by Chantal Aida Gordon, guest writer and co-founder The Horticult
photos by Ryan Benoit, co-founder The Horticult
Your houseplants have a lively new place to thrive! We’re thrilled to introduce you to the Bloom Bungalow Window Box + Trellis, a special TerraTrellis collaboration with Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit of The Horticult.
Above: Lucy the dog supervises the Bloom Bungalow design team, Ryan Benoit, Chantal Aida Gordon and Jennifer Asher.
How did this plant/design collaboration start? Well, it’s hard to believe it’s been more than five years since we hit it off during this Q&A with artist Jennifer Asher of TerraSculpture/TerraTrellis—and four since we spent the afternoon together for a tour of her work and her home in Los Angeles. Since then, we’ve kept in touch, fueled in part by our mutual love for creating healthy-yet-alluring habitats for horticulture. After our book, How to Window Box (Clarkson Potter) came out last year, we decided to collaborate on a modern spin on the window box and trellis and design a totally unique planter concept.
Above: Variegated Ficus Repens and Cyclamen create a joyful vertical garden in a Bloom Bungalow, while The Horticult's new book How to Window Box stands watch.
Above: Pothos vines climb their very own houseplant trellis in ‘Oxide’ box and trellis.
After months of tweaking dimensions and playing with powdercoat shades, it’s here. It has smooth lines. It has sturdy bolts, and it’s designed and made in the USA (in the TerraSculpture studio). Available finishes for our Bloom Bungalow Window Box + Trellis include a cheerful-even-in-the-depths-of-winter shade of yellow (sunbeam), a crisp white (cloud), a stainless steel perfect for gourmet kitchens, and an oxidized steel that looks like pure velvet. Choose from trellises in stainless and oxidized.
Above: Kitchen herbs sparkle in this stainless steel combo.
It’s an ideal way to create an instant indoor landscape: Train pothos to climb upward while your calathea spreads its leaves. Plant an arrangement of herbs in the kitchen and hang your shears right there. With one of these by your window, guests will be constantly asking where you found your refreshing leafy habitat.
Above: Variegated Ficus Repens and Cyclamen tucked in a 'Sunbeam' Bloom Bungalow with an 'Oxide' trellis.
Assembly is easy. Position trellis posts in line with holes on box ends. (You can do this either on the inside or the outside of the box—it’s up to you.) Secure posts by inserting bolts in holes and hand-tightening nuts on inside and outside of the box. Then slide horizontal trellis rods through the holes in the upper section of the posts.
Above: Jennifer Asher and Chantal Aida Gordon behind the scenes planting an herb garden inside a stainless steel Bloom Bungalow.
We designed this box specifically for cache-potting to make planting, growing and changing arrangements a cinch. (To prolong the life of your container, we don’t recommend pouring soil and planting directly in the box.) With your order, you’ll receive a self-watering resin window box liner that hides perfectly inside the Bloom Bungalow. Or feel free to hide three 6- or 7-inch pots of your own side by side.
Above: each Bloom Bungalow purchase comes with this self-watering window box liner to maintain the beauty of your Bungalow.
Below: The Bloom Bungalow dimensions also allow for easy cache-potting with your own containers.
You can order your box with our without drainage holes—just select your preference from the drop-downs. For indoor use, we recommend going with the “no hole” option. But if you’re planting outdoors, you might want to say yes to drainage holes so water can pour freely outside, without the worry of flooding after it rains.
Above: Create a Big Island moment in a box by putting bromeliads in (and on!) the Bloom Bungalow + Trellis in ‘Sunbeam’ and ‘Oxide.’
The Bloom Bungalow is a habitat that also doubles as a work of art. If the mood strikes, you can remove the trellis and create an artful, modern dwelling for your most breathtaking houseplants.
Above: A maidenhair fern vibes out in its new Bloom Bungalow, in ‘Oxide.’
The air plants are loving their bright new perch, and being able to grow lettuce or strawberries in a window box is...chef’s kiss. We hope you’ll get a Bloom Bungalow Window Box + Trellis of your own!
Above: Homegrown lettuce just waiting to be picked in a 'Cloud' Bloom Bungalow.
Below: Countertop strawberries beg to be plucked from a Bloom Bungalow + Trellis in ‘Cloud’ and ‘Oxide.’
Below: The Bloom Bungalow collection all lined up in the TerraSculpture/TerraTrellis metal studio in Los Angeles. 