse – dead flowerheads and browned sticks greeting guests at your door.

That’s why, it’s smart to add something evergreen, like my friends did when they planted tiny boxwoods in their windowboxes. You can use any small conifer, holly, or other evergreen, and just give it a haircut now and then to keep it little. That gives you a year ‘round focal point, and lets you fill in with just a few annuals through the seasons and a little boughs of holly for the holidays. But, even if you forget, your permanent planters will never look completely empty again.

Reported By Phran Novelli, KYW Newsradio